Getting a 16:9 picture from my 16:9 DVD and 16:9 satellite (1 Viewer)

[Darel]

Just bought a Samsung A630 and hooked up my 10-year-old Panasonic A300 DVD and Directv (non-HD) receiver. I can't get a fullsize image from either input. Changing aspect ratios on the TV is the only thing that does anything, both on movies and TV: 16:9 stretches picture horizontally, Zoom1 cuts several inches off the top and bottom, Zoom2 is worse, 4:3 is the only setting where I get to see the whole picture but I'm wasting 30% of my screen. On the DVD player there are no settings to change (unless it's on the disc menu) and on the directv satellite receiver you can choose between 4:3 and 16:9 but changing settings has no effect at all.

It's been brought up that in order to view 16:9 you need an HD signal, but that doesn't explain the DVD player not playing 16:9.

I'm beginning to regret retiring my 32" Sharp CRT - it had a bigger usable viewing area than the 40" LCD and it looked better too!

An upgrade to a Blu-Ray player is in the works - but to me HDTV is a waste. Please tell me I don't need HDTV to watch a 16:9 program.

Thanks,
Darel

 

[gene c]

These are simple questions but they have to be asked. Did you set the dvd player to 16:9 in the video setup menu? Are the dvd's you are trying to watch 16:9 or are they 1:33 or 1:2.35?

Since your DirectTv receiver is SD it will be 1:33 not 16:9. You would need to use the Zoom feature on your tv to fill the screen.It may seem like it now but once you get things sorted out you'll forget you ever said that!

 

[Stephen Tu]

For the DVD player there should be a way to switch to 16:9, you have to stop the disc or maybe unload the disc first. Then try "action" or "menu" or "setup", one of those ought to work. Keep in mind the following:
- not all DVDs are actually encoded 16:9; some are 4:3 letterbox and you will still have to use the "zoom" mode. The zoom mode should only be cutting off letterbox bars.
- Movies wider than 16:9 will still have letterbox bars on top/bottom, though about half what you were used to on the older 4:3 set.


DirecTV you have to upgrade to HD receiver (preferably DVR version), there's no getting around that.


Actually for 4:3 material they are almost exactly the same size. For letterbox you can zoom and it will be bigger and fill the screen, and once you get the 16:9 DVD setting sorted out you get better resolution on the DVDs.

 

[Darel]

Guys -
You were right, I found the hidden menu in my DVD player that I hadn't accessed in ten years ("stop"-"action") and changed that to 16:9 and it works. The 1:2.85 thing really threw me. First movie I put in was Journey to the Center of the Earth and I was happy, but when I put in the greatest movie of all time, "Transformers", I still have letterbox bars. Oh, well. At least I got that problem fixed. Now I feel like a real idiot, just because I didn't feel like pulling the manual down from my attic...

Do Blu-Ray discs have the same format or are all Blu-Ray's 16:9?

Very disappointed to hear about the satellite. Oh, well.

Thanks!

 

[Robert_J]

What is disappointing about the satellite? The standard definition signal is in 4x3 (1.35:1) and that includes letterbox shows like ER. Once you upgrade to an HD receiver AND subscribe to the appropriate programming packages you will get channels in HD. I also recommend getting the HD DVR receiver. I have 3.

-Robert

 

[Darel]

That's what's disappointing - I never wanted to have to upgrade to HD cable. I don't care what TV looks like. I don't need to hear "Growing Pains" laugh tracks in 7.1. I don't care how my set holds black at black during Spongebob. I care about videos and CDs, that's all. TV viewing, all I care about is filling my screen, which it appears I can't do.

 

[Robert_J]

Part of the mission statement here at Home Theater Forum concerns "Original Aspect Ratio" or OAR. That is the way the program was originally intended to look by the director. Since we are discussing Transformers, if you watch it on a 4x3 TV, it should have really thick black bars at the top and the bottom of the screen. If you watch it on a 16x9 TV it should have regular black bars at the top and the bottom of the screen. If you are lucky enough to have a 2.35:1 viewing system (either one of the new LCD TV's or a projector / screen / panamorph lens) then you will not have any black bars and the action will fill the entire screen.

And you won't hear 7.1 laugh tracks from Growing Pains. It was probably recorded with a mono soundtrack and in 4x3. That is how the director intended it to look and that is how I play it back on my 16x9 system. I have black bars on the right and left side of the screen.

It is all about keeping the original artistic (we're stretching that using Growing Pains as an example) vision of the director.

-Robert