Is there a way to correct this problem? (1 Viewer)

[Tony Mc]

I just bought the Hitachi 32UDX10S and I have a question/problem.

I played the Star Wars movie and I noticed that I have a small grey colored area, maybe an inch in height, just above and below the pitch black letterbox area. This also occurs on other DVDs. What causes this? And more importantly, can this be corrected? It is of course, when I apply the A/R squeeze.

 

[Tony Mc]

Check out the link for what I'm trying to explain in my original post.
Example of my TV's DVD viewing screen

 

[SteveA]

Try decreasing the black level (brightness) on your set a little bit and the problem will probably go away.

 

[Tony Mc]

Here's what I've done after playing around with the DVD player's video settings.

Since the TV has the 3:2 pull down feature, I had set the DVD player's video setting to 16:9. I change the settings to 4:3 pan&scan and lo and behold, the gray bars were gone! There is no decline in PQ either. I was told by several HT Forum members that the DVD player should be set to 16:9.

 

[Jack Briggs]

And it should be, Tony. If the set has a 16:9 mode, the DVD player should be outputting at 16:9. What Steve told you is correct. There is no universal aspect ratio, and when you're screening a film that is wider than 1.78:1 (16:9), you will see further evidence of letterboxing within that window if your White and Black levels are set to high. You may be overdriving that Hitachi.

 

[Tony Mc]

Jack, what do you mean by:



Is the setting of the White and Black levels setup with a calibration DVD? I do not have the calibration DVD yet.

Is there a specific way to set the white/black levels?

Here are the TV's current video settings:

Contrast = 68%

Brightness = 50

Color = 40

Tint = +2

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Tony,

With the tv in squeeze mode it is only scanning a 1:78 area in the middle of the screen. The unscanned areas above and below this are totally black because they are not being scanned at all.

When you play a 2:35 aspect ratio movie like Star Wars Phantom Menace, the picture does not fill the entire 1:78 scanned area. The unfilled part of that

1:78 area is still being scanned, unlike the area above and below the 1:78 area.

Since this area is being scanned, it is possible for it to be lighter than the unscanned, perfectly black area above and below. Thus you get dark gray bars within black bars. If you turn your brightness control down, this lighter area will get darker. Calibration with AVIA or VE will usually minimize the gray bars within black bars phenomenon.

Until you get a calibration disc, turn your Contrast control to half or less, then turn Brightness down until the gray within black bars turn black. If this makes dark parts of the picture too dark or lacking in detail, you can turn brightness back up a bit. Keep in mind that you are not supposed to see every little detail in very dark scenes.

 

[Tony Mc]

Steve -

I've adjusted the contrast down a bit to 58%.

This seems to have adjusted the grayed area to black.

Thanks much.... next purchase is a calibration disk.

 

[MikeyWeitz]

I would still consider 58% contrast to be too high on most sets. Good idea to pick up Avia or VE.