Panny RP-56 good for 4:3 HDTV's??? (1 Viewer)

[Sean Patrick]

after months of tough decisions and back-and forth, I am buying a 4:3 HDTV. I've been banking on getting the RP91 because of it's scaling features, but now that i'm getting a 4:3 set, will scaling non-anamorphic material really be necessary?

I'll still be able to send a progressive signal to the TV with non-anamorphic material, right?

 

[Jeremy Little]

It will still make a large difference if the 4:3 television has a 16:9 enhanced mode on it. It depends on the set, which one were you looking at?

 

[StaceyS]

There are no 4:3 HDTVs, there are only 4:3 DTVs. TV manufacturers are not allowed to call a 4:3 TV HDTV per the goverment. The first gen got away with this, but the gov has cracked down.

A few of the 4:3 DTVs do not squeeze the image for 16:9. The RP91 features on aspect ratio control are for a 16:9 TV.

Be sure your TV will let you squeeze the image on 480p. The last one I saw would only do this on 1080i. All 480p was stuck in full screen mode.

 

[Sean Patrick]

i'm looking at the 36" Hitachi 4:3 "hd"tv (i guess it's not true hd, but the price is right and the reviews have been great). the tv DOES do the 16:9 for progressive material and it is at 480p.

If i get the RP56 without the scaling and there is non-anamorphic material, can't i just set the tv back to its normal 4:3 ratio? Especially with 4:3 dvd's (i have a lot of concert dvd's) - i don't want a player like the RP91 scaling it to 4:3 within the 16:9 bars, i want those kind of dvd's to fill up the screen.

 

[Jeremy Little]

I have a Sony 4:3 set which I use in 16:9 enhanced for DVD's. Whenever you play Non-Anamorphic material on an RP-56 you are wasting all the lines of resolution that are drawing the Bars on letterbox. The artifacts I noticed on mine were jaggies around the lips of anybody talking, the most notable was Billy Bob Thorton on Armageddon CC. The scenes with him in the dark NASA room just about drove me crazy. It will still be better than Interlaced.

With my RP91, I only set it to 4:3 to display only 1.33:1 films or TV show sets. The rest of the time it remains on 16:9 enhanced. The DVD player is set to ZOOM on my Non-Anamorphic titles which does help with the artifacts I described above.

For your concert DVD's, simply turn off the enhanced 16:9 mode on your tv for regular 4:3 playback.

 

[StaceyS]

Sean, Yes you can simply turn off the squeeze for non-anamorphic DVDs.

 

[Jeff D.]

Sean;

You might want to check and make sure that the Hitachi has a true 16:9 squeeze mode. IIRC, earlier Hitachi models claimed to have a squeeze function, but in reality it was simply 'downconverting' the image from the DVD player - ie. the 33% increased resolution from anamorphic DVDs was lost. I believe an easy check for this is to put the TV in its squeeze mode and if the bars are gray, rather than black, then it is not a true squeeze mode. In a true squeeze mode, the bars can only be black, as the raster has been resized and what you see as black bars is really unused space on the CRT.

Someone should be able to chime in as to whether or not Hitachi has righted this wrong - or maybe you've checked yourself Sean. Just thought I'd offer a heads-up.

/Jeff

 

[Michael Lee]

By the way, I have heard, from many ISF technicians, that the RP-91 offers outstanding interlaced performance...far above the pack of mid-priced DVD players.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

There are no 4:3 HDTVs, there are only 4:3 DTVs. TV manufacturers are not allowed to call a 4:3 TV HDTV per the goverment. The first gen got away with this, but the gov has cracked down.

Don't know where you heard that but the government has done no such thing. The government has so far had absolutely zero involvement in the manufacture and marketing of DTV products. They don't even have an official definition for HD so they couldn't possibly regulate the use of the term. If HD-capable 4:3 sets aren't to be labeled as HDTV displays then it is only by voluntary agreement by members of the CEA.

 

[Kelley_B]

Now about the Panny RP-56, I have one now, but not for long as its going back tonight. The flicker bug is just too annoying for my eyes...far worse than the Chroma Bug. I found certain parts of Toy Story unwatchable due to the player flickering. I'm gonna wait until May and just go ahead and pick up the 56's replacement and hope that it doesn't suffer from the same annoying flicker bug.

 

[StaceyS]

The government has so far had absolutely zero involvement in the manufacture and marketing of DTV products.

The FCC is very much involved. They informed manufacturers a couple of yeas back not to use the term HD on a 4:3 set. As soon as I can find it on the FCC website I will post a link. They did this to protect the consumer from manufacturers and their deceiving marketing tactics.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

High-Definition Television (HDTV): HDTV refers to a complete product/system with the following minimum performance attributes:
* Receiver: Receives ATSC terrestrial digital transmissions and decodes all ATSC Table 3 video formats
* Display Scanning Format: Has active vertical scanning lines of 720 progressive (720p), 1080 interlaced (1080i), or higher
* Aspect Ratio: Capable of displaying a 16:9 image
* Audio: Receives and reproduces, and/or outputs Dolby Digital audio
High-Definition Television (HDTV) Monitor: HDTV Monitor refers to a monitor or display with the following minimum performance attributes:
* Display Scanning Format: Has active vertical scanning lines of 720 progressive (720p), 1080 interlaced (1080i), or higher
* Aspect Ratio: Capable of displaying a 16:9 image
(1) In specifications found on product literature and in owner's manuals, manufacturers are required to disclose the number of vertical scanning lines in the 16:9 viewable area, which must be 540p, 810i or higher to meet the definition of HDTV.

Note the words 'displaying a 16:9 image' and '16:9 viewable area'. 4:3 sets with true 16:9 modes do qualify as 'HDTV' or 'HDTV Monitor' based on this. Early generation 4:3 'HD' sets were not really 'HD' as when they displayed an HD source they stretched and/or cropped the 16:9 image to 4:3.
Unfortunately, ce.org recently (since January 2002) removed all pages relevant to this but I saved a copy.
THE CEA IS NOT PART OF THE GOVERNMENT. Of course, neither the CEA or the FCC has any business 'defining' what an HDTV is based on a passive screen anyway.
I've never understood why some people want to descriminate against certain HDTVs. The important thing is being able to resolve a 1080i or 720p image in it's correct aspect ratio, not whether the image fills the screen or not. A little extra screen at the top and bottom never hurt anybody.

 

[Scott H]

There are no 4:3 HDTVs, there are only 4:3 DTVs. TV manufacturers are not allowed to call a 4:3 TV HDTV per the goverment.

There plenty of new 4:3 HD/HDTVs out there. If I recall correctly, many say so right on the front. And, as noted, the government has nothing to do with this.

Do an internet search for "4:3 HDTV" and check out the products...