Projector Aspect-Ratio Issue (1 Viewer)

[onetwentydb]

I'm rather new to Home Theater, but I know my way around my components, and not completely clueless in the ways of sound and video.

I'm now in the process of preparing to paint a screen on my wall for my projector, but I'm having a bit of an issue with the aspect ratio it displays. I have a Benq DLP SL705X XGA Projector, here's the feature list from Amazon:
:
>DLP Technology for superior picture quality
>Native 1,024 x 768, compatible up to 1,280 x 1,024
>1,100 ANSI superior brightness, clarity, and color reproduction
>Lightweight, only 3.8 pounds
>Wide-angle lens for a larger picture from a shorter distance (60-inch image from under 7 feet)
>600:1 ultra-high contrast delivering a sharper image with a greater depth of color
>Manual zoom lens to stay in focus from any distance
>Digital keystone restores a trapezoidal image caused by a tilted projection angle back to a perfect rectangular shape
>P-Scan (progressive scan) technology for improved picture clarity
>HDTV compatible, 720P or 1080I and a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio
>10x digital zoom and pan for small text
>Auto-Key automatically adjusts image and eliminates complex menu settings
>Ultra-slim remote control
>Presentation wizard remote control with built-in laser pointer and page scrolling functions
>3-year limited warranty, reliability guaranteed.
>Free first year Hot Swap service

The projector is a few years old, and doesn't have component in jacks, it just has a 15-pin D-sub connector. I bought a cable for my PS3 (which I'm using as a media-center) that has a D-sub jack so I could plug it into my projector, and it works! But it only displays in the 4:3 aspect-ratio, with everything in the picture kind of squeezed up horizontally. Now, I'm pretty sure HDTVs were never made to display anything but 16:9 widescreen (I might be wrong), and the D-sub jack on my projector is labeled "PC / HDTV."
Is there something I'm missing here, should I have my setup connected differently? Because I'm going to paint my wall, and if I can have a widescreen display, I want to know so I can paint it that way. Maybe there's a Component-to-D-sub cable that I could use to connect to my HT receiver?

Help!

 

[Allan Jayne]

1. You may be able to adjust the vertical size (probably a menu entry) for your projector to reshape the picture to be 16:9. (There may be a specific 4:3 to 16:9 menu setting.)

2. You could buy an "anamorphic lens" that fits on the projector to make the 4:3 picture project as 16:9.

 

[Citizen87645]

On page 15 of the manual there is this:

Ratio
Users have 2 options for the image ratio.
1. 4:3 (Normal) 2. 16:9 (Wide)
*This function is not available when the input modes are PC, YPbPr.

But only using S-Video or composite? I don't see the point of having HDTV input then...

 

[onetwentydb]

Exactly! That's what I was trying to say when I mentioned that I'd never heard of a 4:3 HDTV, and the PC input is labeled PC/HDTV so...

To Allan Jayne: Thanks! I would have never thought of getting a different lens, I bet I could find one though. It seems like it would work perfectly, because the whole image is there, and it's telling me that it's displaying in 720, but it's 'squished' horizontally. So that might just work...

 

[onetwentydb]

I've just looked at all the options for anamorphic lenses, and it immediately stopped being an option. $750 as the minimum, up to $3500 is just a little steep for me. I tried using a composite video cable, just to get the right aspect ratio, and it looked absolutely horrible. I've forgotten how bad 480 looks, after a year of 720 and 1080!

So I don't know... Maybe I'll just have to live with it; it sure would've been nice to have widescreen though! I won't paint borders around the screen, just in case I ever get a lens.

 

[onetwentydb]

Alright, I'm just going to paint the wall.

But--this is a little off-topic--anybody have any ideas for putting removable black bars on the wall (top and bottom) for when I play movies through my computer? VLC Media player has an aspect ratio selector built right into it, so I get the letterbox-style display. But of course there's still light projecting in the "black" areas, and it's rather distracting; some black cloth, maybe with velcro attached to the corners would work? Anybody tried this?

 

[Mark-P]

I don't have a PS3, so I don't know what screen options you have on the player, but my blu-ray player lets me select a 4X3 screen size and will generate black bars for widescreen material on 4X3 displays (of course at the cost of a bit of image resolution.) I'm guessing your PS3 doesn't have this feature?

 

[chuckg]

To make black areas on your painted screen:

- drapes. put a curtain rod above and hang some drapes from it
-velcro, llike you say, stuck to the walls in strategic spots
-those really powerful magnets in the fabric and small steel plates (or even just the head of drywall screws) painted over on the wall

..or whatever! get creative.

 

[improv]

I have a question about how to size my screen. I'm going to do a goo systems screen, but I'm a complete noob on how to do it. When I first turn on my projector (it's an Epson) I get the large blue display while the projector searches for a source. Should I paint my screen to allow this all to display on it? I realize that when I am watching HD, it'll be widescreen format and I will not use the upper and lower portions of the screen....but if I use inputs that are not HD, won't I want this extra screen real estate?

Thanks in advance!

MP

 

[Allan Jayne]

Don't forget: If you do not get an anamorphic lens, an XGA projector cannot use more than 576 of its (768) pixels vertically for 16:9 and in so doing downrezzes itself to standard definition.

Unless you want the overall bigger picture for 4:3, there is no great loss in never using the upper and lower parts of the video frame. The 576 pixels vertically of the largest 16:9 image you can get from the XGA projector are fully sufficient for inputs that are not HD.

As far as how bad 480 looks, run-of-the-mill composite has considerable color-to-color blurring in the horizontal direction (it takes about 2% of the screen width to transtion) while S-video can have considerable improvement (less than 1% of the screen width to go from one color to another).

For fastening black material over the top and bottom of the screen I would not put any magnets directly over the projectable surface as it is easy to make blemishes.