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Question about anamorphic conversion - hardware problems (1 Viewer)

Rain

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I just bought a new TV. It's not a great one, but I basically got it to tide me over until I save up for the one I really want (the ex took the last one). It's a Samsung.
Surprisingly, I find that the TV appears to have a 16:9 mode. I was quite surprised by this, but nonetheless there it is.
Now, here's the question:
I'm trying out an anamorphic DVD on my Toshiba player and it appears that when played in anamorphic mode, I'm getting some cropping on the top and bottom of the frame as compared to watching it in standard mode. Also, there is some stretching of the picture horizontally.
When viewing a regular display, such as TV broadcast, on the TV when 16:9 mode is on, it does not appear to be re-framing the picture at all, so I don't think it's the TV doing the cropping.
I'm inclined to think that my DVD player is the problem.
Anyone have any clue what the heck is going on here?
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george king

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First, this should probably be moved to the TV section. However, you need to set your DVD player to 16:9 in the setup menu.
Hope this helps.
 

Rain

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quote: First, this should probably be moved to the TV section.[/quote]
Since I suspect the problem is the DVD player, I respectfully disagree.
quote: However, you need to set your DVD player to 16:9 in the setup menu.[/quote]
No kidding! When I set both the TV AND DVD player to 16:9 the image is cropped at top and bottom and stretched.
Sorry if I wasn't clear on this.
When I referred to viewing non-anamorphic source material with the TV in 16:9 mode, I was only checking to see if it was cropping the picture. Yes, it was obviously stretching it, but it wasn't cropping it. It only did that when the DVD player was in 16:9 mode.
quote: Hope this helps.[/quote]
I'm afraid not. But hopefully my clarification will prompt some further replies. :)
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[Edited last by Rain on November 16, 2001 at 04:48 PM]
 

Jason Merrick

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Rain wrote: Surprisingly, I find that the TV appears to have a 16:9 mode. (snip) I'm getting some cropping on the top and bottom of the frame as compared to watching it in standard mode. Also, there is some stretching of the picture horizontally.[/quote]Rain,
I'm wondering if possibly this is a pseudo-16:9 mode comparable to some video cameras, where all your tv is doing is masking the top and bottom of the image to look letterboxed. The stretching would then be explained by your dvd player being in 16:9 mode.
If not though, what model Toshiba? I use the squeeze trick with my Toshiba SD-1200 on my JVC tv by entering the service menu of the tv and have never experienced a problem.george king wrote: First, this should probably be moved to the TV section. [/quote]Just curious, but why do so many non-moderators feel the need to comment on thread placement?
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[Edited last by Jason Merrick on November 16, 2001 at 04:55 PM]
 

Rain

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Jason, I did consider that the TV might not be doing a true 16:9 mode, but as much as I find it unbelievable, I think it is.
Let me clarify further:
When everything is set as it should be for anamorphic viewing, the resolution is much improved, even to the naked eye.
However, there is still slight cropping, as I mentioned, and some horizontal stretch. The kind of stretch I'm talking about here is similar to what you would find on the extreme right and left of the frame in an old CinemaScope picture. To some degree this is normal for those films or early Panavision films, but viewing in anamorphic mode appears to eggagerate this effect even further.
The reason why I played non-anamorphic source material in 16:9 mode on the TV was to see if the TV was doing the reframing/cropping. It isn't.
So I still think it's the player.
As for the "squeeze trick," can you explain this a bit further? I have another thread up asking if anyone knows how to access the service menu on a Samsung TV.
It just occurs to me...if the TV is doing a true 16:9 mode and the top and bottom is cropped slightly, it could be that this is due to overscan. If played in standard mode, this wouldn't happen since the image would be letterboxed and wouldn't reach the top and bottom of the available picture area. In 16x9 mode it would reach the top and bottom of the available picture area and could, in fact, be going slightly beyond.
However, that still wouldn't explain the extra stretch.
Perhaps this should go to the TV Area after all.
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[Edited last by Rain on November 16, 2001 at 05:09 PM]
 

Sean Conklin

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Rain is it possible your new TV just doesn't do the squeeze trick? Or it is not doing it properly?
If you play an Anamorphic and set your DVD player to 16:9, and you set your TV to Wide or 16:9 then it should squeeze the picture down to the correct size.
If you play a non Anamorphic and you have your DVD player set to 16:9 and your TV in Wide or 16:9(whichever they call it)then the TV will still try to squeeze the non Anamorphic picture resulting in cropping.
If the DVD is non anamorphic and you have your DVD player set to 16:9 it will still default to 4:3 letterbox, I think,I know mine does.
For non Anamorphic you should set a squeezable TV to regular mode.
Is it possible the Wide mode only works correctly on TV and non anamorphic sources? And the TV is not able to do the squeeze trick?
Do you think I'm close, or making any sense? If not I wouldn't be surprised. :)
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[Edited last by Sean Conklin on November 16, 2001 at 05:18 PM]
 

Rain

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Sean,
It could be that I'm not explaining this properly. I wish I could post pics to illustrate.
Let me use another example.
If I play 1.78:1 anamorphic material with both the TV and player set to 16:9, I get the exact same image area on the TV as I would with both set to standard.
Except, in anamorphic mode the top and bottom is cropped slightly and horizontally stretched slightly--like a CinemaScope film. However, the resolution is clearly improved.
If I use 2.35:1 source material, the top and bottom are NOT cropped in anamorphic mode. In that case, there is letterboxing within the 1.78:1 mode. However, there is still some overstreching going on.
If I play non-anamorphic material with the TV set to 16:9, I get pretty much what I would expect: The same total picture (not cropped) squeezed into a 1.78:1 frame.
Therefore, I think the cropping is due to overscan within the 1.78:1 frame. The over-stretching is still a mystery.
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"Imagine all the people, living life in peace..." - Imagine by John Lennon
[Edited last by Rain on November 16, 2001 at 05:43 PM]
 

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