Sony KV-36XBR400 WEGA and 16:9 enhanced DVD's (1 Viewer)

[MarshawnM]

Forum,
I and a friend are having a disagreement. I have an XBR400WEGA (Sony). I say that when I view DVD's that are 16:9 enhanced, I'm getting the same picture that I would with a TV that naturally 16:9. Being that this mode is HDTV ready (just add HD decoder). Also, only DTVs can take advantage of a progress scan signal, which the XBR does, (I just purchased the Denon 2800 sweet). Lastly, since DVD's have different aspect ratios, letterboxing does not, therefore Gladiator (aspect ratio of 2.35:1) doesn't look (picture size wise) like Jurassic Park (aspect ratio 1.85:1) He says I’m getting "fancy letterbox". If the XBR WEGA could not show 16:9 then my picture would look distorted (everyone would look like George from Seinfeld, short and fat), as my DVD is set to output 16:9. Can anyone settle this? Thanks in
advance

 

[Reginald Trent]

I also own a Sony XBR400 but I'm not sure what you're asking other than will you get the same picture on the 4:3 XBR and a 16:9 the answer is yes. However, more of the black letterbox bars are exposed on a 4:3 TV than a 16:9.
BTW is your DVD player set for a 16:9 TV? If not it should be to take avantage of the XBR's anamorphic squeeze feature, you'll see greater video resolution.

 

[ChrisMatson]

From what I understand, there is no difference in picture quality between a native 16:9 TV and a 4:3 TV doing the squeeze.
-Chris

 

[John Garcia]

When it does the squeeze, you don't lose resolution, you GAIN. The picture is "squeezed" down to fit the screen better, but the image now fits the screen letterbox style, as it was meant to be viewed, rather than "hanging" off the screen on a 4:3 set. The relative size of the image is smaller, but the aspect ratio is still correct, and can now all be seen on the screen.
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[Edited last by John Garcia on August 10, 2001 at 10:05 AM]

 

[Dmitry]

From what I understand, there is no difference in picture quality between a native 16:9 TV and a 4:3 TV doing the squeeze.

Apparently there are different ways to perform the squeeze and some of them are not equal to native 16:9. However that doesn't apply to XBR400, it performs the squeeze properly.
MarshawnM, you're right — you're getting the same picture as you would with a 16:9 TV (with the exception of bigger black bars) but since the term "fancy letterbox" is kind of vague I can't say that your friend is outright wrong. I think technically you can call any widescreen transfer with aspect ratio greater than 16:9 "letterbox" because it will have black bars on top and bottom. Fancy may just mean that you're not loosing any resolution

 

[Jim Christian]

John is right, you gain.
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Jim
If you're interested, or own, a Sony HDTV see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sonyhs10 for >7,000 messages on making them better.