What does "Lock into Full" mean and is it good or bad? (1 Viewer)

[jeff lam]

I hear this term quite a bit and I'm thinking it's a bad thing. I don't have a newer HD set but planning on getting one soon so I need to find out if I should avoid sets that do this or not. This applies only to 16x9 set's right? What about 4x3's with squeeze applied?

 

[PhilipW]

Lock in full refers to 16x9 that when fed a progressive scan movie from a dvd they lock into full mode. If the movie is anamorphic or made for 16x9 it doesn't matter. However, older dvd's were non anamorphic and you would have black bars top and bottom with a squished picture when in progressive mode. The main culprit is the older Pioneers.

 

[jeff lam]

But what does "Full" mean. Is this what is happening when I see a 16x9 set with HUGE black bars and what seems to ba an aspect ratio af about 4:1.

Full=stretch horizontally???

 

[Jesse Leonard]

The "FULL MODE" on a 16x9 TV is the mode that is used to properly display an anamorphic image. Most 16x9 TVs have several modes, each one of them stretches the picture in different ways to properly display the image being feed. An anamorphic image needs stretched differently than a nonanamorphic image to display properly on a 16x9 TV.

For a TV that "Locks into Full" it means that when a progressive image is feed into the TV, the TV will automatically go to Full Mode and no other mode will be available. This is fine if you are playing an anamorphic DVD progressively. But if you are playing an nonanamorphic DVD or a full screen DVD, the TV will still lock to full mode and the image will be distorted. You must turn the progressive signal off and run the player in interlaced mode. Unless you have a DVD player with a built in scaler (like the Panasonic RP-91). This will autoscale a nonanamorphic DVD or a full screen DVD so that they will properly display in a Full Mode while running in progressive.

 

[Chris PC]

Full means the TV assumes that the image is a 16 x 9 shape so the TV locks onto the full 16 x 9 shape and displays it as is. If the disc is NON-ANAMORPHIC then the image is really a 4:3 letterbox, so displaying it on 16:9 you get the bars on top and bottom and the image is squished. TV's that don't lock onto full allow you to scale and zoom the image to fit the proper 16 x 9. Some DVD players like the RP-91 allow you to scale if the TV does not.

 

[jeff lam]

Is there a list of Current TV's that lock into full?

I'm looking at the Toshiba and Panasonic 34" 16x9 TV's.

One more question:
So on a 4x3 set I would just turn the squeeze off and set the DVD player to 4x3 to play a non anamorphic disc? But if the player scales, would it be beneficial to leave the squeeze on and dvd output to 16x9?

I ask because I'm also considering the sony 32" HV or HS models.

 

[Warner]

The Sonys will not be a problem. You liklely won't have to do anything at all whether you watch an anamorpic dvd or a non-a dvd. Check if the model you want has what Sony calls "auto ID1 detection". Sets so equipped will do the squeeze when it senses an anamorphic signal, and will not do the squeeze with a non-a signal, all automatically and everything will be displayed in the correct aspect ratio. You dvd player should be set up for a 16:9 tv. My only other advice would be go for a 36" if you can swing it.