Why will my new Panny 4:3 HD only go into 16:9 mode for a 1080i signal?? (1 Viewer)

[Nick Graham]

I recently purchased a 32" Panasonic CT-32HC14, and while I love the TV, one thing is bothering me. As stated in the manual, it will ONLY go into 16:9 mode for 1080i material.
Well, the main purpose of the unit is for anamorphic 480p DVDs. I told myself at first that surely I'd never notice the difference, but I do.

When I bought my previous TV, an old 27" Trinitron, I was at first unaware that with a little visit to service mode it could do anamorphic squeeze. When I discovered this, I was astounded at the difference in clarity when I utilized that 33% extra resolution. Well, while I can't say watching a 480p disc in 4:3 mode on the Panny is a bad as it looked in 4:3 mode on the Trinitron, I do notice the lack of sharpness, clarity, and detail that was there before discovering the 16:9 squeeze on my Trinitron.

Is there any way I can get into service mode on the Panny and tell it to go into 16:9 mode for 16:9 480p content?

 

[Seth_L]

Because 1080i is a native 16:9 format and only 16:9, so the TV assumes that about it.

 

[John S]

Your perfect player will be one that scales to 1080i on component video. My HDTV is the same way, on 480p it locks full 4:3... UUHHGGG But, I do love the new player.

 

[Nick_Hu]

Hi Nick, Im about to go get this tv from walmart in a few days but theres no reviews anywhere to be found on it so i was wondering how you like the tv? Does hdtv look good and dvd still looks pretty good? I went to walmart and looked at it but couldnt tell sense there settings are messed up on all of the tvs. Thanks

 

[Nick_Hu]

Also John, You say get a DVD player that scales to 1080i do you mean like a progressive dvd player or is it some other type? Thanks

 

[Allan Jayne]

Return the TV. You don't need the aggravation.

All DVD players that scale to 1080i are also progressive. This does not mean they all do a good job of sensing 3-2 pulldown and de-interlacing the video, which is always interlaced as it comes from the first stages of electronics (the MPEG decoder).

Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm

 

[Seth_L]

Most TVs support both aspect ratios for 480p material. I'm surprised this one doesn't.

 

[Nick_Hu]

I just called panasonic and god was the lady rude but anyway, She says that the tv will only go to 16:9 mode with hdtv because its designed to do that with hdtv but it doesnt mean that it wont go into 16:9 because the dvd player is what sets it to 16:9 and all you half to do is set the dvd player options like that. What are you using for a dvd player? also what do you guys think about this do you think shes full of it?

 

[Seth_L]

Sounds potentially full of it.

There are formats for both 4:3 and 16:9 (anamorphic) 480p. 720p and 1080i are only 16:9.

720x480 (480p) can be either 4:3 or 16:9 (anamorphic)
1280x720 (720p) is 16:9
1920x1080 (1080i) is 16:9

The TV should assume the latter two are 16:9 (and rightfully so). 480p can be either, and to get the most resolution out of your DVDs the TV should be able to do 16:9 on 480p so you can set the DVD player to 16:9 and get the most possible resolution.

Return the TV. You might want to take a look at the $747 32" 4:3 HDTV (with tuner) Sanyo set at Walmart.

 

[Oachalon]

The tv automatically goes into 16:9 when it sees a 1080i signal but if u want it to go into 16:9 when u want to do 480p then you have to manually have the tv do it. On my sony you go into the last thing on the menu and then turn on 16:9 when its 480p. Look at the menu its probably in there somewhere it just doesnt do it automatically because it doesnt know if u want the picture on a dvd to be 4:3 or 16:9. With 1080i it can only be 16:9.

 

[Nick_Hu]

I downloaded the pdf of the manual and unfortanatly it says:

Aspect - This Feature is used to select the desired viewing format "only when 1080i input signal is coming threw the STB"

Note: This feature will only be selectable in menu when 1080i input signal is recieved

I really wanted to buy this tv to sense all other tvs like this have alot of problems :frowning:

 

[John S]

This is very common for sets that are 4:3 and have a native 16:9 mode.

While 480p, 4:3 looks darn good displaying the widescreen material with the player set to 4:3. 1080i out the player set to 16:9 will look better.


There are many sets that do this, I wouldn't return the display over it though. As I said your best bet will be finding a player that scales to 1080i out the component video outs.

 

[Patrick Sun]

While being a costly solution, I wound up buying a Samsung SIR-T165 to upconvert DVD input to 1080i for my older 4x3 Panasonic HDTV that only does the squeeze on 1080i input, not 480p/480i input. The T165 also acts as my HDTV tuner, so I could justify it at the time.

Nowadays, I'd probably opt to get a HDTV that will do the proper squeeze for 1080i/480p/480i.

 

[Oachalon]

my tv has a squeeze on it and you know what i cant tell the difference when i set the dvd player as having a 4:3 tv which it does or having the dvd set as a 16:9 tv and turning on the squeeze. i cannot see one difference in picture quality so ur not really missing out. My tv is a sony kp-43ht20 and my dvd player is a panasonic rp-82.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

You may be in a distinct minority with this view. I have seen several sets that have the squeeze and the difference is amazing. Are you sure your settings are correct?

 

[Nick Graham]

I'm not planning on returning it. I got it for $497 new in box at Wal-Mart while it was still selling for $920 at their website. $500 was my limit on the new TV expenditure, and I was sure I was gonna get stuck with a refurb or worse if I wanted an HD for that much, but thankfully I ran into the Panny. It now sells for $720 on their website, so I'm thinking it had to be some kind of pricing error that gave me such a steal to begin with. All else fails I will buy an upscaling player that I can't afford.

 

[BrianWoerndle]

I have a 32" JVC and it will go into 16:9 mode for anything at the push of a button.