"Widescreen Version..."

[brttlt]

enchanced for 16:9 TV's"
Does this mean that it will cover my whole screen? After reading all these threads it sounds like films done in the 1:88.1 and above will probably have black bars!

[Hollow Man]

If you have a widescreen (16x9) TV, the only movies that will fill the entire screen are those with that ratio (1.85:1). Any other movie will have some black on the top and bottom (for ratios that are wider, such as 2.35:1) or on the sides (your normal TV programs).

Modern TVs allow you to adjust this so you don't see any bars, BUT, this will either a) stretch/distort the picture or b) make you lose information on the edges.

-HM

[brttlt]

so then what does "enhanced for 16x9" do for me? Black bars?

[I 8 Piglet]

not quite...

First - only material that is 1.78:1 will fill the entire screen. 1:85 material will still have small black bars. (There are stretch modes but thats another thread)

Second - enhanced for widescreen is the same as anamorphic widescreen, that means that it automaticly sizes itself properly for a 16:9 tv. Non anamorphic discs will play in a 4:3 window, with black bars on the top and bottom, and you need to use your tvs (or dvd player if it has the option) strech mode to fit it properly.

[chipmac]

Originally Posted by brttlt

so then what does "enhanced for 16x9" do for me? Black bars?

Enhanced for Widescreen or Anamorphic encoding have nothing to do with "black bars". The bars are there to fill in the space that is unused on your display when a movie is shown in and aspect ratio that does not fill your display. The enhancement is for the fact that the disc is using more horizontal resolution on a 16:9 display than when shown on a 4:3 display. These anamorphic discs remove every third or forth line to display on a 4:3 display but they use all of the resolution and remove nothing on a 16:9 display. Black bars are a good thing in that it makes sure you're seeing the movie in it's intended AR without any cropping or zooming so you're not missing any of the image.

[tomdkat]

Make sure you read this and do a search on "anamorphic" or "black bars" in this forum to find other discussion of this topic, if the above info doesn't answer your questions.

Peace...

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by chipmac

Black bars are a good thing in that it makes sure you're seeing the movie in it's intended AR without any cropping or zooming so you're not missing any of the image.

Or at least not very much of the image...

Peace...

[snipsnapsappy]

Here is a link to an excellent discussion of what anamorphic widescreen is. You will also be able to learn about different aspect ratios here.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...hic/index.html

Tom, you beat me to it.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by snipsnapsappy

Here is a link to an excellent discussion of what anamorphic widescreen is. You will also be able to learn about different aspect ratios here.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...hic/index.html

Well, that settles it.. great minds DO think alike...

Peace...

[chipmac]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

Or at least not very much of the image...

Peace...

Tom let's not go there. That will just confuse things for him even more at this point.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by chipmac

Tom let's not go there. That will just confuse things for him even more at this point.

Fair enough....

Peace...

[Hollow Man]

I rally wish there was a way for my DVD player to compensate for my TV's overscan. Annoying as all hell.

-HM

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

I rally wish there was a way for my DVD player to compensate for my TV's overscan. Annoying as all hell.

If you had a Toshiba DVD player, you could use the player's Zoom modes to help some... MurDiddly's the "expert" on that...

Peace....

[Hollow Man]

Too bad I have the Pioneer DV-563a. It kills me every time I watch The Phantom Menace how I can't see when Darth Maul uses a piece of debris to open the doors during the dual. Oh well, I always have my PC.

-HM

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

Too bad I have the Pioneer DV-563a.

I know what you mean. I just don't understand why Pioneer DVD players don't have any Zoom modes or capability like Toshiba and other players do.... Maybe it's related to their choice of MPEG decoder... who knows....

Peace...

[Hollow Man]

Well, the player does have a zoom, but what will this do for me?

-HM

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

Well, the player does have a zoom, but what will this do for me?

Wow, I didn't know that... If the Zoom capability is good enough, you can Zoom the image 'out' to help compensate for your TVs overscan. MurDiddly used his Toshiba SD-4800 in this way to preserve sub-titles on non-anamorphic material.

Peace...

[Hollow Man]

It isn't that good. As far as I can tell, it only allows me to zoom in. Which is mostly useless...

-HM

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

It isn't that good. As far as I can tell, it only allows me to zoom in. Which is mostly useless...

Do you want to control all formatting of DVD video or just non-anamorphic material? I'm not sure of any DVD players that adjust anamorphic material. Maybe the Toshibas will zoom in and out on anything being played...

If you're feeling adventurous, you could always try to adjust the overscan settings of the TV yourself. I wouldn't do this, but you might find great instructions on how to access the service menu and adjust the overscan settings for your TV. Or you could ask Santa for ISF calibration for Christmas....

Peace...

[Hollow Man]

Yeah, ideally I just want to get rid of the overscan. It would be nice if it was easy, but I figured I had to break open the TV to do it.

What I really need is a widescreen tube of some sort...

-HM

[MurDiddlyUrdler]

I don't know if I can be accurately called an "expert" on anything, but I do have a Toshiba SD-4800 as tomdkat said and it does have awesome capabilities for both zooming in and out as well as zooming for non-anamorphic DVDs. I was essentially able to reduce the overscan on DVDs down to less than 1% using the zoom on the Toshiba. Only problem with this is that when you zoom out on an image, you reduce the quality of that image, but it's not bad in this case.

What kind of TV do you have Hollow Man? I was able to reduce the overscan on my Mitsubishi WS-55413 on all inputs, not just DVD, to between 4 and 5% all the way around by making changes in my service menus on my TV. Not something that I would recommend that you do without first knowing what it is that you're doing. HomeTheaterSpot.com is a terrific resource for this type of information. By reducing the overscan on my TV itself, I no longer need to use my DVD player's zoom to reduce overscan.

[Hollow Man]

It's a lousy Sharp 27" TV that I inherited from an ex-girlfriend. Old by today's standards - it doesn't have svideo or component in. I'll figure out the model number when I get home. I looked briefly on HomeTheaterSpot, but I didn't see any obvious place where this info is stored. In the forums?

Thanks for all the help; it would be great if I could reduce the overscan.

-HM

[chipmac]

On that TV I think you'll be hard pressed to find a service menu code to be able to reduce overscan. AV forums like the Spot tend to focus more on the higher end displays like RPTVs, and the other HDTV models. If it's an older model there may be pots in the back to adjust screen size but don't make any fast drastic moves because you can go to far and fry the TV. I know since I did this with an old computer monitor once.

[tomdkat]

Here's another thread worth reading...

Widescreen TV's and black bars

Peace...