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An occasional problem with "aspect ratio"
#126060 01/29/06 10:25 PM
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I have two movies that I own that seem to have a weird anomaly with regards to the aspect ratio. They are The American President and The Abyss Special Edition. They are both 2.35:1 movies.

I'm using a Pioneer 578 through my Denon 3805 and into my Samsung HL-P4663 DLP.

When playing these two discs, I get only a small display in the center of the screen, approximately like so: (simulated picture)

The above simulates what I'm getting with the player set to widescreen, progressive output, and the monitor set to 4:3. If I set the monitor to 16:9, the image stretches across the full width but looks stretched.

The only way I can mostly fill the screen is to go into the pioneer's menu and turn off the progressive scan. Then, and only then, my Samsung gives me the ability to "zoom" into the image and essentially fill the screen. Neither option is really acceptable: Either a small, good looking picture or a large, non-progressive "zoomed" image.

Now, I understand that the 2.35:1 ratio is going to be much wider than 1.85:1, etc… but why isn't my image still at least filling the screen side to side? I know I'll have black on top and bottom, but why on the sides?

Is this just a weird Samsung anomaly, or are the discs not "flagged" correctly or something?



::::::: No disrespect to Axiom, but my favorite woofer is my yellow lab :::::::
Re: An occasional problem with "aspect ratio"
#126061 01/29/06 11:35 PM
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Mark, my guess is that those DVDs are not anamorphic widescreen. Normally the image is compressed and then stretched to fill the screen. Sounds like the images are stored on the DVD in a normal ratio.

Hopefully someone with a LOT more technical knowledge can chime in.

I have a couple foreign DVDs that I get black bars all the way around. If I stretch the image I can't read the subtitles.


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Re: An occasional problem with "aspect ratio"
#126062 01/30/06 12:13 AM
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Wow, when The Abyss looks like a cast picture from M*A*S*H you do have a display problem...


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Re: An occasional problem with "aspect ratio"
#126063 01/30/06 12:29 AM
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With the monitor set to 4:3, you will always have black bars on the left and right. This would be normal. A true 4:3 source program would fill the height, but still have the side bars. The 16:9 setting for the TV monitor should be the correct setting to fill to the sides. You would have black bars on top and bottom to fill in the difference from the 1.78 to 2.35 ratio of the film. It "shouldn't" look stretched at that setting, but I can't explain if you are seeing different. ?


-Dave

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Re: An occasional problem with "aspect ratio"
#126064 01/30/06 12:34 AM
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axiomite
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Mark, just sit REALLY close to the TV and then everything will look widescreen!


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Re: An occasional problem with "aspect ratio"
#126065 01/30/06 02:25 AM
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I had something similar happen with my first version of "The Princess Bride". The picture had a border all around the image, and that was even in 16:9 mode. Later I found out it was the way the DVD was produced. Later they came out with a special edition that works normal in 16:9 mode. Not sure what your problem is Mark..


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Re: An occasional problem with "aspect ratio"
#126066 01/30/06 01:43 PM
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In reply to:

The 16:9 setting for the TV monitor should be the correct setting to fill to the sides. You would have black bars on top and bottom to fill in the difference from the 1.78 to 2.35 ratio of the film. It "shouldn't" look stretched at that setting, but I can't explain if you are seeing different. ?



When the DLP is in 16:9 widescreen, the image definitely looks stretched... though I'll admit it's relatively subtle...some might not even notice. But faces look a little wide and, more telling, circles are a little oval!

In reply to:

Later I found out it was the way the DVD was produced. Later they came out with a special edition that works normal in 16:9 mode. Not sure what your problem is Mark..



I'm assuming that this is the problem...or the Samsung has a weird glitch that it just doesn't handle that ratio well or something.

My first thought was that it was The American President DVD...which I was surprised was 2.35:1. It's a bit older than some discs and is only a "regular, run-of-the-mill" edition. But when I popped in The Abyss, which is a super-duper Deluxe Collector's Edition, and it did the same thing, I thought it was odd that they would not have authored the disc correctly... though I've often been surprised at how often a commercial release has an overlooked fault.

I'm going to see if I can get my hands on another couple of 2.35:1 discs (regular and anamorphic) and see what happens....


::::::: No disrespect to Axiom, but my favorite woofer is my yellow lab :::::::
Re: An occasional problem with "aspect ratio"
#126067 01/30/06 03:55 PM
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In reply to:

my guess is that those DVDs are not anamorphic widescreen




This is the problem. It is letter boxed.

Last edited by bugbitten; 01/30/06 04:21 PM.
Re: An occasional problem with "aspect ratio"
#126068 01/30/06 04:59 PM
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But even if they are letterboxed, shouldn't they fill the screen side to side?


::::::: No disrespect to Axiom, but my favorite woofer is my yellow lab :::::::
Re: An occasional problem with "aspect ratio"
#126069 01/30/06 05:28 PM
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In reply to:

But even if they are letterboxed, shouldn't they fill the screen side to side?




Not if your monitor is set to 4:3 mode. In 4:3 mode for the display you would always have black bars on the sides.

If the DVDs are not anamorphic, then the player is outputting a 4:3 image regardless if you choose fullscreen or widescreen on the DVD.

You are using the widescreen image but the output is still 4:3 (just with black bars on top/bottom). So when you tell your monitor to use 16:9 mode, it stretches this 4:3 widescreen image accross the width of your TV (making it look stretched/wider).

I would agree that it is probably the DVD's themselves. If they are not anamorphic, then they only look right on a 4:3 TV.

Could be your player not interpreting the aspect ratios from the DVD correctly. Take the DVD's to a friends with a different setup (but still a 16:9 display) and see.

Last edited by dllewel; 01/30/06 05:42 PM.

-Dave

M80s VP150 QS8s EP500s
ravenmanor.com/cinema/
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