I have a few DVDs that are formatted in widescreen and some in full screen. i have a high def. tv but do not have acess to a HD signal. my tv is a full size screen and not the long screen. the movie i purchased is made in anamorphic wide screen with a 1.85 ratio. how will this look on my full size screen ? I know my dvd player and /or my tv have options on changing picture shapes, but i am not sure if changing the picture shape will ruin the picture cutting off some of the edges or tops ? any help will be appreciated.
Bert

I have a few DVDs that are formatted in widescreen and some in full screen. i have a high def. tv but do not have acess to a HD signal. my tv is a full size screen and not the long screen. the movie i purchased is made in anamorphic wide screen with a 1.85 ratio. how will this look on my full size screen ? I know my dvd player and /or my tv have options on changing picture shapes, but i am not sure if changing the picture shape will ruin the picture cutting off some of the edges or tops ? any help will be appreciated.
Bert
the movies i am talking about are special order and have not arrived yet.

You have a 4x3 HD TV?

Incredible as it may seem, some 4x3 HDTVs have been made. The logic escapes me. I knew a guy who bought one about 4 years ago. He seemed to be under the impression that there would be a "format war" between 16x9 and 4x3 (go figure). Apparently, he wasn't aware that broadcasters had universally adopted 16x9 as the standard.

I have to say that I probably can't be whole lot of help answering the specific question. I'll take this guess: If you have a 4x3 HDTV, you can set your DVD player to 16x9 (go into the player set up menu). You should have some kind of "16x9" aspect ratio choice for you TV. Theoretically, this should display an anamorphic DVD at maximum resolution without losing anypicture. If you don't set your player to 16x9, you'll never "unlock" the anamorphic enhancement. You'll get a 1.85:1 picture but you will have to zoom it and you'll lose resolution. You must set the player to 16x9.

This thread also raises an interesting question of semantics. I can't say I think very highly of the idea that a narrow screen TV is called "full size".

But, again, this is an issue that will eventually dissappear on it's own. The 4x3 narrow screen sets have pretty much fallen off a cliff. 25% of homes will have 16x9's by the end of the year. Narrow screen sets will exist as a legacy just because there are so many of them. It will take years for them to dissappear. But people won't be buying new ones.

I have both a wide screen TV and a regular size screen tv. A wide screen movie looks the same on both TVs. Nothing is cut from a wide screen movie to fit the small screen. On the regular TV a wide screen movie gives what is called a "letter box" view. There is a large black space above and below the viewing area. You see the entire movie.

my tv screen measures 19 1/2 inches high X 25 1/2 inches wide i never noticed that until i just measured it. what i meant by shaped like a regular tv is, it is not narrow height wise and long length wise. to set the different picture shapes, i guess that is done in the menue somewhere ? i know that my remote for the tv has a pin shape that has letter box, normal ,and zoom. so i guess this is how you change the picture appearance.

my tv screen measures 19 1/2 inches high X 25 1/2 inches wide i never noticed that until i just measured it. what i meant by shaped like a regular tv is, it is not narrow height wise and long length wise. to set the different picture shapes, i guess that is done in the menue somewhere ? i know that my remote for the tv has a pin shape that has letter box, normal ,and zoom. so i guess this is how you change the picture appearance.
mine is a sanyo tv

my tv screen measures 19 1/2 inches high X 25 1/2 inches wide i never noticed that until i just measured it. what i meant by shaped like a regular tv is, it is not narrow height wise and long length wise. to set the different picture shapes, i guess that is done in the menue somewhere ? i know that my remote for the tv has a pin shape that has letter box, normal ,and zoom. so i guess this is how you change the picture appearance.

25 1/2" x 19 1/2" is 4x3. For the math minded, the aspect ratio on the former works out to 1.31:1 and for the latter it is 1.33:1 (within the margin of measuring error).

"Shaped like regular TV" is another one of those terms that is becoming obsolete. When I learned to fly (1976), we used a lot text books that were orignally written in the 1950s. They referred to airplanes with tailwheels as having "conventional landing gear". Of course, by 1976, few airplanes had tailwheels but the old guys still called called them "conventional" :). When I go into a local electronics store, 80% of the sets are 16x9. So if I want to see a regular TV, the salesman will show me a widescreen.

Back to your point, if your TV really is HD (and there are HD 4X3 sets), you'll want to set your player to 16x9. If you don't, you will still get a proper looking picture but it won't be at it's best resolution. This is one of the problems with setting up everything for proper viewing on and HD set. Because the picture may be shaped right, people may be unaware that they aren't seeing things at maximum resolution. People have been known to spend years watching widescreen anamorphic DVDs at the wrong setting without knowing they werent' seeing full resolution.

So that is something you may have to play with.

thanks brent, i dug deep into the user manuals of the tv and dvd player and it said that a wide screen picture (DVD) will work with it and it will show in letterbox format and not be cropped of the edges. so if i set the dvd player to 16x9 the picture will look much better then it would viewing it in its default setting of letter box ?yep i bought the tv 6 months ago and it is a hi def set, just don't have a hi def or digital signal coming through, need a special box from our cable company and i am thinking about getting the componet cables to hook up from the dvd to the tv, the manuals both say by doing that i can see a much better picture/ sound from my dvd player.they say this setup is even better than the S cable setup

What connections do you have on your HD TV?

If you have an HDMI connection, you can buy an artificially upscaling DVD player that will upscale non-HD DVD's(all but a few DVD's released in the last two weeks are NON-HD) to artificially simulate 720p or 1080i and connect it via HDMI.

That would be the best way to watch any DVD you currently have, anamorphic widescreen(which will momentarily become obsolete) or not.

If you instead have DVI you can buy an HDMI to DVI cable and connect it that way.


N.B. Toshiba makes one that includes an HDMI cable for about $100 bucks. Sony makes one that plays a few more formats(mostly home-burned formats) for $150 but doesn't include the $90-120 dollar cable.

thanks brent, i dug deep into the user manuals of the tv and dvd player and it said that a wide screen picture (DVD) will work with it and it will show in letterbox format and not be cropped of the edges. so if i set the dvd player to 16x9 the picture will look much better then it would viewing it in its default setting of letter box ?yep i bought the tv 6 months ago and it is a hi def set, just don't have a hi def or digital signal coming through, need a special box from our cable company and i am thinking about getting the componet cables to hook up from the dvd to the tv, the manuals both say by doing that i can see a much better picture/ sound from my dvd player.they say this setup is even better than the S cable setup

OK then. If you have an HD set (which you do), you will get a much better picture on an anamorphic DVD with everything set properly.

As I said, the real key is to get your DVD player set to 16x9. That's where it has to start because that will unlock the enhancement and send the full 16x9 transfer into your TV. If you don't make that adjustment, the player will assume that you have a 4x3 set and it will send the lower res picture into your set. So get the 16x9 setup into your player first. Once that is done, you'll have to "fiddle" with the aspect ratios on your TV. I can't tell you what setting is correct on your TV because differnt makes and models have different names for various display options. Just keep working it until the picture looks right.

Component cables are better than S-video.

The progressive scan feature also won't work without using component cables.

But if you don't already have component cables though, good ones cost about $40.
Save your pennies and spend another $60 and get the Toshiba upscaling DVD for $100 with the HDMI cable included.

Related to this - how about watching full-size images on widescreen TV? I've watched quite a bit of it over the years at vertical or 4:3 setting, getting the black sidebars - I'd heard way back when, "no, don't do this, will ruin your display by burning the bars into the sides" or some such perhaps apocryphal caution - what about it? Everything seems fine to me, 2 years of sometimes heavy TV-set usage........

Most manufacturers now use gray. Less a problem. Plus many many models over the last few years have incorporated pixel-shifting technology that almost eliminates the possibility.

But on yours, what type of display, manufacturer is it? Year and model #?

Related to this - how about watching full-size images on widescreen TV? ........

Seriously, we have to get away from calling narrow screen images "full size". If an image fits in the middle of your screen with black or gray bars at the sides, it ain't full size.

Seriously, we have to get away from calling narrow screen images "full size". If an image fits in the middle of your screen with black or gray bars at the sides, it ain't full size.

My brother you are caught up in the minutiae. I saw your response as the proverbial manna until I read it and fell to the ground. wracked with sobs that the widescreen guru of Hobbytalk had failed to come to grips with my posited technological devastation scenario.

Please, I beg you for your thoughts on this.........................

OK then. If you have an HD set (which you do), you will get a much better picture on an anamorphic DVD with everything set properly.

As I said, the real key is to get your DVD player set to 16x9. That's where it has to start because that will unlock the enhancement and send the full 16x9 transfer into your TV. If you don't make that adjustment, the player will assume that you have a 4x3 set and it will send the lower res picture into your set. So get the 16x9 setup into your player first. Once that is done, you'll have to "fiddle" with the aspect ratios on your TV. I can't tell you what setting is correct on your TV because differnt makes and models have different names for various display options. Just keep working it until the picture looks right.

Component cables are better than S-video.
OK, now that i have my movies and my dvd set, i tried using the 16x9 ratio and it elongated everything in the picture, a basketball is now shaped like a football, so back to the 4x3, also, i want to get the componet cables, how about the digital audio hookup cables ? will i need those if i run componet cables ? my tv has dolby digital, however, my stereo system says nothing about dolby anywhere on IT.

i run the sound from tv, vcr (mono) and dvd through the tv audio input and it comes out of my stereo

Couple of things.

Out of curiosity, what's the model number for your TV?

And what are the DVDs?

Also, triple check to make sure that 16x9 ratio actually "took" when you set your player.

Here's why I say that: The problem that you describe is EXACTLY what happens when you set your TV to 16x9 but your DVD player is still putting out a 4x3 picture.

Your player puts out the normal "tall" 4x3 picture and the 16x9 screen mode will flatten it.

This could happen because the 16x9 setting didn't take (some systems may require you to hit a button to "Enter" the setting). It can also happen if the disc is not anamorphic. There are a small number of mislabeled discs...such as THE ABYSS which claims to be anamorphic but is not.

So let's get the model number of the TV and find out if "16x9" on that set means the same as it does on other sets. And lets get the name of the DVD to make sure they are anamorphic.

It's either the set, the player, or the DVD so lets eliminate the various possiblities one-at-a-time.


*BTW, I'm not half-ass guessing because I've done this type of set up on my mother's TV set. It's also a 4x3 set but has a 16x9 screen ratio setting. I've set her DVD player for 16x9 and it works perfectly on anamorphic widescreen movies.

...failed to come to grips with my posited technological devastation scenario.

Please, I beg you for your thoughts on this.........................

Sorry, I get distracted very easily :).

I really wouldn't worry too much about watching 4x3 images in a 16x9 set.

I've had my set for just over 3 years nows (in fact, I can tell you it was delivered on May 12, 2003 as an after-surgery gift to myself).

I have it on an average of 7 hours per day. I would guesstimate approximately 2.0 to 2.5 hours per day is in the 4x3 mode. For regular, crappy reruns, I just use an expanded stretch mode but for good TV or DVDs of old movies, I use the proper 4x3 ratio.

My set generates grey bars although that can be adjusted to black (which I sometimes do). I have detected absolutely no evidence at all of burn in. None. I personally belive that watching 4x3 on 16x9 is one of the lesser burn in problems.

Often, when people experience real burn in problems (which I have on my old computer monitor), it is from some stationary picture element...specifically those little bugs in the corner. One fellow said that, during the gulf war, he had his TV tuned to a news channel all day for a couple of weeks. Sure enough, a ghost of that little logo now appears permanently whenever he watches anything. It's very rare to hear of people who can honestly point to examples of the burn in from the side bars. But normal precautions are in order. Don't leave your TV in the factory default "torch mode" with brightness and contrast turned up to 100%. Back the setting off to 50% or less. And ask yourself if you really need to use the 4x3 mode to watch the same old rerun of MASH for the 10th time. You'll be fine if you just use the 4x3 mode when you are really watching TV. Don't leave it sitting on 4x3 all day while you are out sipping a beer on the porch.

Thanks Brent! Obviously, I needed the reassurance. Don't want no sideburns!Everything you say here makes sense to me and is all similar to my experience.