WS TVs & standard dvds???

Still using my sony 36 in trinitron tube for viewing.....

If I buy a wide screen format HD tv (like a 46 or 50 in) and use a standard
dvd player (non blu-ray or HD) will there still be a top & bottom letterbox
when I watch wide screen format dvd (16:9) movie?

I would guess there would be side letter boxes when watching a full screen
format dvd (4:3).
Thanks for the help

"Capt Nemo" wrote in message
. ..
Still using my sony 36 in trinitron tube for viewing.....

If I buy a wide screen format HD tv (like a 46 or 50 in) and use a
standard dvd player (non blu-ray or HD) will there still be a top & bottom
letterbox when I watch wide screen format dvd (16:9) movie?

I would guess there would be side letter boxes when watching a full screen
format dvd (4:3).
Thanks for the help

On some DVDs (mostly older ones) you will still see the black bars, but it
has been my experience that most of the newer DVDs display correctly on a
16/9 screen with no bars, if your DVD player is configured correctly (for
16/9).

"Bob" wrote:


"Capt Nemo" wrote in message
...
Still using my sony 36 in trinitron tube for viewing.....

If I buy a wide screen format HD tv (like a 46 or 50 in) and use a
standard dvd player (non blu-ray or HD) will there still be a top & bottom
letterbox when I watch wide screen format dvd (16:9) movie?

I would guess there would be side letter boxes when watching a full screen
format dvd (4:3).
Thanks for the help

The aspect ratio of the source material will be maintained on whatever tv
you have. The blank (black) side or top bars will be added to assure that
this happens. It's just that easy.

Bob


If your DVD player output is set to 16:9 then you will get a normal
16:9 WS pix. If it remains at 4:3 letterbox then there will be black
bars top, bottom and sides

One thing I notice when I bought my 46" tv that not all DVDs are
created equal despite having 16:9 printed on the cover. They were in
4:3 LB

"Capt Nemo" wrote in message
. ..
Still using my sony 36 in trinitron tube for viewing.....

If I buy a wide screen format HD tv (like a 46 or 50 in) and use a
standard dvd player (non blu-ray or HD) will there still be a top & bottom
letterbox when I watch wide screen format dvd (16:9) movie?

I would guess there would be side letter boxes when watching a full screen
format dvd (4:3).
Thanks for the help

16:9 translates roughly to 1.78:1
Many "widescreen" DVDs retain a cinema aspect ration of 2.35:1 (about 16:7)
Such would letterbox. a DVD shot at 16:9 would fit perfectly

--
All the Best,

Richard Harison

Capt Nemo wrote:
Still using my sony 36 in trinitron tube for viewing.....

If I buy a wide screen format HD tv (like a 46 or 50 in) and use a standard
dvd player (non blu-ray or HD) will there still be a top & bottom letterbox
when I watch wide screen format dvd (16:9) movie?

I would guess there would be side letter boxes when watching a full screen
format dvd (4:3).
Thanks for the help

Depends on the movie. Most movies in recent decades are shot in two
aspect ratios: 1.85:1 or Cinemascope 2.39:1 (sometimes listed as 2.35:1
or 2.40;1). The breakdown between 1.85:1 and Cinemascope is about half
in 1.85:1 and half in Cineimascope. An anamorphic encoded 1.85:1 movie
is close enough to 1.78:1 (16:9) that it is often put on DVD with some
slight cropping. An anamorphic 2.39:1 movie will be letterboxed on a
16:9 screen taking up 75% of the height of the screen. Look at the
aspect ratio on the DVD box.

Movies over the decades have been shot in many aspect ratios depending
on the camera lenses, film, and technology used. Academy ratio of 1.37:1
was the standard up to early to mid-1950s when widescreen was
introduced. Other common aspect ratios are 1.66:1, 2.00:1, 2.20:1 (70mm
films) and 2.76:1 (most famously Ben Hur with Charleston Heston).

There are a number of websites on aspect ratios such as
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...c/welcome.html
http://www.technosound.co.uk/nav.php...hcg_widescreen
http://www.reelclassics.com/Techtalk...o-graphics.htm

Remember to reset the DVD player for a 16:9 screen when hooking it up
to a widescreen HDTV. People often overlook this and wonder why the
picture looks distorted on their new TV.

Alan F'

On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:09:31 -0500, Capt Nemo wrote:

If I buy a wide screen format HD tv (like a 46 or 50 in) and use a standard
dvd player (non blu-ray or HD) will there still be a top & bottom letterbox
when I watch wide screen format dvd (16:9) movie?

No.

I would guess there would be side letter boxes when watching a full
screen format dvd (4:3).
That would be correct, unless you stretch it out of proportion to 16:9. I
can't stand to watch one like that but others seem to have no problem
looking at a basterdized picture.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
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HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:09:31 -0500 Capt Nemo wrote:

| Still using my sony 36 in trinitron tube for viewing.....
|
| If I buy a wide screen format HD tv (like a 46 or 50 in) and use a standard
| dvd player (non blu-ray or HD) will there still be a top & bottom letterbox
| when I watch wide screen format dvd (16:9) movie?

That depends.

The DVD widescreen movies in 16:9 are only 360 lines high. If your display
is expanding what it expect to be 480 lines up to 1080 lines, a ratio of
2.25x expansion, then the 360 of those lines with content would be expanded
to 810 lines. The 60 lines above and 60 lines below would be expanded to
135 lines above and 135 lines below. That's in addition to the sides added
by tha widescreen display to fit what it believes is 4:3 content into 16:9.
So you would be seeing a boxed picture in the middle with black all around.

If your display has the ability to do a zoom, and it could adjust that 2.25x
expansion to 3x expansion, that would fit just right for content that is
using exactly 360 lines, on a 1080 line 16:9 display.

Other figures would apply if your display is 720 lines. Many displays really
have native geometries that are not exactly a video transport standard, such
as 1366x768, and so there would be a bunch of odd numbers all around.

Be sure the display you want to buy really has the zoom. Some don't. Some
do but apparently only for certain modes or input sources. Others may have
it for everything. The thing to do is test it before buying. If the store
won't set up the proper test that matches exactly how you will be using it,
then look for another store, or make sure you get *IN WRITING* an agreement
that you get all your money back and THEY come get the set to take it back
if it fails to do what you expect.

My brother's new 32" Vizio set has a zoom button on the remote, but nothing
happens when using it for any content provided. It may be a common remote
made for all the various set models.

Get a "widescreen" (I call them "shortscreen") DVD (as well as a "fullscreen"
one for reference) and bring it to the store. You might also bring your own
DVD player to be sure. Have them connect it exactly the way you would. If
you will connect with composite video, have them do the same. If you will
connect with S-video, have them do the same. If you will connect with analog
component, have them do the same.

Note that I have seen DVD content a while back (before I considered the issue
with HD displays) which was half way between "fullscreen" and "widescreen".
Zooming that at the same ratio to make "widescreen" fill the screen would
really lose even more content than was probably lost from the original due
to that DVD editing. It would help to have lesser zoom steps you could use
to make that fit as close as possible.


| I would guess there would be side letter boxes when watching a full screen
| format dvd (4:3).

That depends.

If the zoom is available, you could expand it and cut off some content from
the top and bottom, if you want.

--
|---------------------------------------/----------------------------------|
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (ka9wgn.ham.org) / Do not send to the address below |
| first name lower case at ipal.net / |
|------------------------------------/-------------------------------------|

wrote:

The DVD widescreen movies in 16:9 are only 360 lines high.

That's only true if the DVD isn't anamorphic. I only have one DVD like
that. All the others use the full 480 vertical pixels available.

My brother's new 32" Vizio set has a zoom button on the remote, but nothing
happens when using it for any content provided.

I've only seen that happen on digital TV broadcasts, where the station is
sending a full widescreen picture even thought the content may be
pillarboxed or even windowboxed.

It may be a common remote made for all the various set models.

The remote only sends commands to the set. It's up to the set what to do
with the commands.

On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 12:15:40 -0400, Kimba W. Lion kimbawlion wrote:

wrote:

The DVD widescreen movies in 16:9 are only 360 lines high.

That's only true if the DVD isn't anamorphic. I only have one DVD like
that. All the others use the full 480 vertical pixels available.

A distinction must be made when talking about "widescreen".
There are two aspect ratios to care about.
1) Signal aspect ratio. This is for TV use either 16:9 or 4:3.
The signal shall be displayed in the correct ratio to get correct
geometry.
2) Both these signal aspect ratios can have a picture content (with
surrounding, often black, bars or pillars.)

The expression "widescreen" is not enough to discribe what is meant.

(In principle the term "anamorphic" doesn't mean anything physically
relavant for an electrical video signal, altough I understand where it
comes from.)

My brother's new 32" Vizio set has a zoom button on the remote, but nothing
happens when using it for any content provided.

I've only seen that happen on digital TV broadcasts, where the station is
sending a full widescreen picture even thought the content may be
pillarboxed or even windowboxed.

Some TV:s reduce the zoom options when receiving HD signals (like
'upconverted' by a DVD player/recorder). This can affect both on HDMI
and Component inputs.

/Jan

Kimba W. Lion wrote:
wrote:

The DVD widescreen movies in 16:9 are only 360 lines high.

That's only true if the DVD isn't anamorphic. I only have one DVD like
that. All the others use the full 480 vertical pixels available.

It is a little more complicated than that. "widescreen" on DVDs is a
vague term which includes 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 movies. Anamorphic on DVD
encodes a 16:9 ratio image as 480 lines high by 720 pixels wide (yes,
the pixels are not square). A anamorphic 1.85:1 movie, which is often
slightly cropped to 1.78:1, will use all 480 lines. A anamorphic 2.35:1
movie, however, has black bars encoded in the picture data with 360
vertical lines used by the movie image. The horizontal resolution is
still 720 pixels.

In general, I should add, that movies on DVDs can look better on a HD
TV as the HD TV has the horizontal resolution to show all 720 pixels
while ye old SD CRT TV usually doesn't.

Alan F