Page 1 of Explanation of DVD + Widescreen

Could anyone explain to me exactly how Widescreen /16:9 is supposed to work?

I have an 28" Orion WideScreen TV and a Samsung 511 DVD connected via SCART. Before this I only had a video and used the Usermode to zoom widescreen videos so that they fitted the whole screen - sort of worked okay.

Now I have a DVD player I though that would be a thing of the past - I have set the DVD player to 16:9 output and set the TV to 16:9 display - yet I still get bars at the top and bottom of the screen.

I still end up using the Usermode to zoom. Annoyingly subtitles seem to appear in the black bands (Charlies Angels, when the angels are talking in chinease, being an example - now tell me that doesn`t happen with every DVD?)

Is this because I have cheap kit, or am I missing something fundemental?

Craig you have nothing to worry about.
Your tv and dvd are working fine,what you`re getting confused with is the aspect ration of the dvd picture.this comes in 4 flavours;
WIDESCREEN LETTERBOX:-a widescreen not optimised to fill the screen,just ends up in a tiny window in the middle of your w/s telly
4;3/PAN AND SCAN:-What you`d normally see on a standard non widescreen tv.on a w/s set you`d see two black bars running vertically down either side of the screen.
ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN:-This comes in two formats.the first is 1;85;1.this is the format that will fill the screen of your w/s picture.the second is 2;35;1,this is also known as `Cinemascope`,whereby the film has been shot `very wide` by the director.this is the one that causes the picture to have black bars at the top and bottom of the picture.the image you see on screen is exactly as it should be,just that the tv compensates by having to have the matte bars to show thw whole picture.Anamorphic means that during the encoding process,the picture is stretched vertically,then when the tv detects the signal,it stretches the picture horizontally to fill the widescreen image,while at the same time bringing the picture into proportion and doubling the detail that is encoded into the stretched vertical image.this then transferred into the crisp hi-res image you see on screen.
With regards to the subtitles in the black bars,dont forget the dvds are released with multi language subtitles,so the distributor has to modify the subtitles from the original movie print into something the dvd player can understand(the dvd player provides the subtitles).
So,read the back of the case first,if you see a ratio like 2;35;1(there are some derivatives on this),then you can expect to see black bars on the image.You should NOT be zooming the picture as this will just lose detail.if you see 1;85;1(again there are variations to this one),then the picture will fill the screen-sorted!!
Phew a long explanation,and yes the subtitle thing happens on other dvds(the mummy,the terminator amongst others).
Hope this clears things up for you.

Westy

Charlie`s Angels is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic.

You will still see black bars, but you shouldn`t zoom in, or you`ll be losing picture information from the sides.

Rich

Hmmm Still not 100% clear.

The TV I have has 4 modes 16:9, 4:3 and 2 user set modes.

Lets say I am watching terrastrial TV

The 4:3 leaves me with Bars down the left and right (as I would expect) on on some programs/films have small or large bars below and above - again as I would expect.

16:9 stretches everything so people look fat. It also has Bars below and above - again as I would expect.

The 2 usermodes allow me to streatch the screen, so I have set each mode to remove the bars, depending on how big they are. Mode 1 removes small black bars (usually on TV programs), mode 2 removes large black bars (usually on films).

I did buy the TV about 18 months ago, with the intention of getting a DVD player (it was also on a managers special at £299) and I expected that when I play DVDs they would output at 16:9 and I would watch them at 16:9 without the bars and without the "fattness" of the people.

So what should I set the DVD as and what should I set the TV to display as?

Set the DVD player as 16:9 and it should automatically switch your TV to the correct mode (provided you are connected via SCART which it seems you are).

When watching analogue terrestrial TV, the small black bars you are seeing are because most of it is being broadcast as 14:9 - if you try and watch that in 16:9 people will look distorted, as you have spotted.

When you watch Charlie`s Angels on DVD that is actually recorded at 21:9 (approx), which is obviously wider than your screen - that`s why you see the black bars.

Rich

my explanation sounds right,as does rich goodmans.setting the tv to 16;9 when watching dvds should give you the correct picture.HOWEVER,i have heard of some cheaper widescreen models(the wharfedale model sold at tesco was one of them),that do not support anamorphic enhancement-this is usually only accessible via an engineer menu buried deep in the tvs settings.
Unless you have digital tv then you`re not going to get full widescreen pictures anyway.analogue terestrial stations use the `compromise` ratio of 14;9 which still has small vertical black borders,whereas digital stations like sky,ntl and itv digital use the proper 16;9 format.
Im afraid that if your tv doesnt support anamorphic enhancement then you`re probably going to have to shell out for a new set(samsung do a nice 28" w/s for £400).its not worth fiddling around with engineer settings just so you can watch dvds.

Hope this helps(again)

westy

Just to clear up a point I bought a Wharfedale M8 widescreen TV a couple of months ago from Tescos and it has 4 different viewing modes and it does support anamorphic enhancement.

I`m not on a sales pitch for them but I actually bought their new M5 DVD player today. Tesco are having a vat free promo and the player was knocked down from £180 to £153 !!!. For the price the spec is hard to beat. Dolby dig/DTS plays all CD formats e.g VCV mp3 etc . Plus really easy to region hack and played RCE Charlie Angels no probs !.

Rgds

Rich

Rich you must have been lucky! the amount of explaing i had to do to some customers cause they couldnt view dvds properly was staggering! howver there was a safety issue with this set-i believe that after all the faulty sets were returned(im an employee by the way),wharfedale went back to philips and asked them for a better picture tube than the one supplied previous(which supports anamorphic enhancement).This is probably the set you bought,quite smart it is too!
Apologies for any confusion guys.

Westy(who cant believe the sun is actually shining in Cardiff!)

Okay being the person I am I tested my DVD player + TV + a selection of DVD.

Dvd setting down the left, TV along the top. The left cm no. is the edgewise "blackness" and the second No. is the top/bottom "blackness" (rounded to nearest cm)
(1) Means streatched look (2) means squashed look

Spawn - 1:85 (also Donny Brasco)

---

4:3----------¦----------16:9
4:3 LB........8cm/4cm..........0cm/4cm (1)
4:3 Pan......8cm/4cm..........0cm/4cm (1)
16:9...........8cm/4cm..........0cm/4cm (1)

Charlies Angels - 1:2:35

---

4:3----------¦----------16:9
4:3 LB........8cm/7cm..........0cm/7cm (1)
4:3 Pan......8cm/7cm..........0cm/7cm (1)
16:9...........8cm/3cm(2)......0cm/3cm

Being John Malkavitch - 1:85 Anamorphic

---

4:3----------¦----------16:9
4:3 LB........8cm/4cm..........0cm/4cm (1)
4:3 Pan......8cm/4cm..........0cm/4cm (1)
16:9...........8cm/0cm(2)......0cm/0cm

So from those results what has been said here is pretty much what I am getting - I should try to stick to 1:2:35 or preferably 1:85 Anamorphic and avoid basic 1:85 DVDs as much as possible.

I was also playing about with the TV user modes as well, and spawn at 1:85 seems to fit perfectly when stretched, but does seem to lose some resaloution. (each streatch interval seems to streatch the screen but keeps the aspect ratio)

Thanks for the extra explanations - its cleared things up a bit to what widescreen does.

This item was edited on Friday, 20th July 2001, 11:00

Westy,
I believe you are right ! I`m very pleased with the M8 and its brilliant now its paired up to the M5. The TV I bought was subject to a check by engineers but all the bloke did was come round my house take the back off the TV check serial number of part inside an announce that it wasn`t part of the faulty batch. From being initially peeved I was extremely happy when Tesco wrote to apologise for the inconvienience and as way of compensation gave me a free extended warranty on the set !!. You can`t fault their customer service from what I have seen.

Rgds

Rich

This item was edited on Friday, 20th July 2001, 11:17