Need Help Playing 4:3 DVD on Widescreen LCD using DVP642 [Archive]

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Airw0lf

27th January 2006, 09:33

Hi everyone, I've just got myself a new 26 inch HD-Ready LCD Television. I've hooked my Philips DVP624K DVD player up to the component video inputs of the TV, which allows me to output progressive scan to the TV. In the DVD player's display settings, I've set that the TV Display as 16:9. This means that my 16:9 (and higher) discs play nicely. The problem for me is when I play 4:3 discs.

I have tried setting the TV Display in the DVP642 as both 4:3PS (pan/scan) and 4:3LB (letterbox), but in all cases the TV shows the 4:3 picture (stretched?) to fit the whole 16:9 area.

What I want is for the "untouched" 4:3 picture to display on the television (i.e., vertical black bars on the left and right). I could then flick through the display modes on the TV to crop and scale to 14:9 or 16:9. The TV display mode selector is permanently stuck at "Widescreen", and options like 14:9, 4:3 are unavailable. (When receiving 4:3 broadcast TV, I have all of the options - 4:3, 14:9, 16:9, Widescreen stretch)

Is the problem with my TV, or with the player? Sorry for such a retarded question, but I'm not used to such a fancy TV. If it is relevant, the TV is a Philips 26PF5320 - http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/catalog/product.jsp?productId=26PF5320_79_NZ_CONSUMER&activeTab=specifications&language=en&country=NZ&catalogType=CONSUMER&proxybuster=BDML0LEHZU0HTJ0RMRCSHQNHKFSESI5P

Nick Less

31st January 2006, 14:42

I've got my dvd player on 16:9 and then flip throght the tv when i heva 4:3 content.

SeeMoreDigital

2nd February 2006, 12:59

Airw0lf

5th February 2006, 09:20

I've stumbled across this issue on various forums....

When it comes to playback of MPEG-2 and 4 files, it would appear the Philips DVP6xx range of players (ie: the ones fitted with ESS's Vibratto II chip-set) suffer from quite a few playback anomalies

Cheers

Hmm I see. I haven't tried 4:3 MPEG-4 files, only DVDs so far. The only other theory I have is to do with the TV itself.

Maybe the TV does not allow changing the aspect ratio when using the component inputs. Since it is a HDTV set it probably assumes people will generally use the component inputs for high definition signals which are always 16:9. I might try input to the TV via the "old" composite video jack.

There is no mention in the manual of such a restriction.

The question really is whether the player is stretching the 4:3 signal and sending a 16:9 signal down the wires to the TV, or whether the TV is taking the 4:3 signal and stretching it to 16:9. Given your post, I am inclined to believe that the player is responsible...

SeeMoreDigital

5th February 2006, 13:13

Hmm I see. I haven't tried 4:3 MPEG-4 files, only DVDs so far. The only other theory I have is to do with the TV itself..Unfortunately none of the Philips DVP6xx range of players can detect MPEG-4 encodes with embedded AR signalling. So you will only be able to test using MPEG-2 (and maybe even MPEG-1) streams.

The question really is whether the player is stretching the 4:3 signal and sending a 16:9 signal down the wires to the TV, or whether the TV is taking the 4:3 signal and stretching it to 16:9. Given your post, I am inclined to believe that the player is responsible...If you can, try connecting the player to a different 16:9 TV. And wherever possible, use the component video connections!

Cheers