pete1974

Why is it so bloody hard to find a Widescreen TV or a DVD player that has automatic aspect ratio detection???

When I bought my Widescreen TV (A Toshiba), it was like finding a needle in a haystack, but I found one. Recently I bought an "Up-scale" DVD player, and I thought I would go with Toshiba since that was the make of my TV and they should (theoretically) work together. The Toshiba DVD player broadcast every image as 16:9 whether it was or not.

I took the Toshiba player back to the store and had to go online and leaf through instruction manuals for various players before I found a PLAYER that has "auto aspect detection" (it was a Pioneer)

I would think that this would be a standard option on all widescreen TVs, or anything that deals with mutilple aspect ratios

Call me crazy, but I hate looking at a distorted image, and I also hate having to toggle the aspect back and forth (especially if the menus are 16:9 and the program is 4:3)

OK I'm done now (stepping off the soap-box)

so any thoughts?

Drexl

Oh, I hate this too, assuming we're thinking of the same thing. The PS3 does not upscale SD extras on BDs, so I have to switch to 4:3 mode when viewing them and then back to 16:9 mode for the movie.

However, an upscaling player should show side bars with 4:3 material. It puts the image in the middle, adds the bars on the sides, and puts out a 16:9 image so the TV can't screw it up. This is what you want, so you can leave the TV in 16:9 mode (since some can't switch on their own) and get distortion-free images with both 4:3 and true 16:9 material.

pete1974

Well, I can tell ya, the Toshibas don't

I eventually found what I needed, I'm just annoyed that I had to really search for it, that's all.


and the store employees were of little help BTW

Drexl

Well, I meant "should" as in they "ought" to do it, not that most of them actually do it.

mrhan

Oppos' have auto detection you can select in the setup.

Nick Martin

I have two widescreen TVs, and while I've never tried it with the LG, I've found that with my small Toshiba, the aspect ratio does NOT change automatically when the DVD player is set to progressive scan. Turn it off and it works. Same with closed captions.

rw2516

My Sony upscale player autodetects the aspect ratio. Player creates the side bars for 4x3 programs.

pete1974

"Oppos'"??

clckworang

^^^ Oppo is a brand of DVD player. They are really popular because they are a good upscaling player and very easy to make all region.

Jay G.

I don't think there's any way for a TV to know what the aspect ratio of the image its receiving actually is. Basically, it follows the rule that a SD image should be 4:3, and an HD image should be WS. Anamorphic WS mucks it up by presenting a WS image squeeze into a 4:3 frame. I'm not sure, but I don't think there's any flag in the signal from a DVD player to tell the TV what aspect ratio the SD image actually is.

However DVD players definitely can tell the difference between anamorphic and non-anamorphic material. All of them do this detection and convert the signal for 4:3 TVs appropriately. It's when dealing with 16:9 TVs that they seem to have mucked it up. Especially with upconverting DVD players, all of them should have an option to play 4:3 material pillarboxed in the WS signal being sent to the TV by default. Unfortunately, a lot of them don't have this ability yet, whether by oversight, laziness, or pandering to "Fill Screen" fanatics it's hard to say.

My upconverting Samsung defaults to always stretching the image to 16:9. Luckily it has an "EZ View" button on the remote that makes changing it to pillarboxed, or zooming in on letterboxed 4:3 material, fairly simple.

pat00139

ALL HDTVs have an option to squeeze in the 16x9 picture to 4x3. It's pretty easy to press a button to change that. Also, what model Toshiba player did you have? The SD6000?

I'm pretty surprised it doesn't have an auto option on it, especially considering it's an upconverting player. My 5+ year old Jaton has an auto option, and it was made before the time of upconverting players.

pete1974

I don't remember what model it was, I took it back as soon as I found out that it didn't automatically detect the proper aspect ratio.

I still say the option to have it done automatically should be standard.

pete1974

My Toshiba 32HL67 can tell the difference (it's listed in the specs), the Toshiba DVD player kept sending the wrong signal, it kept flagging 16:9 even if I was watching something that was 4:3

mrhan

http://www.oppodigital.com/

pete1974

Thankin ya Kindly!!

Jay G.

On page 41 of the User's Manual:
http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/tacpasse.../32hl67u_e.pdf

It does indeed mention an "Auto Aspect Ratio Feature" that would appear to do what you claim. However, it says it's dependent on either an "ID-1" data signature, whatever that is, or HDMI aspect ratio data.

Again, I don't think the DVD spec specifies the passing on of aspect ratio data to the TV, and I don't know if the two aspect data methods mentioned in the manuals are part of any standard.

Well, you did set your DVD player to 16:9, right?

pete1974

Yes...yes i did.

My problems regarding this have all been solved actually. I was just venting about the fact that so few widescreen TVs and other devices that deal with multiple aspect ratios don't have the option to do it automatically. Again, I would've thought that would be a standard feature.

I suppose it could be for the same reason I go public places where there are widescreen TVs and find the picture stretched out because there's no HD connection and some people just can't handle the sidebars.

pete1974

P.S. gang,

Thank you so much for all your input on this issue, I can't tell you how frustrated I was when I was dealing with it all.

Drexl

To be fair though, in public places they may have to set the TV to stretch if it's a plasma panel. I know that people with plasma TVs will tell you that burn-in isn't a problem these days, but they are regulating the set's usage. In a situation where the TV has to be left on for hours and hours (if not constantly) without any user intervention, a stretch mode makes sense if they want to save the TV, especially in a sales environment where it's a floor model they want to sell at some point.

Alan Smithee

This is why I've held off getting a widescreen TV- since many discs have some 16x9 content and some in 4x3, I refuse to have to look at either in the wrong format and manually switch it. It looks like most Blu-Ray players automatically send out 4x3 material with black bars on the side, but the Panasonic my friend has uses gray bars instead so I'll be staying away from that one!

pete1974

Well Alan,

as far as widescreen TVs go, the Toshiba 32HL67 has Automatic Aspect Detection, and if you're thinking of getting an "Up-Scale" DVD player, the Pioneer DV-410V has it as well.

Took some searching, but I found them, and I have now blazed the trail for people with a similar distaste for distorted images and having to manually switch back and forth!