Xytraguptorh

Are there any benefits to using a progressive scan DVD player with non-anamorphic DVDs? Assuming you were watching the non-anamorphic DVD on a widescreen TV and you used the "zoom" feature so that the movie filled the width of your screen, would the DVD look any different on a progressive scan player as opposed to a regular DVD player?

Also, do some progressive scan players automatically lock into 16x9 mode? I think I remember reading that that was a problem with one of the Pioneer models...so basically you were forced to use regular DVD player if you wanted to watch non-anamorphic DVDs and have them fill the width of your screen.

For those who have a progressive scan player, how much actual difference can you see?

Thanks!

JimRochester

You don't need the zoom feature to fill the width of the screen, the picture will still be wide. Non anamorphic is lacking the vertical resolution, so when I set my Mitsubishi to stretch it vertically, the dimensions are correct but the clarity does not match it's anamorphic counterpart.

Low RG

How are you getting your non-anamorphic DVD's to fill the width of your screen without zooming? My TV is giving me grey bars on the side with the black bars on top & bottom (pretty annoying watching DVD's like this!). I've been using the wide-zoom feature on my TV which doesn't make the picture look too bad, but is there something else I could be doing different (maybe in my set up?).
Thanks for your help.

Xytraguptorh

Oh, I thought a non-anamorphic DVD would be "windowboxed" until you (in effect) "zoomed" in on the picture, thereby eliminating the gray vertical bars on the left and right sides of the screen...like you would when watching regular TV if you didn't want to see the grey bars on the left & right.

Anyway, how much worse does it look that way? And would progressive scan have any impact on it? I know it wouldn't be as clear as its anamorphic counterpart, but does it still look pretty decent on a 65" WS TV?

audrey

Yes. Assuming you have a tv that can display a progressive signal, all DVD images encoded from a film source will benefit from progressive scan; this includes all varieties of "standard" and widescreen formats. An anamorphic DVD will still yield higher resolution than a non-anamorphic title, but both will benefit from progressive scan.

I think the issue to which you refer is that some TV's lock into a specific widescreen mode (some Toshiba's do this) which makes it difficult to watch non widescreen titles in progressive scan mode. The problems lies in the TV, not the DVD player.

FWIW:

Anamorphic titles will provide a higher resolution (more scan lines devoted to the actual image) than a non-anamorphic title when displayed on a 16:9 TV. The wider the aspect ratio of the image the greater the benefit of an anamorphic title. You need a widescreen TV to take advantage of anamorphic titles.

Progressive scan refers to how the individual scan lines are painted on the screen. Conventional TV's and dvd players use an interlaced signal where the odd scan lines (1,3,5, . . .) are painted in one pass and the even lines are painted in a second pass (2,4,6,...). In a progressive signal, all scan lines are painted in a single pass (1,2,3,4,5,6,....). To benefit from progressive scan you must have both progressive scan DVD player and a TV that will accept a progressive signal (most HDTV's for example).

So to sum up: an anamorphic DVD will work w/ any player, but requires a 16:9 TV. Progressive scan works with any DVD title but requires both a PS DVD player and a TV with progressive capability.

For more info on progressive scan check out: http://www.theperfectvision.com/howto/howto_tech_9.htm

JimRochester

I have the 55" Mitsubishi Diamond. For non anamorphic DVD's I put it in "expanded" mode which means the picture will touch both sides and stretch the picture vertically so the people aren't all short and fat. I'm sure all brands have the same capability but might have a different term for it. As far as the clarity for a 65" TV, this will vary from disc to disc and will become more apparent the larger the TV and the closer you sit. I'm only about 8.5 feet from my 55" so it's pretty apparent. Titanic looks great for non-anamorphic, so does Aramgeddon Criterion, Princess Bride is passable but I'll probably upgrade because I love spending money I don't have, on things I don't need.

Low RG

I didn't eevn realize Armageddon was non-anamorphic until I purchased my widescreen. I was slightly pissed.. I find myself looking at the back of DVD's to see if they are anamorphic before choosing what I want to watch (going for the best possible picture!). Is this just a widescreen newbie thing?


Jim,
When you're watching a non-anamorphic DVD (1.85:1) in Expanded mode, does it still leave small bars on the top & bottom? When your choosing what to watch, does it matter to you if the movie is anamorphic?
Thanks for the help,
Low RG

JimRochester

I can't think of any non-anamorphic 1.85:1 movies in my collection offhand so I can't be sure, but I believe so. I don't focus on which ones are or aren't just to watch, but I don't bother buying any that aren't anymore. There are numerous titles I would have waited for the SE had I known I was going 16x9.

Ernie6

Toshiba and Mits are two HD TV's that do not lock in "FULL" which is not really as big a problem as it used to be. The JVC 723 and Panasonic R91, there may be others, re-format a letterbox 4 x 3 DVD to 16 x9. Examples are Clear and Present Danger, White Squall and Dune 2000. The 723 does such a nice job that if you didn't know Dune was letterbox you would swear the DVD was anamorphic.

Unfortunatley not all letterbox DVD's contain the instructions to tell the player to re-format the 4 x 3 to 16 x 9. In those cases you can use the players zoom feature to format the DVD. The 723 has an excellent zoom feature.

Letterbox DVD's do improve when they are processed in progressive scan. Depending on the transfer some, Dune, Clear and Present Danger, Stargate are very nice and may not be improved very much with an anamorphic transfer. Then there are other titles like Born on the Fourth of July that progressive scan has very little effect on. A bab title is a bad title and nothing short of a new transfer can make it beter.