Imitation Anamorphic Pretty Neat
07-21-01, 10:35 AM
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Imitation Anamorphic Pretty Neat
Some of the newer progressive scan players, JVC 723 and Panasonic RP91, have a really neat feature when it comes to anamorphic widescreen. If the DVD contains the proper instructions the player can reformat a 4 x 3 letterbox, White Squall, ABYSS, Clear and Present Danger, to 16 x9 aspect ratio.
In the past 16 x 9 was associated with only the anamorphic or enhanced for widescreen process. No longer, now many letterbox DVD's can be viewed in 16 x 9, not a zoom, a true 16 x9 format. Does the picture quality improve? Yes, definitely, much better than pure letterbox but not as sharp as a true anamorphic.
Somewhere inbetween
The importance of the feature is two fold. First, many leterbox DVD's many never be remastered, reformated to 16 x 9. Second many HD TV's lock in "FULL" when accepting a progressive scan signal. These players overcome that limitation.
Unfortunatley, the feature will not work on all letterbox DVD's. For those the feature dose not work on, Titanic, Mission Impossible, Ghost and Darkenss, both players have excellent ZOOM features. Hopefully, in future DVD players like the JVC and Panasonic will provide a manual overide. For now you either use the players ZOOM or if you have a Toshiba or MITS use the TV's theater wide aspect ratios. Both the Toshiba and MITS HD TV's accept a progressive scan signal on all their aspect ratios.
I tested the leterbox DVD's I own and found 39 did not contain the 16 x 9 instructions, while 47 did. For whatever reasons MGM neglests to add the instruction to their letterbox DVD's. That is to bad because "Who'll Stop the Rain" and others will probably never be reformatted. That is why the manual overide would be a great feature.
In the past 16 x 9 was associated with only the anamorphic or enhanced for widescreen process. No longer, now many letterbox DVD's can be viewed in 16 x 9, not a zoom, a true 16 x9 format. Does the picture quality improve? Yes, definitely, much better than pure letterbox but not as sharp as a true anamorphic.
Somewhere inbetween
The importance of the feature is two fold. First, many leterbox DVD's many never be remastered, reformated to 16 x 9. Second many HD TV's lock in "FULL" when accepting a progressive scan signal. These players overcome that limitation.
Unfortunatley, the feature will not work on all letterbox DVD's. For those the feature dose not work on, Titanic, Mission Impossible, Ghost and Darkenss, both players have excellent ZOOM features. Hopefully, in future DVD players like the JVC and Panasonic will provide a manual overide. For now you either use the players ZOOM or if you have a Toshiba or MITS use the TV's theater wide aspect ratios. Both the Toshiba and MITS HD TV's accept a progressive scan signal on all their aspect ratios.
I tested the leterbox DVD's I own and found 39 did not contain the 16 x 9 instructions, while 47 did. For whatever reasons MGM neglests to add the instruction to their letterbox DVD's. That is to bad because "Who'll Stop the Rain" and others will probably never be reformatted. That is why the manual overide would be a great feature.
07-21-01, 05:20 PM
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I wasn't aware that the JVC could upsample non-anamorphic transfers like the Panny does. Are you sure that the JVC does this. I'm preparing to buy a prog. scan player within the next few months. If it does the same as the Panny then I might go with the JVC...
07-22-01, 06:12 AM
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I own a JVC 723 and it will reformat some letterbox 4 x 3 DVD's to 16 x 9. Unfortunatley it does not work on all DVD's and I suspect it's because the DVD dose contain the proper instructions. I have sent an e-mail to JVC asking why this very good feature does not work in all cases.
I know from reading threads on HTF the Panasonic RP91 also will reformat letterbox DVD's to 16 x 9, but it to fails in some cases. The feature shoud work all the time. The player knows when a DVD is not anamorphic so it should be programmed to automatically reformat to 16 x 9.
I know from reading threads on HTF the Panasonic RP91 also will reformat letterbox DVD's to 16 x 9, but it to fails in some cases. The feature shoud work all the time. The player knows when a DVD is not anamorphic so it should be programmed to automatically reformat to 16 x 9.
07-23-01, 11:33 AM
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JVC XV-721BK
I've been wanting the black version of the JVC progressive scan player, but have been unable to find it in any local stores. It's the same player, but it's just black instead of gold, which would match the rest of my equipment. I just ordered it from Crutchfield.com, which is about the only place I could find it. The gold 723 model is available nearly everywhere it seems, so I wonder why the black 721 is almost impossible to find.
07-23-01, 11:45 AM
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Re: JVC XV-721BK
Originally posted by Xytraguptorh
I've been wanting the black version of the JVC progressive scan player, but have been unable to find it in any local stores. It's the same player, but it's just black instead of gold, which would match the rest of my equipment. I just ordered it from Crutchfield.com, which is about the only place I could find it. The gold 723 model is available nearly everywhere it seems, so I wonder why the black 721 is almost impossible to find.
I've been wanting the black version of the JVC progressive scan player, but have been unable to find it in any local stores. It's the same player, but it's just black instead of gold, which would match the rest of my equipment. I just ordered it from Crutchfield.com, which is about the only place I could find it. The gold 723 model is available nearly everywhere it seems, so I wonder why the black 721 is almost impossible to find.
saintsfan
07-23-01, 12:24 PM
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No the JVC does not do the same upsampling as the Panasonic 91. The JVC is a simple zoom which lines of resolution are lost where as the Panny adds those lines back in by duplicating them.....The 91 is awesome. Spend the extra money. I will find the technical explanation and post it as well.
07-23-01, 12:32 PM
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That's what I thought Longshanks....I knew the Panny did something that not even internal doublers in RPTV's did. I'll be getting a Mitsubishi 55" WS next month and the Panny is the prog. scan player I'll be getting.
07-29-01, 01:28 AM
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Mr. Longshanks...
As an owner of the JVC, I will have to disagree with you on this. Details to follow.
Everyone else....
The 721BK (which I own) is the black model of the 723GD as stated. It is available at audioexpress.com for $325.00 ($345.00 shipped). I've had mine a little over a month and it rocks!
William Ward.....
The JVC (in addition to being one of the BEST progressive players on the market in terms of picture quality) is also a DVD-A player and has built-in DD and DTS decoders. Also, the chroma problem is absent from this player. However, the Panny 91 is a newer machine, so if you have the extra $150.00 bucks....go for it.
BV
As an owner of the JVC, I will have to disagree with you on this. Details to follow.
Everyone else....
The 721BK (which I own) is the black model of the 723GD as stated. It is available at audioexpress.com for $325.00 ($345.00 shipped). I've had mine a little over a month and it rocks!
William Ward.....
The JVC (in addition to being one of the BEST progressive players on the market in terms of picture quality) is also a DVD-A player and has built-in DD and DTS decoders. Also, the chroma problem is absent from this player. However, the Panny 91 is a newer machine, so if you have the extra $150.00 bucks....go for it.
BV
