DVD Player or TV truncates image?
 

I’ve never seen anyone else mention this, so I thought I’d ask you guys. Have you ever noticed that the image seems truncated on the left and right on DVDs when you play them on a regular DVD set-top box on a television? I noticed this when I got a computer with a DVD-ROM drive and watched a movie. I checked a 1:2.35 aspect ratio film (The Fast and the Furious), and noticed that the image was indeed cut. The frame I used was a frame-filling picture of the green Eclipse in the baseball parking lot during the first chapter when Brian is introduced. On the television the Eclipse on the left side of the frame was cut, whereas I could see the full car and a little bit of space on the computer. The affected parts are very small and minute, but it still bugs me. This phenomenon annoyingly affects 1:1.85 ratio films especially. I have an older Toshiba SD-3109 DVD player and a 5-year-old Mitsubishi 35” TV that I’m running it on. Has anyone else experienced this?

MikeD03C

I believe what you are describing is called "over-scan" and most if not all direct-view tvs do it. I know I first noticed it watching "The 13th Warrior" The titles, which are all to the extreme edges, had a letter or two missing on my TV, but not my computer. It sounds like you've got it worse than I. I've never heard it described as truncating but I suppose that works.

Hope that helps. Welcome to the forum!

Bats

Hmm. Interesting. At least I know I'm not a victim to bad equipment. Thanks for the info.

MikeD03C

This can be adjusted by a technician, by the way. To see how bad your overscan is, use the test patters on the AVIA Guide to Home Theater test disc or a DVD that has the THX Optimizer feature. Most people try to go for about five percent overscan.

Yep. I ran a THX Optimizer, the left side of the 4:3 guide is cut off. Thanks for the info.

MikeD03C

How bad was your overscan?

If you decide to have it adjusted, let me know how much it costs. I've always thought about having mine adjusted, but I'm not sure it's bad enough in my case to warrant the expense.

Here is a photo of the test. I'm not sure how much of an error percentage that is.

http://www.pbase.com/image/1261568

MikeD03C

That test pattern is to show that you have your TV and DVD player are set to display a 16:9-enhanced image correctly (i.e. that the circle is round, not an oval).

There shouls be another test pattern that has a series of rectangles with percentages written in them to determine overscan. I'm at work right now, so I can't access an Optimizer to tell you how to get to that pattern, but it would be worth looking for if you have the time.

Based on the pattern in the photo, though, you do have a significant amount of overscan on the left. In fact, if your TV is still under warranty, I'd bitch about it and try ot get it set for free.

Ah, you're right, the description does say the test is for testing 4:3 compliance. Unfortunately, I could not find the proper testing pattern you described. I am using the THX Optimizer built into the special edition of Pearl Harbor.

Thanks for your help
MikeD03C