dolphinboy

I have two panny plasmas and two sony blu-ray players. I set them up to play HD and never really thought about 4:3 dvds and eventually some 4:3 blus that I might own down the road.

So, the tvs are set to the Full mode. That's the recommended setting for watching blu-rays.

We have a 4:3 tv also in our bedroom next to the plasma and had been watching our older 4:3 dvds in that so as to not even concern ourselves with the possibility of burn in.

I happened to pop an episode of NewsRadio into the blu-ray player and it's a 4:3 show. Well, in the full mode it was stretched to fit the screen. I changed the format with the tv remote to 4:3 and it went to the proper black bars, but then the show somehow didn't completely fit in the 4:3 box. The title of the show was cut off and the names of the actors were cut off. The 4:3 show didn't fit in the 4:3 box.

I grabbed the manual and couldn't figure out what to do. It did mention that in 4:3 that you could change the H size (rather than the HD size in Full) of the box and that stretched the bars out a bit, but it didn't change anything with making the picture fit.

Even the menu of the Sony blu ray player didn't seem to adjust to the 4:3 box. I played with the settings on the blu-ray player and couldn't make it right. The odd tv show that we see in 4:3 that is stretched by the network like Cheers fits fine on cable tv. This only happens with the blu-ray player..

I know I'll eventually own a 4:3 blu and while I'd probably prefer to watch the Full size version of a 4:3 show on the plasma anyway, it's driving me kind of nuts not being able to decide for myself and not being able to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Anyone have any ideas of what I need to do to watch a 4:3 show to fit properly when using my blu-ray player and plasma? Thanks.

Pizza

Maybe the setting on the blu-ray player needs to be changed for 4;3 content. I know my Denon DVD player is like that.

dolphinboy

You know, I just remembered that I do have 1 bd in 4:3.

The Wizard of Oz. It automatically went to the black bars on the side in the FULL mode, but it had bars on the side and bars on the top. So, it was like watching a framed picture. I switched it to HD1 from HD2 (HD2 is the mode the manual says best shows OAR and HD1 is like overscan).

It did fit everything perfectly with the movie, but now was I stretching the film by needing to use HD1? And why did it recognize a 4:3 blu, but not a 4:3 dvd?

Ugh.

Pizza

You can't mess with blurays like you can with DVDs. I seem to recall being able to change the aspect ratio of a DVD but not with a bluray. Maybe I'm wrong.

manicsounds

Yeah, don't mess with the TV settings, check the BD player settings.

dolphinboy

Does anyone have a sony with a panny? I can't figure out what setting to mess with. I've tried the ones that look right.

And I'm wondering if anyone has watched a bd like The Wizard of Oz and gotten the picture frame look. Was I right to switch from HD2 to HD1? I mean, that made the black bars on the top and bottom disappear, but did I stretch the picture? Maybe HD1 is just right for 4:3 blu rays, I, personally don't know.

And as far as 4:3 dvds go, what setting do most people mess with when they pop in Buffy or any 4:3 show? I mean, to be honest, when News Radio was stretched, I couldn't even tell...that was when it was in the Full mode. So, I don't have ANY problem watching things like that. I'd like to just know how to get it right, should I ever want to watch 1 thing in its OAR on DVD.

I guess, now that I've tried, I'm more worried about blu-rays in 1.33:1. I don't want to be stretching The Wizard of OZ, but it's impossible for me to tell if changing to HD1 stretched it OR if you are just supposed to watch a 1.33:1 blu ray in HD1 if you don't want bars on the top and bottom.

Obi-Wanma

I don't mess with any settings on my TV. My BD player has an option specifically for how you want it to display 4:3 content. My TV is in widescreen mode all the time. I never touch the settings on the TV, it stays at 16:9 and all my content displays OAR.

dolphinboy

What is the setting called on your blu-ray player that is specifically for 4:3 content? Is it under video settings? I've tried several settings and nothing changed, but maybe I'm missing what I need to find and switch and a name on your might give me a clue of what to look for on my Sonys.

Thanks.

davidlynchfan

I had the same problem and it lies within the Sony BD player. You gotta go to video setting >> screen format >> and select: fixed aspect ratio.

This guys review explains it:
http://www.avforums.com/reviews/Sony...er-Review.html

DaveNinja

yeah i had this same problem with my sony Blu-ray player hooked to my sony tv. it would stretch the 4:3 dvds. turned out it was the badly named setting mentioned about (fixed aspect ratio). now everything is fine

dolphinboy

Thanks!

I messed with every setting and found that to be the culprit last night. It certainly wasn't clear based on the manual or in the settings, as to what the heck that was for. I've had it set to original the whole time.

Now it's set to "fixed" and I understand what it does now, because once I found the right setting, it was then possible to goggle it. Clearly, others had the same problem. I do like my Sonys a lot, but I hear their customer service is terrible and I'm guessing other companies have their settings better explained.