Shriek Show/Tokyo Shock - listed as 16x9, plays as full frame
06-21-06 | 07:08 PM
#1
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 4,590
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
From: In my secret underground lair, plotting to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! Bwuaaahahahaha!!
Shriek Show/Tokyo Shock - listed as 16x9, plays as full frame
Has anyone else run into this problem? I have heard of this being fairly widespread...
It seems to be standard on all my Shriek Show/Tokyo Shock DVDs (all from Media Blasters, I think...)
I am playing on the original Apex AD-600a (with the secret menu,) and I have the DVD player TV setting on "Standard/Letterbox."
The anamorphic picture is squeezed down into the 1.33:1 frame of my TV, so I'm not missing any picture, but I can't stand to watch 8-foot tall skinny aliens walk around instead of humans... Of course, on a wider picture, I get some black bars, for instance Anthropophagus was 2.35:1, I believe, but it appeared to be 1.66:1 or 1.78:1 on my TV.
I haven't been exactly thrilled with some of the Shriek Show or Tokyo Shock DVDs, but then, they have mostly been very cheap, so I guess you get what you pay for...
It seems to be standard on all my Shriek Show/Tokyo Shock DVDs (all from Media Blasters, I think...)
I am playing on the original Apex AD-600a (with the secret menu,) and I have the DVD player TV setting on "Standard/Letterbox."
The anamorphic picture is squeezed down into the 1.33:1 frame of my TV, so I'm not missing any picture, but I can't stand to watch 8-foot tall skinny aliens walk around instead of humans... Of course, on a wider picture, I get some black bars, for instance Anthropophagus was 2.35:1, I believe, but it appeared to be 1.66:1 or 1.78:1 on my TV.
I haven't been exactly thrilled with some of the Shriek Show or Tokyo Shock DVDs, but then, they have mostly been very cheap, so I guess you get what you pay for...
06-30-06 | 11:46 AM
#7
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 525
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From: Antarctica
Ya, I have that same old Apex (secret region/macro menu) and I noticed that when playing some SS discs, they display full-frame no matter what the settings are. So now I just make sure to watch SS discs on a different player.
06-30-06 | 09:29 PM
#8
DVD Talk Reviewer
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 506
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From: Northern Virginia
I'd suggest getting a better player when you can afford it. I once owned one of those Apex players and it had several problems. The biggest one was that anamorphic PAL discs would not display properly on a 4:3 TV. Also, the occasional NTSC movie (like Shaolin Soccer) would also not display properly. The solution was to get rid of the Apex.
