Just got a new HDTV and now big borders when playing DVDs

[miri]

HDTV is 1366x768 so as expected the movie is playing in proper DVD resolution resulting in large borders around the picture

But when I try and stretch the image out, it only streches the image to the left and right of the screen and does not stretch the top and bottom of the picture resulting in a messed up aspect ratio. Im using the playstation 2 DVD player with component cables. Is there a way to increse the screen size and maintain proper aspect ratio?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

1) Set PS2 to widescreen
2) Buy a proper DVD player
3) Use a modded Xbox + XBMC to upscale
4) ... ?

- M4H

 

[GoingUp]

Originally posted by: miri
HDTV is 1366x768 so as expected the movie is playing in proper DVD resolution resulting in large borders around the picture

But when I try and stretch the image out, it only streches the image to the left and right of the screen and does not stretch the top and bottom of the picture resulting in a messed up aspect ratio. Im using the playstation 2 DVD player with component cables. Is there a way to increse the screen size and maintain proper aspect ratio?

Buy yourself a new dvd player.

Samsung 860 upconverts to HD I have it and its amazing. Also only $85! BTW, whats the aspect ratio of the movie? If its 16:9 it should fill the whole screen. 2.35:1 like gladiator will still give you bars on the top and bottom.

 

[Excelsior]

Upconversion won't solve this guys "problem".

The only way to get rid of the bars, on movies that have an AR >1.85:1 (well, even with those you will have some bars) is to use the zoom function on your DVD player.

Otherwise, deal with it.

 

[QED]

Yeah, don't use the PS2 to output a DVD... get a real DVD player.

You will still have small bars at the top and bottom of your screen, even on most widescreen DVDs-- so that's nothing to worry about.

 

[miri]

Originally posted by: Gobadgrs

Originally posted by: miri
HDTV is 1366x768 so as expected the movie is playing in proper DVD resolution resulting in large borders around the picture

But when I try and stretch the image out, it only streches the image to the left and right of the screen and does not stretch the top and bottom of the picture resulting in a messed up aspect ratio. Im using the playstation 2 DVD player with component cables. Is there a way to increse the screen size and maintain proper aspect ratio?

Buy yourself a new dvd player.

Samsung 860 upconverts to HD I have it and its amazing. Also only $85! BTW, whats the aspect ratio of the movie? If its 16:9 it should fill the whole screen. 2.35:1 like gladiator will still give you bars on the top and bottom.

top and bottom bars are fine, I just want a DVD player that streches the image left and right while maintaining the correct aspect ratio, how do I know if a DVD player will do this?

 

[miri]

When are there gonna be more HDTV channels? They look fantastic, to bad only a small percent of channels are HDTV

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: Gobadgrs

Originally posted by: miri
HDTV is 1366x768 so as expected the movie is playing in proper DVD resolution resulting in large borders around the picture

But when I try and stretch the image out, it only streches the image to the left and right of the screen and does not stretch the top and bottom of the picture resulting in a messed up aspect ratio. Im using the playstation 2 DVD player with component cables. Is there a way to increse the screen size and maintain proper aspect ratio?

Buy yourself a new dvd player.

Samsung 860 upconverts to HD I have it and its amazing. Also only $85! BTW, whats the aspect ratio of the movie? If its 16:9 it should fill the whole screen. 2.35:1 like gladiator will still give you bars on the top and bottom.

top and bottom bars are fine, I just want a DVD player that streches the image left and right while maintaining the correct aspect ratio, how do I know if a DVD player will do this?

As he already said - it will say "upconvert"

I'm quite happy with my Oppo. www.oppodigital.com

 

[notfred]

Buy a proper DVD player because PS2s completely suck as DVD players, especially with widescreen TVs. Mine was annoying enough that i just went out and bought a standalone DVD player.

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: miri
When are there gonna be more HDTV channels? They look fantastic, to bad only a small percent of channels are HDTV

It won't be for a while unless you pay extra for all of the movie channels and such, which all have HD counterparts. DirecTV has the most on their basic HD plan I think, which is only 8-10 I think. Comcast and Dish Network both only have 5 on their basic HD plan, and it doesn't show any signs of picking up soon.

Sure you get the "local" channels in "HD" but its rarely if ever HD, I have yet to see any REAL HD programming on those channels even though they say their HD. Even ESPN and ESPN 2 HD are usually not HD. Pisses me off

 

[miri]

Whats the difference between upconverting to HDTV and zoom feature?

 

[QED]

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: Gobadgrs

Originally posted by: miri
HDTV is 1366x768 so as expected the movie is playing in proper DVD resolution resulting in large borders around the picture

But when I try and stretch the image out, it only streches the image to the left and right of the screen and does not stretch the top and bottom of the picture resulting in a messed up aspect ratio. Im using the playstation 2 DVD player with component cables. Is there a way to increse the screen size and maintain proper aspect ratio?

Buy yourself a new dvd player.

Samsung 860 upconverts to HD I have it and its amazing. Also only $85! BTW, whats the aspect ratio of the movie? If its 16:9 it should fill the whole screen. 2.35:1 like gladiator will still give you bars on the top and bottom.

top and bottom bars are fine, I just want a DVD player that streches the image left and right while maintaining the correct aspect ratio, how do I know if a DVD player will do this?

As he already said - it will say "upconvert"

I'm quite happy with my Oppo. www.oppodigital.com

An upconverting DVD player is not the same thing as one that supports widescreen.

In fact, for most uses the upconverting feature on DVD players is a waste.

Just make sure the DVD player says "widescreen-compatible" or something similiar and you should be fine. In fact, I think you'd have a hard time finding a DVD player for sale nowadays that wasn't widescreen-capabable already.

 

[QED]

Originally posted by: miri
Whats the difference between upconverting to HDTV and zoom feature?

Upconverting is just resampling the output of the DVD player to some higher resolution-- usually 720p or 1080i.

This is something your TV does anyway, so in most cases all you are doing is adding a new area for your picture quality to become degraded. Unless your TV has a really bad scaler, or your DVD player has a really, really good one I wouldn't use the feature at all.

The zoom feature is, as the name implies, zooming in a portion of the picture. This is usually done to allow the content to fill the screen. In some zoom features, the picture is stretched equally in the horizonal and vertical dimension to avoid the "tall & skinny or short & stubby" phenomenom. In other zoom features, it will stretch them unequally to minimize the amount of the original image which will not be visible. Some others incorporate a non-linear stretching algorithm to blend the best features of both zoom types while minimizing obvious distortion.

 

[miri]

Originally posted by: QED

Originally posted by: miri
Whats the difference between upconverting to HDTV and zoom feature?

Upconverting is just resampling the output of the DVD player to some higher resolution-- usually 720p or 1080i.

This is something your TV does anyway, so in most cases all you are doing is adding a new area for your picture quality to become degraded. Unless your TV has a really bad scaler, or your DVD player has a really, really good one I wouldn't use the feature at all.

The zoom feature is, as the name implies, zooming in a portion of the picture. This is usually done to allow the content to fill the screen. In some zoom features, the picture is stretched equally in the horizonal and vertical dimension to avoid the "tall & skinny or short & stubby" phenomenom. In other zoom features, it will stretch them unequally to minimize the amount of the original image which will not be visible. Some others incorporate a non-linear stretching algorithm to blend the best features of both zoom types while minimizing obvious distortion.

Thanks, so it seems like getting a cheap $35 DVD player will suffice? What difference in picture quality will there be with a/v cables and component cables?

 

[QED]

Originally posted by: miri

Thanks, so it seems like getting a cheap $35 DVD player will suffice? What difference in picture quality will there be with a/v cables and component cables?

Not necessarily any $35 DVD player.

A lot of DVD players (even the expensive ones) don't do proper de-interlacing, or don't send the right flag to tell the TV how best to do it. Unfortunately, you can't really take the manufacturer's word for it when the say what it does and doesn't do... so your best bet is to look for reviews.

As far as output goes, in theory HDMI should be better than component should be better than s-video should be better than composite... but the quality of the outputs on your DVD player, and quality of the inputs on your TV, and the quality of the actual cables used will play a role in determining whats best in reality.

For instance, for non-high def source, the picture quality on my 50" HD plasma is much better through s-video than it is through HDMI.

 

[GoingUp]

Originally posted by: QED

Originally posted by: AMDZen

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: Gobadgrs

Originally posted by: miri
HDTV is 1366x768 so as expected the movie is playing in proper DVD resolution resulting in large borders around the picture

But when I try and stretch the image out, it only streches the image to the left and right of the screen and does not stretch the top and bottom of the picture resulting in a messed up aspect ratio. Im using the playstation 2 DVD player with component cables. Is there a way to increse the screen size and maintain proper aspect ratio?

Buy yourself a new dvd player.

Samsung 860 upconverts to HD I have it and its amazing. Also only $85! BTW, whats the aspect ratio of the movie? If its 16:9 it should fill the whole screen. 2.35:1 like gladiator will still give you bars on the top and bottom.

top and bottom bars are fine, I just want a DVD player that streches the image left and right while maintaining the correct aspect ratio, how do I know if a DVD player will do this?

As he already said - it will say "upconvert"

I'm quite happy with my Oppo. www.oppodigital.com

An upconverting DVD player is not the same thing as one that supports widescreen.

In fact, for most uses the upconverting feature on DVD players is a waste.

Just make sure the DVD player says "widescreen-compatible" or something similiar and you should be fine. In fact, I think you'd have a hard time finding a DVD player for sale nowadays that wasn't widescreen-capabable already.

I understand that. My point that I was trying to make was for him to get a better DVD player. I happen to have the Samsung and am quite happy with it.

 

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
1) Set PS2 to widescreen
2) Buy a proper DVD player
3) Use a modded Xbox + XBMC to upscale <--- 1080i FTW
4) ... ?

- M4H

whatever you do, get a componenet cable (if not HDMI) and set your output device to widescreen format.

 

[Baked]

What you need is Full Screen DVD.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: Gobadgrs

Originally posted by: miri
HDTV is 1366x768 so as expected the movie is playing in proper DVD resolution resulting in large borders around the picture

But when I try and stretch the image out, it only streches the image to the left and right of the screen and does not stretch the top and bottom of the picture resulting in a messed up aspect ratio. Im using the playstation 2 DVD player with component cables. Is there a way to increse the screen size and maintain proper aspect ratio?

Buy yourself a new dvd player.

Samsung 860 upconverts to HD I have it and its amazing. Also only $85! BTW, whats the aspect ratio of the movie? If its 16:9 it should fill the whole screen. 2.35:1 like gladiator will still give you bars on the top and bottom.

top and bottom bars are fine, I just want a DVD player that streches the image left and right while maintaining the correct aspect ratio, how do I know if a DVD player will do this?

That is impossible, unless you want to lose some of the image.

 

[QED]

Originally posted by: Baked
What you need is Full Screen DVD.

"Full screen" is a bit of a misnomer as it only fills a 4:3 ratio TV.

If you're goint to watch a full-screen DVD on a widescreen TV, you might as well as save yourself a couple of bucks and just watch it on VCR.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Excelsior

top and bottom bars are fine, I just want a DVD player that streches the image left and right while maintaining the correct aspect ratio, how do I know if a DVD player will do this?

That is impossible, unless you want to lose some of the image.

Think about what he is saying...

Anyway, make sure you have the PS2 set to output to a widescreen TV. I used a PS2 with an old Wega (that did 16:9 squeeze, emulating a 16:9 TV) and it worked fine. I find it hard to believe that it wouldn't also work for you. IIRC you do need component cables for that option to be available, it won't work with s-video or composite.

A standalone DVD player is much more convenient, though, & you may find it worthwhile to just buy one.

Viper GTS

 

[miri]

I fixed it by going to the ps2 dvd menu by selecting 16:9 widescreen which stretched the image top and bottom and then went to the tv menu and selected 16:9 which stretched the image sides, so now it appears fine.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: miri
I fixed it by going to the ps2 dvd menu by selecting 16:9 widescreen which stretched the image top and bottom and then went to the tv menu and selected 16:9 which stretched the image sides, so now it appears fine.

It's not so much "stretching" as it is outputting a non-letterboxed image, & telling your TV to function like the 16:9 display that it is (rather than some bastardized zoom).

Regardless, that is the correct solution. Glad to hear you have it working.

Viper GTS

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: Excelsior

top and bottom bars are fine, I just want a DVD player that streches the image left and right while maintaining the correct aspect ratio, how do I know if a DVD player will do this?

That is impossible, unless you want to lose some of the image.

Think about what he is saying...

Anyway, make sure you have the PS2 set to output to a widescreen TV. I used a PS2 with an old Wega (that did 16:9 squeeze, emulating a 16:9 TV) and it worked fine. I find it hard to believe that it wouldn't also work for you. IIRC you do need component cables for that option to be available, it won't work with s-video or composite.

A standalone DVD player is much more convenient, though, & you may find it worthwhile to just buy one.

Viper GTS

Oh, nevermind then.

edit: Looks like he has it working now anyway.