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Widescreen DVD to HDTV with composite cables = 4:3?

L

Lifted

Diamond Member
Is this to be expected? Father has an older DVD player which only has S-Video and Composite outputs. The new TV doesn't have S-Video, so he used the composite cables, but what should be widescreen movies come through in widescreen wrapped in a 4:3 shell (4:3 letterbox format) , so the image can't be zoomed in to fullscreen, just widened which makes the actors look short and fat.

I've never had this issue with HDMI cables, so I'm figuring this is just a composite cable issue and told him to pony up $40 bucks for a newer upscaling DVD player with HDMI or a blu-ray player. Is my suspicion correct?
 
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You should be able to widen and zoom on an S-Video input. I do it here and on my girlfriends TV. Actually the input should irrelivant. It may be hidden under a theater mode or something in the TV menu.
 
I'd stand by telling him to pony up for an up scaling DVD player. Heck, aren't there some BR players now that are in the 50-ish range?
 
composite and svideo only have one resolution, 720x480 and it is up to the dvd player to format the picture there is no 16:9 or 4:3 in the resolution. 16:9 is just 4:3 with black boxing on part of the screen.
 
bearxor said:
I'd stand by telling him to pony up for an up scaling DVD player. Heck, aren't there some BR players now that are in the 50-ish range?
Click to expand...

If his TV does not allow to widen and zoom than that may be his best option. Blu-Ray players are still in the $80+ range.
 
I'm at my Walmart right now. There's a stack of LG Blu-Ray players for $50. Networked Sony ones for $80.
 
are u sure the dvd you're trying is widescreen? you set the output to widescreen in the players setup menu? play around with some settings in the player and the tv, it should work
 
I believe him when he said he played several newish DVD's and they all had this issue. I was there and saw it first hand on the original DVD in question. The image is not pushed to the TV in 16:9.

Modelworks said:
composite and svideo only have one resolution, 720x480 and it is up to the dvd player to format the picture there is no 16:9 or 4:3 in the resolution. 16:9 is just 4:3 with black boxing on part of the screen.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that is what I was thinking. I'll tell him to pick up a DVD/Blu-ray player with HDMI.
 
Modelworks said:
composite and svideo only have one resolution, 720x480 and it is up to the dvd player to format the picture there is no 16:9 or 4:3 in the resolution. 16:9 is just 4:3 with black boxing on part of the screen.
Click to expand...

yea i'm pretty sure all the "enhanced" widescreen dvd is just animorphic, its just a wide picture squeezed into a 4:3, which then relies on your tv to unstretch, you just gain the resolution of using the entire 4:3 rather than encoding black bars for half the picture area.

you do have to tell the dvd player you are outputting to a 16:9 display though, else it will add the bars itself I believe. if he's seeing 4:3 with black bars, the players in4:3 mode, or the dvd s not animorphic.(unlikely)

composite is pretty damn horrible on an hdtv though. time to toss that thing, even half decent old dvd players had component which is passable on an hdtv
 
There is no reason just to get a Blu-Ray player. Pony up a bit more money and get one with built-in WiFi so it can do Netflix/Hulu/etc. streaming without having to run an ethernet cable or buy an extra $50 WiFi adapter.
 
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