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  1. Member
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    I am. 44 years old and stopped understanding tech when everyone switched for floppy discs to those little stick things. So if dingbats offend you, please just don't read this.

    I bought some DVDs of a TV show that played in the 80s, when TV shows were square, not widescreen. When I put it in the DVD/blue ray player, it stretches the screen out weird. Nothing looks right.

    Is there some way to make it stop?

    I tried the Press Random Buttons To See If Something Works method five times, but it didn't work.

    Last Christmas, my son said all he wanted was for me to not yell at him on the phone when he tried to help me with tech stuff, so that was a gift, but then I yelled at him when he tried to help me set up the Netflix, so I'm trying to do this without him. (He is also not a fan of the Press Random Buttons method, go figure.)

    I would just like to watch this show in a square way and not a rectangle way without having WWIII and hearing, "Mom, mom, listen to me, No!, just, Mom, OH MY GOD, MOM, JUST STOP!!"

    If anyone can help, you would have my undying gratitude.

    Thanks.

    P.S. I can save lives, grow pretty flowers and cook nicely. I just lost the tech thing somewhere and catching up...it's too hard. I'm not totally stupid. It's just tech.
    Last edited by OmeOmi2; 20th Aug 2014 at 22:43.
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  2. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
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    I think we can help.

    But, in the future, please use a title that better describes your problem as per our rules. I changed your title to better reflect your question and to allow others to find it in a search.

    And welcome to our forums.

    Moderator redwudz
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  3. Member
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    Oops. Sorry.
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  4. What's you TV and DVD player? Make and Model? These almost always have a button/setting that will cycle through different aspect ratios.
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  5. Banned
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    Some or maybe many TVs have a button on the remote control where you can change the display aspect ratio. You need 4:3 to make things look "square" as you put it. HDTVs (you clearly have an HDTV) default to showing everything in 16:9 which makes those old "square" 4:3 videos look stretched. I give you credit for not liking how it looks. I figure probably 95% of HDTV owners just watch everything in 16:9 without complaint. Samsung HDTVs have a button on the remote control that you can push to change the display to 4:3, but I don't remember what they call it. Most other HDTVs have the same thing. One brand that does not is Vizio. Unfortunately if you have a Vizio HDTV, their TVs don't have a button on the remote control where you can change this. What I've had to do is I've had to go into the setup of my DVD player and set it to 480p, which means 4:3. Then when I finish watching the old video, I have to go back and change it back to 1080p which means 16:9. I'm not sure if you will really understand what I said after mentioning Vizio, but if you had someone to actually come to your living room and show you what I'm talking about, I'm sure it would make sense to you.
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  6. Originally Posted by jman98 View Post
    Samsung HDTVs have a button on the remote control that you can push to change the display to 4:3, but I don't remember what they call it.
    "P.SIZE"

    It's maybe not overly intuitive as pressing it tells you the current mode (probably 16:9) but doesn't appear to give you an option to change it. If you press the P.Size button repeatedly the TV cycles through the different display modes. 4:3 being the one OmeOmi2 would want.
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  7. Banned
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    Originally Posted by hello_hello View Post
    "P.SIZE"

    It's maybe not overly intuitive as pressing it tells you the current mode (probably 16:9) but doesn't appear to give you an option to change it. If you press the P.Size button repeatedly the TV cycles through the different display modes. 4:3 being the one OmeOmi2 would want.
    Yes. That is exactly right. Thanks. I gave away my Samsung 2 years ago when I bought the Vizio as a replacement and I couldn't remember what that was called.
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  8. Our small Vizio has a button on the remote labeled "WIDE". It works similarly to the P.SIZE button on Samsungs.
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  9. Member
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    I have a Vizio TV and a Sony DVD/blue ray player, both from Wal-Mart.

    M420SV. That's the TV number on the box. There is so much crap all over that box and I don't know what any of it means. But that number is on the label. I bought it at Wal-Mart in March 2012.

    I tossed the blue ray box. It was the cheapest one, that's all I know about it.

    I forgot that there was a TV remote! I just use the DVD one and the DirecTV one, lol, My son told me to never touch the TV one, lol. He said it was the pressing random buttons on that that was always screwing me up. I got a 3x5 card with how to change to/from DVD by pressing a button where things labeled Cable and DVD showed up and was given STRICT instructions to NEVER touch the TV remote.

    I guess I will try.

    But now he's off at college and I can't just say, "Come here!" and "I pressed some buttons and now nothing works" and get things fixed. (I'd get a "Why, why?! Oh, my god, this is not that hard. You do this on purpose, don't you, just to make me come fix it," but it would get done. Now it's an hour of yelling on the phone.)

    I will try buttons on the TV remote. I feel like I'm walking into the rainforest or something, where some exotic, deadly animal might attack. But I'm going to try.

    Thanks!
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  10. Member
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    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    Our small Vizio has a button on the remote labeled "WIDE". It works similarly to the P.SIZE button on Samsungs.
    OMG! There is a wide!

    I'm going to try that!
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  11. Banned
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    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    Our small Vizio has a button on the remote labeled "WIDE". It works similarly to the P.SIZE button on Samsungs.
    Thanks for that. I will have to look when I get home and see if my remote has that or not. I wouldn't rule out that it's there and I missed it, not expecting it to be called by that name.
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  12. Member
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    The wise button just changes stuff around a little, but doesn't make it square (or 4:3). You have to press Menu or Guide to make the bx go away, too.

    The Input on the DirecTV remote (when I'm watching cable, not the DVD, when it does nothing) just cycles through different options for 1080, but does not give any 480 options. It used to. I remember that. It used to cycle through 1080s, 7-so etchings (80?) and 480s. Now, it's just 1080 options.

    I hate technology.

    It's okay. I can watch like this.

    I should've just had the 27" fixed when it broke. I knew this new one would become problematic at some point. My fault.
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  13. Banned
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    Originally Posted by jman98 View Post
    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    Our small Vizio has a button on the remote labeled "WIDE". It works similarly to the P.SIZE button on Samsungs.
    Thanks for that. I will have to look when I get home and see if my remote has that or not. I wouldn't rule out that it's there and I missed it, not expecting it to be called by that name.
    Just checked - my remote DOES NOT have a "WIDE" option anywhere on it. I even checked the back where there are additional keyboard like buttons.
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