Lite-on LVD-2001 LETTERBOX HELL!

[spasticat]

OK, I snagged a nifty Lite-on LVD-2001 from Newegg.com... I even splurged on the shipping to get it asap.

Here is the problem:

On ANY setting (4:3 letterbox/ 4:3 panscan/ 16:9) The image is scaled wrong

4:3 letterbox HAS DOUBLE letterboxing! 2 black bars, then 2 grey bars and one squashed movie in the middle.

4:3 panscan should fix that, but it still has the double letterbox action.

16:9 is squashed the other way because I have a non-widescreen TV.

The only way I can get the movie to show single letterboxing is to go to "Zoom 1"

And I get a full frame if I go to "Zoom 2" but that compromises the pic too much.

I got this thing hoping I could crank up to 1080i and enjoy some slick HDTV, but the slim picture in the middle is EVEN NARROWER!

Anybody else have this prob?

[scrotus]

yes, it happens to me on Xmen 2. I dont think Ive watched any other commercial dvds in it. 16:9 screws up the aspect ratio. And neither 4:3 settings compensate for it. It is very weird.

Running it on a sony trinitron 32" non WS.

[spasticat]

I'm running a Sony 32 inch Wega too... do you think the TV is automatically doing something?

I had the same prob with Xmen2!

[rilles]

32" inch panasonic GAOO and a 2002 and Xmen2 seemed fine to me far as letter boxing went.

[spasticat]

I haven't used the "secret menu" to disable macrovision... could that possibly be it?

[scrotus]

I just emailed liteon support with the problem.

I don't think it could be macrovision because you don't see any of the other problems associated with macrovision. I think it has to do with the aspect ration of the movie. LIke if it's 1.85:1 you get the gray bars, but 2.35:1 is fine. Haven't tested this though.

My divx movies play fine with no double boxing.

[spasticat]

Well a lot of the new stuff seems to be 1:85

[scrotus]

well this is not good news:

from the lite on tech support in reply to my email about the letterbox problem.

Dear Sir,


Sorry for your inconvenience!
It will stay the way it's .

BR!

AW

I don't even really know what that means.

[spasticat]

Thats just retarded... I don't want to call a lot of undue attention to this, but don't we deserve a better product for our money?

[Gazorgan]

I get double bars from playing anamorphic on a 4:3 TV. Have you tried a ture 4:3 DVD?

[scrotus]

true 4:3 dvd?? What's that? Full Screen? That's sacrilege when talking about DVD's. You better head to church and repent before the DVD gods strike you down.

[Gazorgan]

Well, over 1/2 my DVD's are 4:3 because that's what they were shot in. Or their flippers and have 4:3 on the 'B' side. Many movies have no 16:9 DVD available.

The point is if a 4:3 plays correctly, then it's a setting in the plaer/TV, and not a totally FUBARED player. If a4:3 plays corectly, and a 16:9 is letterboxed and an Anamorphic is double letterboxed, then it's a simple player adjustment (needs to be set to a 16:9 TV).

[spasticat]

No, when you set it to 16:9 it is squashed into a vertical column

[scrotus]

Gazorgan,

I see that my attempt at humor failed.

I was watching TTT extended dvd last night. I guess it is in 1.85:1. If I press the zoom key once (Zoom X1) then it will fill the gray letterbox up. But, you lose some of the picture too. A tradeoff.

I haven't yet played with the picture adjustments on the player yet. Maybe we can dial down that gray to more of a black where it is not as noticeable. Maybe the player just needs calibration.

[spasticat]

Thats a good idea... maybe a firmware can help?

Did anyone followup with the Liteon morons?

[scrotus]

spasti,

I posted the Liteon response to my email about this question a couple of posts above.

[spasticat]

quick response!

I was just wondering if anyone asked about toning down the grey -or getting a permament firmware fix

[scrotus]

well from their response, the don't seem to feel like it's worth working on. They say it's going to stay as is.

I have a real problem with that since it truly affects the picture quality of dvds. It's rather annoying. On a 16:9, it wouldn't be too bad, but on 4:3, it really sucks.

[spasticat]

I agree Scrot

This is just not a good DVD player for 4:3 TVs... and I think 4:3 TVs are still fine, especially if you watch more TV than movies.

I might sell my liteon on eBay because it is still a hard to find item.

Of course, this will really piss off my fiancee because this is the 3rd DVD player I've gone thru in 3 months.

Just in case you were wondering Here are the last 3 and what i thought of them

1) The controversial Samsung DVD-HD931 -best picture I have ever seen on a dvd player -but I took it back cause the thing cost 400 bucks!

2) Went the cheap route with a 5 disc Panasonic DVD player. THat thing sucked, it had a LCD display the size of my fingernail.

3) THe liteon! Shitty double letterboxing! Eventho it does look pretty cool.

[scrotus]

For the price and capabilities, I couldn't take back this player. It's only my second, the first bought in 2000. If not for the divx/xvid capabilities alone, for the ability to read the memory cards and stuff.

Plus, they will update the firmware at some point. Maybe they will address it or suggest a fix. One day I will have a 16:9 so im not really concerned at this point.