Philips DVP3040, progressive scan and 4:3 aspect ratio question.

[pbup]

hi. First, what i have:

Philips 30PW850H37A HDTV (about 2-3 years old. 16:9. No DVI or HDMI inputs but Component etc)

Philips DP3040 dvd player (brand new. would have bought the one with the HD upconvert but i don't have the right inputs on the TV, obviously.)

i am new to the HDTV world as well as progressive scan (yes i'm late to the party but whatever...)

the issue:

DVD player, in progressive scan mode and 16:9 settings, plays DVD's very nicely on the HDTV. big improvement over my old 4:3 SDTV situation. if i pop in, say, '2001' or "Jaws' or the new X-men, it fills the screen just right and looks great.

the problem is, i also watch a lot of old movies that are 4:3 on the DVD's, as they are supposed to be. at first i figured if i put in one of these (say, Citizen Kane, or the new release of Double Indemnity) that the DVD player would be smart and keep the 4:3 ratio with black bars on the right and left, as well as the nice quality of the progressive scan.

instead, it forces those movies into 16:9, fills the screen with them. the only way i can watch them is to turn progressive scan off. very frustrating. older films and even 4:3 tv stuff (like Buffy) is stuck in SDTV mode.

i can find no settings that seem to work in the DVD player menus (i even tried setting the dvd player for 4:3 pan-and-scan but it does nothing), so at this point i am wondering if it might be some setting on the TV but i have navigated everywhere and can find nothing that seems to do the trick.

any sage advice would be most welcome. thanks.

philip

[Krispy Kritter]

Usually the only settings on the dvd player are your output type 4:3 or 16:9, and are adjusted according to your TV type, in your case 16:9.

The TV is just doing what you have it set to do. You will need to adjust the display properties of the TV for you DVD input. You would just adjust to TV settings for 4:3 mode. My TV has a many settings for each input, 4:3, 16:9, Stretch, ZOOM, and a few others.

[GKar]

Your TV remote doesn't have an Aspect button?

[pbup]

hi

yes, my tv does have these settings for different aspect ratios -- but they all become disabled when the dvd player is set to progressive scan. thats what drives me nuts -- when using, say, cable tv, i can adjust the tv to whatever shape the show arrives in. but not when PS is on.

i have 4 different AV inputs and i get the same results whenever i hook the DVD player up to any of them...

[GKar]

Hmm...That is strange, does your TV have AUTO-ASPECT enabled? Mine has that and it prevents me from accessing certain aspects unless I disable it. I recently purchased a Sony DVP-NS75H UpConverting player (and $6 HDMI cable) and a Hitachi 51" CRT 51F59 Projector and it really improved my 4:3 P/S shows, puts them up as 1080i 16:9 non-distorted 4:3 videos (2-3" black bars)....could be you just have dated technology problems. Your 4:3 are either showing as zoomed or expanded to account for the problem.

[pbup]

no, i don't have auto-aspect enabled....

i wish i could find the manual to the tv....might help. anyone else have this model?

[GKar]

I found your TV (I think), users manual etc...go here:

http://www.usasupport.philips.com/productDocuments.html?ProductCode=30PW8502/37&subCat...SU_US_CONSUMER

[edDV]

I have a similar vintage Philips 4:3 PT850H and when mine is in progressive mode, like yours, it stays 16:9.

The place to adjust 4:3 or 16:9 image aspect is on the DVD player and/or HDTV tuner (cable box in my case). Most progressive DVD players will have settings for 480p and aspect ratio. DVP players often have a aspect ratio button on the remote.

[pbup]

thanks for the manual link -- actually that was not quite it, but i did find the manual on that site. funny, i looked before but could not find it...i will dig around in there and see if there is something that will help.

as for the DVD player and aspect ratio -- yes there are settings in the dvd player setup menu for screen sizes but they do nothing in this regard. the only options that work are turning Progressive Scan on (great for 16:9 movies) and off (which is the only way i can watch 4:3 content without it stretching).

i'm starting to feel like maybe this TV is an outdated piece of technology!

or maybe there is a better DVD player that will work....

[edDV]

From a review of the JVC XV-S60BK

"Another neat feature is aspect ratio control, activated by selecting the 16:9 Normal setting in the setup menu. This will prove useful if you have a widescreen HDTV that locks into a 16:9 or “full” display mode when it receives a progressive-scan signal (a number of them do). Set to its 16:9 Normal mode, the JVC player formats standard 4:3 images so they’ll appear on widescreen displays with correct geometry instead of being stretched out to fill the screen."
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=268&page_number=3&print_page=y

[pbup]

ahhhh -- so it IS an outdated TV. or at least, has an annoying feature.

unfortunately that particular DVD player is both a bit old and quite out of my price range (i was really appreciating the $42 price tag until all this...). hmm, i will keep searching....

thanks very much for your good research!

[GKar]

thanks for the manual link -- actually that was not quite it, but i did find the manual on that site. funny, i looked before but could not find it...i will dig around in there and see if there is something that will help.

as for the DVD player and aspect ratio -- yes there are settings in the dvd player setup menu for screen sizes but they do nothing in this regard. the only options that work are turning Progressive Scan on (great for 16:9 movies) and off (which is the only way i can watch 4:3 content without it stretching).

i'm starting to feel like maybe this TV is an outdated piece of technology!

or maybe there is a better DVD player that will work....

It doesn't take long to get outdated, like 27 minutes.....look for a good 1080i/p upconverting hdmi player like my Sony DVP-NS75H and a tv that supports it like my Hitachi 51" CRT 51F59 CRT Projection (I trust the crt technology more, no fans, spinning color disks and cheap) and you will be ok. Don't spend $100 on a Monster hdmi cable, you can get a $6 one that works as well.

[pbup]

yes...i agree -- i'd love to get a new up-to-date HDTV but my budget does not allow it...

anyone know of any $50-$80 DVD players out there that allow you to control the aspect ration from the DVD player itself? the Philips DVP3040 has settings for these but as i stated above they have no effect.

wondering if i might have better luck with another player? (though the JVC looks like it does it its a pretty old player by now, that review was from 2002, or thereabouts...

thanks.

[edDV]

yes...i agree -- i'd love to get a new up-to-date HDTV but my budget does not allow it...

anyone know of any $50-$80 DVD players out there that allow you to control the aspect ration from the DVD player itself? the Philips DVP3040 has settings for these but as i stated above they have no effect.

wondering if i might have better luck with another player? (though the JVC looks like it does it its a pretty old player by now, that review was from 2002, or thereabouts...

thanks.

You just have to search for other players with that feature. I'd start with other players in the JVC line and or google search for "16:9 Normal" as JVC calls the feature. On the Motorola HD cable boxes they call the feature "16:9 override".

PS: I just Googled ' "16:9 Normal" JVC DVD Player ' and came up with several models including the relatively cheap XV-S500BK/XV-S502SL and the low end XV-N55SL. Read the reviews for a full story on each model.