Phillips 5960 And 16:9 question

[TBoneit]

Am I being stupid here?

Setting the Phillips 5960 to 16:9 TV reduces the width of the image when playing a .divx file. Setting it to 4:3 makes the image look normal.

I'm hooked up to a 16:9 HDTV.

It seems counterintuitive to set the player to 4:3 so that a 4:3 avi has the proper aspect ratio.
Am I grasping the whole WS setting concept wrong?

Thanks for helping.

Cheers

[FulciLives]

I have the Philips DVP-5140 and when I have it set to 16x9 output mode my TV will not automatically go into 16x9 mode when playing a DivX or XviD file. I have to take my 16x9 HDTV off of "auto aspect" and force the 16x9 aspect using the manual mode. Again this doesn't happen with DVD Video playback and for the record I am using component video.

If you have a DivX or XviD that is 4:3 but have the output set to 16x9 then it will resize according ... in other words the 4:3 gets resized (squished) with black added to either side so it will appear normal on a 16x9 TV in 16x9 mode.

So my guess is that when you have your Philips DVP-5960 set to 16x9 output mode your 16x9 TV is not setting the aspect ratio correctly.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[TBoneit]

Could be that the Phllips 5960 handles things like your 5140. I'm also using Component and Progressive mode settings for the Phillips and component for the Pioneer 531h.

I think you also have the same Pioneer DVD recorder you have and if I set it to 16:9 it seems to squish the recorded video so that it looks more like 1:1 AR on a 4:3 SD TV. at neither settings will it fill the TV set side to side unless I hit the fill button the the TV's remote.

I just remembered that the Phillips squishes the Divx/Xvid but not the MPGs... Wonderfull (Sarcasm mode)

It looks like I need to keep the Pioneer set to 4:3 Tv since that makes it look better on the other TV sets and I can always use the fill button on the HDTV.

To me the whole mix of HD and SD Tvs is a headache during the transition between formats.

[FulciLives]

Could be that the Phllips 5960 handles things like your 5140. I'm also using Component and Progressive mode settings for the Phillips and component for the Pioneer 531h.

Some set-up here ... the Philips DVP-5140 is connected via component and is in progressive scan mode. My Pioneer DVR-531H-s is connected via component and I usually keep it in interlaced mode unless I am playing back a studio made DVD on it then I will put it into progressive scan mode. Both are set to 16x9 output as I have a 16x9 WS HDTV.

I think you also have the same Pioneer DVD recorder you have and if I set it to 16:9 it seems to squish the recorded video so that it looks more like 1:1 AR on a 4:3 SD TV. at neither settings will it fill the TV set side to side unless I hit the fill button the the TV's remote.

I just remembered that the Phillips squishes the Divx/Xvid but not the MPGs... Wonderfull (Sarcasm mode)

It looks like I need to keep the Pioneer set to 4:3 Tv since that makes it look better on the other TV sets and I can always use the fill button on the HDTV.

To me the whole mix of HD and SD Tvs is a headache during the transition between formats.

Well my 16x9 HDTV has several picture modes. It has an "auto" setting which will try to pick the correct mode. It doesn't always work though LOL

If I am playing back a DVD that is 16x9 WS anamorphic then the TV will correctly lock into the 16x9 WS display mode (be it from the Philips or the Pioneer). If I play back a 4:3 DVD then the TV goes into a 4:3 stretch mode where the entire 4:3 image is visible but is stretched to fit the screen. I have to hit the aspect ratio button on my remote and cycle through the available modes to get to the "standard" 4:3 mode (image centered with grey bars on either side).

However ... when playing back a MPEG-4 file on the Philips DVP-5140 the image will not look proper on the TV unless I put the TV into the standard 16x9 WS mode. For some reason the TV will not "lock" onto the standard 16x9 WS mode in "auto" mode. Also when in "auto" mode the standard 16x9 WS mode is not one of my options when I cycle through the aspect ratio choices. I have to go into the HDTV's set-up screen and select "manual" mode for aspect ratio ... then I can select the standard 16x9 WS mode and all looks fine. If the MPEG-4 has an aspect ratio greater than 16x9 then it seems to fit from side to side and black is added above and below. With 4:3 material the image fits from top to bottom and black is added to either side to fill up the screen but keep the proper 4:3 aspect ratio (image is centered with black on either side).

So in short you need a 16x9 WS TV that will allow you to manually force the standard 16x9 WS mode. Some televisions do NOT allow for this. If you have such a TV then you might be better to set the Philips to 4:3 output when playing back a MPEG-4 file and then use the "4:3 to 16x9" aspect ratio mode for WS MPEG-4 files (you know the mode that blows up the image proportionally to fit but cuts off the top and bottom).

BTW when I first got the Pioneer DVR-531H-s I had a standard defination 4:3 TV and I never had aspect ratio problems when setting the output on the Pio to 4:3 aspect ratio. By the time I got the Philips DVP-5140 I already had a 16x9 WS HDTV and that is the only TV I have had it hooked up to.

As for the MPEG-4 files I create ... I almost always resize to square pixel resolution with a fixed width of 640 and crop the height accordingly. Although I did once create an XviD without resizing or cropping and it works fine because I changed the header (with MPEG4Modifier) to read 16x9 NTSC (as per the original DVD) and that XviD plays back A-OK as well (i.e., the aspect ratio is dead on).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[TBoneit]

Helpful information here.....

I guess it just seems strange to have to set the 5960 to 4:3 for the Divx to look proper.

I think I have a less expensive TV set than you. On the TV itself there is a Fill button that does things based on some sort of logic I haven't quite decihpered yet. When I feed a Divx from the phillips hitting fill will stretch the video side to side to fill the screen. Same for a DVD from the Pioneer. OTOH hiting fill on video from the HD DVR expands it botth horizontal and vertical. Same for VGA from the computer. Svideo seems to like it does either, more testing needed there.

I going into the Pioneers's setup and changing it back to 4:3 since having it set to 16:9 makes the DVDs look more like 1:1 on a SD TV. Of course doing that may make it look funny on the HDTV....

There must be some concept for 4:3 vs 16:9 feeding 16:9 to devices I haven't quite grasped.

OT, I've been thinking of replacing the Pioneer with a recorder that has component inputs since I have a unused component output on the HD DVR which should in theory give me better quality recordings. Whether or not reality will match theory? Well that is what tax refunds are for, testing. Last years tax refund was used buying the Pioneer @ Walmart and a JVC S-VHS from B&H in NYC and some CC balance reductions.

Quick edit here. I thought square pixels were the standard for Divx/Xvid? and not required for MPGs?
Cheers