Underscan - is there such thing?

[GangstaRap]

I have 37' LCD and when i'm playing a Divx movie (or any other format) i see the frame on a small square (further to the top and the bottom of the frame - the sides are black too!)

I know what a overscan is but - what is this? underscan?
how can i fix it?

Thanx!!!

[guns1inger]

If the movie is wider than 16:9 then you should see black top and bottom.

Do you see black all around when you watch normal TV as well ?

Perhaps you need to have the set calibrated for your player ?

[TBoneit]

Quick question(s).

What player? Example on my Phillps 5960 setting it to 16:9 Progressive resulted in the playback not filling the screen. I had two option I could set the tv to fill to stretch it horizontally or changing the TV type in Phillips setup to 4:3 and it Ok. Still didn't fill the TV as it outputs a SD signal but at least the proper Aspect Ratio.

So a possibility is you have the player set to 16:9 and is therfore not filling the 4:3 display area as a result. So that a Letterboxed Divx would have bars top and bottom (normal) and on the sides due to player settings.

[jman98]

Just as a point of trivia, about 5 years ago there was a chipset in a few DVD players that did support underscan. I haven't seen a post in years about a DVD player that can do this anymore so this feature appears to be impossible to find, at least as far as I know. The DVD players that supported this used the Zoom feature on the remote control to reach the underscan mode.

[lordsmurf]

Just as a point of trivia, about 5 years ago there was a chipset in a few DVD players that did support underscan. I haven't seen a post in years about a DVD player that can do this anymore so this feature appears to be impossible to find, at least as far as I know. The DVD players that supported this used the Zoom feature on the remote control to reach the underscan mode.

If I understand this correctly, my TOSHIBA 2800 does this.

[TBoneit]

If I understand what you mean by underscan many player will allow 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 size output.

Even the inexpensive Portable DVD players hill will Zoom and shrink as will the Phillips 5960. I actually use it once in a blue moon when something is just off the edge of the screen on the TV that I am curious about.

However in the case of the OP I'm suspecting a bad encode or a 16:9 or higher video and it is a SD which would cause black bars on all four sides.