Progressive Scan Question

[solidrock724]

Every time I turn Progessive Scan "on" on my DVD Player, the video becomes widescreen - even if the video is actually supposed to be 4x3. (I have my 47" Widescreen set to 4x3 - and the dvd player set to 4x3. - but the image is always stretched).

I figured I could set turn the progressive scan "off" for 4x3 videos, but then they look like crap on my 47" HD Rear Projestion TV.

Is there a relationship between Progressive Scan & the 16x9 aspect ratio that I do not know about?

Thanks.

[Teutatis]

You need to have your TV set as 16:9 in the DVD player, not 4X3. The aspect ratio on the TV will then need to be set to 4X3, if you don't want the picture to be stretched.

This should solve the problem.

[WesleyHester]

Some HD televisions lock into FULL mode when fed a progressive scan and/or HD signal because widesreen/16:9 is assumed as the source (with HD it's assumed that 4:3 material will have black bars on the left and right already). My older 2000 model set does. Newer models allow aspect ratio control over the source like switching between: FULL, 4:3, STRETCH, JUST, etc. (are whatever they are called on your set) with progressive signals in addition to interlaced. Still some don't. A work-around I have is to buy DVD players that have aspect ratio control, i.e. they display 4:3 material (via a setting) by placing black bars on the left and right so that my "progressive signal auto stretching" tv will still show the 4:3 material correctly. Some players I have that do this are: Panasonic RP-91N; LiteOn LVD-2001 and Momitsu V880.

Addtionally, if your tv locks into full mode with progressive signals, non-anamorphic widescreen material will look thin and squished across the screen. Currently, most if not all widescreen DVD releasea are anamorphic and the issue really only pops up on up-front ads and trailers that aren't widescreen enhanced (some better quality one are though).

Of course with anamorphic (enhanced for widescreen) widescreen movies, a television that locks into FULL mode with a progessive scan signal everything looks correct because that is the way it should be and why the feature is there.

If this is true of your tv then setting things to 4:3 will not be enough. My set only allows aspect ratio control of interlaced signals. So if I use my Pioneer 563A (which doesn't offer any type of aspect ratio control) in progressive mode then 4:3 material will be stretch and the only thing I could do about to make it display properly on my tv would be to turn progressive scan off. Of course that isn't an option for me, I use my Panasonic RP-91 instead because I prefer progessive.

I hope I haven't confused the issue and also hope your tv doesn't lock into FULL mode with progressive signals and instead allows you to control the aspect ratio of the source.

[bacardi/avt]

You need to have your TV set as 16:9 in the DVD player, not 4X3. The aspect ratio on the TV will then need to be set to 4X3, if you don't want the picture to be stretched.

This should solve the problem.

What has that to do with anything?

Since solidrocks aspectratio only changes when he turns on progressive scan it should not have anything to do with what you are talking about.

I have similar problem with divx playback on my DVD player, all divex movies are shown as 16:9 even if they should be 4:3. In my case it is the firmware of the play that messe it up, but the manufacture has promised an update to fix this problem soon. I'm just thinking it could be something like that in your case to solidrock. Check if there is an update avalible for you DVD player (contact your dealer they should know)

[solidrock724]

Hey WesleyHester, you are right! My TV automatically switches to 16x9 when the signal is progressive. When it is interlaced, I have a lot of options - but they aren't available on progressive. Thanks a ton!

And bacardi/avt, I'll check the firmware again for my DVD player. I have the Philips Divx DVP642 model. I think it is a really crappy DVD player, except for the fact that it plays everything. (Sometimes, it just turns itself off!)