Need help setting up an upscaling DVD player with HDMI

[perdomot]

I just got the Phillips DVP5960 and noticed an issue mentioned in the reviews section. When playing a regular full screen dvd in 480 resolution, there are two dark areas on the sides of the image but the image looks normal. When I switch to upscale 720, the image fills out the whole screen but the people and other things look a little "stretched". Is this how upscaling is supposed to work or am I missing a setting somewhere? Is there a guide for setting up stuff like this somewhere?

[BJ_M]

are you using a 4:3 or 16:9 monitor ?

[perdomot]

Its a 32 inch Olevia 16:9 HDTV. All my dvds are in 4:3 full screen format.

[BJ_M]

then they will be stretched with the hdmi 720 setting and not look correct ...


you need to replace all your disks to wide screen or dont bother with the upscaling (which is pretty useless in this case anyway) ... and zoom the picture out (if you want correct aspect and bad quality and tops/bottom cropped off) or live with stretched image and somewhat better quality

[perdomot]

So upscaling to 720 would only be useful for 16:9 widescreen DVDs? That sucks.I was hoping to improve the quality of my dvds a little bit since almost everyone says upscaling makes dvds look better but making the characters look kinda short & squat by stretching the screen doesnt seem like a good idea to me. Is the correct image I should have on the screen the one with the two dark areas on the left/right side of the image then?

[manono]

then they will be stretched with the hdmi 720 setting and not look correct ...

I'm not sure why you say he's doomed to watching 4:3 DVDs over 720p stretched to fill the screen. Are you saying that his particular player can't be fixed, or that all 720p over HDMI will play 4:3 material stretched?

My Oppo DV-971H originally had the same problem. 4:3 material over 720p was stretched to fill the screen, making everyone look fat. I either had to watch them with bad AR (no way), or switch to component or 480p when watching 4:3 DVDs. Later a firmware upgrade fixed the problem. I get everything, 4:3 DVDs, 16:9 DVDs, and AVIs, all played with the proper AR over 720p to the 1280x720 DLP Samsung I have. True, both player and TV have DVI connections, but it's the same, I believe, with HDMI.

There's another Oppo model, the DV-970HD, which upconverts over HDMI and everything plays with proper AR. Mine has both Faroudja and MTK chipsets. The 970HD has only an MTK chipset.

If I were perdomot, I'd write to the Philips people and ask when they plan to have a firmware fix for this glaring screwup. It may be because of the crappy ESS chipsets Philips insists on using to produce their cheapo DVD players. Maybe return the POS if it's not too late, and get a real DVD player.

you need to replace all your disks to wide screen...

Is that some kind of a joke? Like perdomot, the majority of my DVD watching is of classic films, whose OAR is 1.33:1 or 1.37:1, and are 4:3. Replacing them is hardly an option.

[FulciLives]

I have the Philips DVP-5140 which is the little brother of the Philips DVP-5960 and both use MTK chipsets. I got it for MPEG-4 playback and specifically because it uses the supposedly superior MTK chipset (well when it comes to MPEG-4 playback anyways).

I don't think the issue here though is JUST a Philips issues. I've heard that many DVD players will do that (what the thread originator said about improper sizing) when in HD UPCONVERSION MODE ... but ... a big but ... some 16x9 WS televisions can fix this with their aspect ratio control.

Basically the DVD is still 4:3 but somehow the TV doesn't know that the up-conversion is 4:3 so the TV thinks it is 16x9 and will default to a 16x9 mode thus stretching the 4:3 image to fit the screen. I guess you could say that it is the fault of the DVD player for not properly informing the TV that HEY THIS IS 4:3 but then again you can also fault those 16x9 TELEVISIONS that will not let the user switch to 4:3 mode when the TV thinks it is getting a 16x9 input. The TV will then not allow the user to change the aspect to 4:3 and my TV is like that in auto mode.

Luckily my TV allows for auto or manual control of aspect ratio. So I don't have that issue in manual mode. Unfortunately as I said not all TV's are like this as some will lock into a 16x9 mode when they think they are getting a 16x9 image.

So it kinda goes both ways if you will. You have to have the DVD player "fail" and the TV "fail" to get stuck with a stretched up-converted 4:3 image.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
I wonder if you set the DVD player to 4:3 Letterboxed (instead of 16x9 WS) when playing Full Screen DVD's up-converted if that will "fix" the problem?

*** EDIT ***
I just had the worst ******* case of deja vu while reading this thread after I posted it (I normally do that to ensure I didn't make any glaring mistakes). Either I replied to another thread with the same info or ... [cue Twilight Zone music]

[manono]

OK, my apologies to Philips. I didn't realize that they had upgraded chipsets from the ESS used in the DVP-640.

some 16x9 WS televisions can fix this with their aspect ratio control.

That's correct, some can. Mine can't, though. It's the player outputting the 4:3 material with correct AR.

[joy]

the same problem i had the first time i turn my upconverting sony dvd player on playing some of my full screen format dvds. i was not happy with it so i dig further into the manual and there it was, an option to display full screen format movies to either "full" or "normal". problem solved. no problem playing wide format dvds too. hope your player has the same option as mine!

[edDV]

Why did you guys buy a 16:9 TV to watch "full screen" 4:3 DVDs?

[FulciLives]

Why did you guys buy a 16:9 TV to watch "full screen" 4:3 DVDs?

I am surprised that this is coming from you of all people but surely you must realize that there is a large category of material that is at the proper aspect ratio when in the 4:3 1.33:1 ratio.

For instance "older" films shot in 4:3 1.33:1 ... that's a huge amount of content ... and then there are TV shows and documentaries (made for TV) and home videos of the kids or grand parents made on a 4:3 camcorder when that was all there was etc.

Last but not least ... even when a video content's true A/R is something other than 4:3 1.33:1 sometimes only a 4:3 1.33:1 version exists. Should I not watch a favorite or interesting program just because the only A/R is 4:3 1.33:1 even if it should be 1.66:1 or 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 etc.? The obvious answer is NO I will watch it IF that is the only way.

Also I am going to parry you early ... I can hear you saying, "well if you watch so much 4:3 1.33:1 material why buy a 16x9 WS TV".

I have two answers:

1.) Try NOT to buy a 16x9 WS TV these days especially if you want HDTV or a large screen
2.) 16x9 WS is nice when the source IS encoded as 16x9 WS anamorphic because surely no one watches 4:3 1.33:1 all of the time.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

My solution is to place a CRT 4:3 TV that is about the same screen height next to the 16:9 TV. I too am distracted by those pillars and somehow, the old stuff just looks better on a real TV

Did I say "real TV"? I guess so because the old stuff looks more natural there. Must be that plastic shell.

[FulciLives]

My solution is to place a CRT 4:3 TV that is about the same screen height next to the 16:9 TV. I too am distracted by those pillars and somehow, the old stuff just looks better on a real TV

Did I say "real TV"? I guess so because the old stuff looks better there. Must be that plastic shell.

Well I admit I have a soft spot in me for the old CONSOLE type televisions like the one in this picture:



I grew up with a TV that was kinda like that

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

Naw, I was into more heavy metal.

[FulciLives]

Naw, I was into more heavy metal.

Well I also remember having a TV like this one:



Enough metal for you there?

Although it does have that "fake" wood on the top and sides

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

More like this one ... metal and heavy

[FulciLives]

More like this one

Unless you grew up in a TV studio that's no fun LOL :P

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

But we has those cool Crown Amps and JBL speakers for sound



.

[FulciLives]

But we has those cool Crown Amps and JBL speakers for sound



.

Well what can I say ... you got me.

That's kewl shit ... and black instead of silver!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[edDV]

Had to sleep under the switcher though.

[BJ_M]

those crown amps are a current model ... but everyone owned a D300 crown amp at one time or another most likely

[edDV]

those crown amps are a current model ... but everyone owned a D300 crown amp at one time or another most likely

Yep, ebay has 3 pages of them (various models)
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2F&fkr=...tSearch=Search