Cannot get widescreen to display..

[maseline_98]

I bought a sanyo 30" tv from walmart last week and I haven't really had a chance to play with it, but in the 15 minutes I had, I hooked up my dvd player(via s-video) and popped in titantic. For some reason I couldn't get the tv to display widescreen in "normal mode"...there were black bars on the top, botton, left, and right...it showed the whole picture...it just was small and centered in the screen...I made sure that my dvd player(JVC Progressive Scan) settings were correct('16:9 Auto'). I notice in order for the pictured to be filled...I had to set the tv to "Zoom1", which I think defeats the purpose as I lost resolution. Can somebody give me some insight as to why it's doing this?....I know in order to get 480p, I need to use component cables, but I didn't think that would hinder on the aspect ratio.

[Andrew Pratt]

The problem is that Titanic isn't an anamorphic (aka 16x9-enhanced) video so while it is letter boxed it doesn't have the resolution that anamorphic videos have. Most movies now are all anamorphic but there's still a few out there that aren't incl Titanic. Give this a read over to help explain what's going on. Also since you have a widescreen TV and DVD player you really should be using the component video connection not s-video to get the best picture quality as you can't send a progressively scanned image over s-video anyway.

[Gordon Moore]

As Andrew said you will have to use stretchy mode to get a pseudo 16X9 image.

The good news is that a Titanic SE is coming this year with an Anamorphic treatment and lots of features a new transfer certified by James Cameron etc....

Release date October in 2 and 4 disc editions

That's why the bottom (in price) fell out on the old copy of Titanic. Unfortunately many people don't know that a new version is coming this year.

I'd say that you may want to sell the old one now before the new one hits the shelf otherwise you won't recoup anything for it.

http://www.comingsoon.net/forums/showthread.php?t=37261

Sorry to be the bearer of good /bad news.

[maseline_98]

actually...it's my mother's copy...i was just throwing it in to test it(also tried showgirls)...that didn't work either...my 250+ dvds were stolen last year at college so i do not currently own any(at least retail ones)...do you know if the new star wars triligy will display correctly?...also if i play copied dvds, will they display correctly(if the original is anamorphic..that is)?....thx for the input...

[Kevin P]

Pretty much all new widescreen DVDs nowadays are anamorphic; the problem you run in to is mainly with older discs. Early Fox, Paramount, MGM, and Disney/Touchstone/Miramax DVDs tended to be non-anamorphic. It wasn't until 2001-2002 or so that all the studios finally embraced the anamorphic bandwagon. And a lot of those older titles have been, or soon will be, re-released in anamorphic special editions.

All the Star Wars discs are anamorphic BTW.

[maseline_98]

thx...will try it out as soon as i get home...

[maseline_98]

Seems as I must be in "Full Mode" to see proper images...it doesn't seem to distort the picture...

[Andrew Pratt]

Full is the correct mode on most widescreen sets.

[Snap]

:agree: Most wide screens will also in Full mode go to 16:9 automatically if the program is formatted to that. When I watch CBS in HD, a majority of time the programing will automatically fill the whole screen. If the show is not in wide screen format you will get the black lines on the sides.

:T