Aspect Ratio Can any of you guys answer if the all 4:3 aspect video is streched to 16:9 with this player. I enjoy watching many tv programs on dvd and I am much happier watching them in the correct 4:3 ratio. My HD-A2 uspcales great and leaves the 4:3 aspect ratio correct while upconverting. It has maybe twice streched the 4:3 ratio to 16:9 out of hundreds of 4:3 programs I have viewed. I am looking for a workhorse upconverting player to play SD DVD's and save wear on my HD DVD player, but if the XD-E 500 streches all 4:3 video I will have to buy another model. Any info on this would be appreciated. Thank you. Aspect Ratio Can any of you guys answer if the all 4:3 aspect video is streched to 16:9 with this player. I enjoy watching many tv programs on dvd and I am much happier watching them in the... » Read More Aspect Ratio Can any of you guys answer if the all 4:3 aspect video is streched to 16:9 with this player. I enjoy watching many tv programs on dvd and I am much happier watching them in the correct 4:3 ratio. My HD-A2 uspcales great and leaves the 4:3 aspect ratio correct while upconverting. It has maybe twice streched the 4:3 ratio to 16:9 out of hundreds of 4:3 programs I have viewed. I am looking for a workhorse upconverting player to play SD DVD's and save wear on my HD DVD player, but if the XD-E 500 streches all 4:3 video I will have to buy another model. Any info on this would be appreciated. Thank you. « Show Less
1458148
Any wide screen dvds you have that are marked as "anamorphic widescreen" or "enhanced for 16:9 TVs" will work fine with you widescreen tv. You will likeley have some widescreen dvds that are not anamorphic or enhanced for widescreen TVs and they may look streched or really narrow on your widescreen tv. This however is easily fixed by adjusting the widescreen setting on you tv. I hope this has helped you.
1458149
So does this mean my "WIDESCREEN" dvds will be stretched? I purposely bought WIDESCREEN versions of my DVDs because I like them exactly as the theater and I don't mind the top/bottom black bars even when viewing them on my widescreen HDTV (37" panasonic plasma). Any more info would be great. Thanks!
1458150
Yes it will stretch 4:3 ratio to fill the entire screen. I still have to watch all my old T.V. shows on my Panasonic DVD Player because of this. Many are hoping that Toshiba will issue a firmware upgrade to resolve this problem, but none has been forthcoming that I'm aware of.
1458151
It's a display issue, not a DVD player issue. All you have to do is change the display mode on your HD television from 16 X 9 to 4:3. Look in your manual; your HDTV should have a menu item like "Picture", "Display" or "Aspect Ratio" which will let you choose between 16 X 9, 4:3 and a couple other options. What you'll see is the entire 4:3 image, with black on the left and right sides. The Samsung we just bought has a button on the remote that toggles between the aspect ratios, so you don't even have to access an on-screen menu. No need to hook up your old standard definiton DVD player! Hope this helps. It's a display issue, not a DVD player issue. All you have to do is change the display mode on your HD television from 16 X 9 to 4:3. Look in your manual; your HDTV should have a menu item like "Picture", "Display" or "Aspect Ratio" which will let you choose between 16 X 9, 4:3 and a couple other options. What you'll see is the entire 4:3 image, with black on the left and right sides. The Samsung we just bought has a button on the remote that toggles between the aspect ratios, so you don't even have to access an on-screen menu. No need to hook up your old... » Read More It's a display issue, not a DVD player issue. All you have to do is change the display mode on your HD television from 16 X 9 to 4:3. Look in your manual; your HDTV should have a menu item like "Picture", "Display" or "Aspect Ratio" which will let you choose between 16 X 9, 4:3 and a couple other options. What you'll see is the entire 4:3 image, with black on the left and right sides. The Samsung we just bought has a button on the remote that toggles between the aspect ratios, so you don't even have to access an on-screen menu. No need to hook up your old standard definiton DVD player! Hope this helps. « Show Less
1458152
Thank you very much for your quick reply! I'm looking forward to playing my DvDs on this new player.
1458153
It is your HDTV that has the aspect ratio problem, not the XDE. There should be a button on your TV remote that lets you view the 4:3 ratio full screen.
1031971
I bought one recently because my (1) my old TV died and my TV service (Verizon FIOS) offers several HDTV channels. There are HDTV channels for all the major networks and several of the cable channels: ESPN, HBO, etc. I watch baseball (Red Sox) on HDTV and I'll be able to watch football in HDTV in the Fall. So it was easier for me to decide to switch to HDTV. As for your existing DVD movies, while they're not HD, they will look better on a 56" DLP. The HDTV screen aspect ratio is much closer to that of the original movies, so if you watch the movie in its original format, the "letterbox" effect isn't as dramatic. I'm very pleased with the way my DVDs look on HDTV ... not HDTV quality, but MUCH closer to a movie theater experience than before. If my old TV hadn't died, I probably would have waited until HDTV was the "norm" as you are considering doing. In retrospect, I'm glad it died. Paul
34893
Sony's only answer to me was "some TVs do not have the capability of changing the aspect ratio when a 720P or 1080i signal is being received." Unfortunately, "some TVs" is this particular model. Sony goes on to say that some set-top boxes have an adjustable aspect ratio control and to "check the device" for that feature. I haven't been visited by Time Warner yet, but if their set top box doesn't permit the adjustment, I may have to upgrade this set to a Sony 3000 series, Toshiba or Samsung.
1785502
Sadly, after watching an "Aliens" DVD on this new BDP-350 I think the upconversion is inferior to my now disconnected Toshiba A-3. My plasma is a 2005 Panasonic 480p EDTV, the best ever made before the resolution was phased out, and the difference is obvious and painful. Resolution is set to "auto" which seems to be the same as 480p.Maybe I've missed something. Anyone out there have any suggestions? Thank you.
2126555
So my non-hd movies from other regions would be able to play on this player in the upconversions with no problem? Thanks for the info.
447215
It looks as good as a non-HDTV. From the few times I've looked at SD tv though, it doesn't utilize widescreen (It's still 4:3 rather than 16:9). So that's something you might want to think about.
890634
Doggone. And I was just thinking about springing for a samsung 4671 (a consensus 5 stars from Amazon consumers). The main thing that bugs me about the V2500 series is the omission of Normal mode when adjusting aspect ratio. Since the set automatically interprets a 480i signal as 720p or 1080i, you're stuck watching nothing but short fat people unless you can control aspect ratio from the DVD player and set-up box. It wouldn't matter if all source material were in hi def, but unfortunately most is not. Sony made a colossal blunder, but apparently woke up by the time of the 3000 series.
2092389
I tested this with the HDMI connection. The owners manual, available publicly on the Philips site, indicates that the choice of upscaling format is available only on an HDMI connection, so I did not bother trying with component video. It seems component video supports only 480i/480p, or 576p to a PAL TV. The manual also indicates support for HDMI connections to DVI devices that support HDCP; I don't have such a device so I have not verified this. I hope shortly to have a 1080p TV to verify its behavior there.Thanks for the question. Although I saw it mentioned in a review or another forum question that upscaling was available only on HDMI, I realised after I wrote earlier that I should have included this detail. I tested this with the HDMI connection. The owners manual, available publicly on the Philips site, indicates that the choice of upscaling format is available only on an HDMI connection, so I did not bother trying with component video. It seems component video supports only 480i/480p, or 576p to a PAL TV. The manual also indicates support for HDMI connections to DVI devices that support HDCP; I don't have such a device so I have not verified this. I hope shortly to have a 1080p TV to verify its behavior there.Thanks for the question. Although I saw it mentioned in a... » Read More I tested this with the HDMI connection. The owners manual, available publicly on the Philips site, indicates that the choice of upscaling format is available only on an HDMI connection, so I did not bother trying with component video. It seems component video supports only 480i/480p, or 576p to a PAL TV. The manual also indicates support for HDMI connections to DVI devices that support HDCP; I don't have such a device so I have not verified this. I hope shortly to have a 1080p TV to verify its behavior there.Thanks for the question. Although I saw it mentioned in a review or another forum question that upscaling was available only on HDMI, I realised after I wrote earlier that I should have included this detail. « Show Less
702976
You're welcome. I ended up adjusting the screen size through my HDTV, I have a Samsung that has a 'fill screen option' and it seems to work better because it doesn't cut the edges off. I love the quality of the picture of my dvds. so much better than the regular dvd player I had. Maybe some day I'll switch to Blu-ray, but for now this works just great!
1094073
All recording is SD (480), but inputs and outputs can be HD. I've found the loss of quality to be acceptable, considering the benefits of SD format (lower cost, record to DVDs, etc). This recorder will accept HD input via the ATSC digital tuner, or SD (480) input from other sources like analog RCA-jack inputs, S-Video, DV from a camcorder, or the now-obsolete NTSC analog TV tuner. All content is recorded in SD (480p I believe) format, and my experience has been that the 4:3 and 16:9 anthropomorphic widescreen modes are handled automatically based on the source. (My Sony TV automatically shows all content in the correct aspect ratio.) This unit can output 480i for older TVs if you need, but does NOT have an RF modulator built-in. It can also output 480p or HD (as 720p, 1080i, or 1080p) via an HDMI cable to your widescreen TV, so you can select which one does the upscaling.
1994979
The software does have hardware support so upscaling is pretty good. However,DVD MPEG decoder with upscaling has been freely available for sometime in codec packs and is a feature of VLC. I wouldn't spend money on this product or any DVD playback software if you weren't planning on watching Blurays.
1072606
The 85's DVD 24P conversion is excellent, as is its upscaling w/24P. Just make sure you have 24P turned on in the Setup menu and then you will have to manually turn on 24P via the Display menu for DVD's you wish to playback in 24P. This manual setting is done because not all DVD's are 24Fps and it causes bad artifacts if played at the wrong frame rate. So, each DVD must be set to 24P manually, although Blu-ray is a native progressive format and so 'knows' the frame rate the disc was encoded in and plays it appropriately if 24P is set in the Setup menu. Even now, in 2013, many BD players are not good at converting DVD to 24P, or won't do it at all, so the BD85 is still superb for DVD's at 24P. Its BD picture quality is still state-of-the-art and unless you need 3D, nothing produces a better image - plus it has discrete 7.1 RCA audio outputs, which is a rarity on players today, but a must for those with older receivers that dont support TrueHD ot DTS-HD audio but do have multichannel inputs - if they don't wish to upgrade their receiver the BD85 will allow them to experience the modern lossless audio formats without being downsampled and reencoded to standard lossy Dolby Digital or DTS formats for compatability.
2070207
I checked the manual for you to be sure. The Blu-Ray player has at least 3 settings affecting aspect ratio. TV Type lets you select 16:9 or 4:3 depending on the physical design of your TV. Screen Format is the one you are most interested in, which has Full and Normal options. Normal will adjust the output to the original format, while Full will stretch a 4:3 image to fill a 16:9 display. Then there is DVD Aspect Ratio which is similar to the Zoom function on many HDTVs (letter box vs. zoom in which will cut off the sides).
1020432
If the model you are asking about is the Atlona AT-HD580, it does not convert by stretching. It is a true HD Scaler and as such can change standard def 4:3 to these sizes: Full, Overscan, Underscan, Letterbox which are 16:9 type outputs. It has a Panscan size which is 4:3, all are selectable via (on screen display) menu. It has selectable inputs for Composite Video, S-video (both with stereo audio) and two HDMI devices (such as a Blu-Ray, DVD, PS3 or STB). It has the ability to convert PAL to NTSC or vice-versa. This unit does a excellent job with my composite/S-Video (S-VHS, Super BETA) VCRs when I have to use them, But I don't expect a 1080p HD picture from these old devices. It will fill my Panasonic TC-P55VT50 with a picture edge to edge, top to bottom without the stretching. Thanks, Cameron
1458014
With my Panasonic plasmas (42" and 50"), which are 2006 and 2007 models, I have found the upscaling very good. In fact, it's hard to get around them, since these plasmas have native resolutions that no DVD player can match (expect for 1080p models). 720p on both 42" and 50" models is not quite true 720p (it's acutally 768p), so no matter what, the Panasonic will be doing some upscaling. As far as medium DVD players and DVD upscalers for around $100 and below, I have seen very little difference. Even compared to my 4 year old Sony 480p player. I would say HDMI provides a smidge better detail, but it's not dramatic by any means. I haven't tried the up-market upscalers (Oppo, Reon chip), so I can't comment on them, but I doubt the difference would be dramatic--the Panasonic just has to do too much upscaling on it's own, regardless of what signal you send to it... My brother says his 700U 1080p also has very little difference with new upscaling DVD players as opposed to his older 480p player, so it looks like Panasonic's upscaling chips on these TV's are indeed rather good...
261780
HD is so good that it is going to magnify low resolution and you are going to see the defects. The best way to minimize this is to not stretch programs that are in the 4:3 ratio. Go to HOME, SETTINGS, SCREEN SIZE and then set 4.3 default to "Normal". If you set it to anything else, it is going to stretch the screen and make things worse. Also make sure your cable box is set correctly because you can change how it outputs from the cable box. The third thing you need to watch is to use the correct mode with the correct program. For example, the vivid mode can cause eye strain. Reserve this mode for the simpsons and other similiar animated programs. Use standard for standard programs. Use cinema or customize the setting for sports. If you picture is too sharp for sports, you are going to see a fuzzy screen. If you reduce the sharpness and the brightness, the picture will look smooth and give you a better sense of motion. Also, even though it has nothing to do with the picture, be sure the crank the voice boost feature and the sound is incredible when you do this. Hope this helps.
1753561
yes I found a chart for this model which says "offers full hd upsampling" I'm sure you realize that upscaled sd sources--i.e. 480i dvds-- can only looks so good when upscaled. in other words it won't look close to true 1080p hd quality. but it will offer noticeable improvement over native 480i. hope this helps. Arkadin