OK just for watching DVDs? (I don't watch TV) What about adjustment to screen size?
484134
DVD's look great on this plasma screen. They look a little better with a Panasonic Viera DVD player, but not a lot better, so I not sure it is worth the extra expense (and slow start-up time) for the Panny DVD player. This screen upconverts 480i anyway. My only "complaint" about the 42" plasma screen is that I would have preferred a 37" if Panny made a plasma that size. For my space, (8 foot viewing distance) 42 can be just a tad too big sometimes at full screen with lots of motion.
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
1026800
it takes a standard 4 screw set up on the back of your monitor. screen size not an issue. but i would follow the comment of walter
832548
If you're using it as intended, Not at all. Great standalone little unit for BluRay discs. Now, you can use the built-in outputs to project onto bigger screen.
1254422
I believe that one can adjust the settings for video output display, but I haven't done this yet. Out of the box, this plays SD dvds in the original aspect ratio (as stated on the back of the dvd box). So, for MASH First Season, one will see black bars on the sides of his screen, if he has a wide screen tv. The image is nearly a square, on screen. Upscaling is very good. I can't comment on all the other features as I just got it, but you will need to connect this with an ethernet cable from your main computer/ or router. In my case, this means buying a 50 foot cable ($25.00). I also suspect that download speed with your ISP and perhaps even the quality of your router may affect performance of Netflix and Pandora options.
474596
Rufus, Just bought this and love it, but, yes, the text generated from using CC onscreen button is very small. May be a way to get captions from the program source (such as streamed PBS or DVDs) or to increase size of the "default" CC text. Will get back to you if I find a way.Ok I'm back and and the text size isn't as small as I thought. It seems to measure 3/8", which works fine for me at 7 feet away. I think 3/8" is the suggested minimum size for viewing up to about 10 feet away for captioning. There is some variation in fonts, but it mostly seems to be uppercase sans serif something like Tahoma, if that means anything to you. You can also turn on subtitles to DVDs. Hope this helps. Rufus, Just bought this and love it, but, yes, the text generated from using CC onscreen button is very small. May be a way to get captions from the program source (such as streamed PBS or DVDs) or to increase size of the "default" CC text. Will get back to you if I find a way.Ok I'm back and and the text size isn't as small as I thought. It seems to measure 3/8", which works fine for me at 7 feet away. I think 3/8" is the suggested minimum size for viewing up to about 10 feet away for captioning. There is some variation in fonts, but it mostly seems to... » Read More Rufus, Just bought this and love it, but, yes, the text generated from using CC onscreen button is very small. May be a way to get captions from the program source (such as streamed PBS or DVDs) or to increase size of the "default" CC text. Will get back to you if I find a way.Ok I'm back and and the text size isn't as small as I thought. It seems to measure 3/8", which works fine for me at 7 feet away. I think 3/8" is the suggested minimum size for viewing up to about 10 feet away for captioning. There is some variation in fonts, but it mostly seems to be uppercase sans serif something like Tahoma, if that means anything to you. You can also turn on subtitles to DVDs. Hope this helps. « Show Less
596983
You are an idiot. Play a game in 800x600 (better rez than normal dvd) and then try in something higher (even below somethingx1080) and you will see a huge difference. If you truly believe that there will be no differences, you are prolly too ignorant to contribute to society. EDIT: Sorry about that. As for the actual question. Yes, you are kind of up a creek. Because of awesome new anti-pirating standards, you NEED HDMI to use these new players. All you can do is cross your fingers and hope they decide to make it so they can at least just play without HDMI but lower resolution. They are considering making it impossible to play without HDMI. As far as purchasing a new TV now I would suggest not because you are going to want more than one HDMI input after you get a few devices (two HDMI in are rare now and expensive). Also OLED and SED look pretty promising and you wouldn't wanna be kicking yourself in the butt again in a few years for jumping the gun.
75492
You can adjust the aspect ratio so that it fills the entire screen, but that would distort the picture somewhat. I like to put it in 4:3 mode, so it looks like a normal picture. Burn-in warnings be damned! But you'll be watching the important stuff through the HD air antenna anyway.I think the SD picture is just okay. It's a bit pixelated (probably because of the size of the TV) and the colors don't seem as sharp as my 23-year old Sony Trinitron. Once you see the HD picture, SD will look that much worse.
1093846
I don't believe so I never tried. I just used it to simply watch DVDs. But I'm pretty sure you can't.
920838
The best thing to do is to Buy one of those hd tuning dvds. I did that and it looked better than when i screwed with the settings. My tv looks great and I no longer mess with the settings.
2238264
Bill, Only because you asked, I tried four different screens -- a 42" plasma flatscreen, a 42" lcd flatscreen, a regular old-style TV and an lcd computer monitor. The old-style TV, I wasn't surprised, was "grainy," to use an old-fashioned term. The plasma was disappointing. The particular model I own didn't allow me to shrink the video to its natural size, so the picture was blown up edge to edge and that caused the picture to degrade. (DVDs on that TV are great, by the way.) Your plasma might operate differently and therefore, offer better results. The lcd TV allowed viewing the videos at natural (large) size, best quality of all, although even full size it looked great. And the computer monitor was great, too. If your potential gift recipient is a casual videographer as most of us are, they won't be disappointed. Fancy themselves as the next Baz Luhrmann and the Flip will promptly find itself on the return pile. I will post these results to the review I already made in case it's of interest to others. Good luck, Bill!
1539575
Make sure you go to the input setup in the menu and choose the video input associated with the input "DVD" etc and choose component not HDMI
143010
Yes, but I downloaded VLC (I hope that's right, I'm a little dyslexic) just because I like the features better. I use a flat screen TV for a monitor and use the hdmi feature.
1419593
HeidiI don't think I'm more advance with this unit than you are at this point!I have not tried the zoom feature and I can't help you there regarding whether the text stays on the screen.I was playing with the basics of the screen formatting last night.I did mess around with the settings and got the "boxing" to be reduced and the image enlarged. I believe this was under Setup\TV Settings, and then I selected the 4:3 PS that you described.This seems to work pretty well for me.
733451
No sir. Next screen size up has the disc drive. I haven't found a problem without it though. Good luck
1877881
Projector can adjust to screen size. If you want a portable look at elite t119uws1on Amazon for $154. If you want a wall fixed screen find one that fits your wall. Bigger is not always better.
1909185
Yeah no problem with that, it just means your screen will be higher. Look up ideal screen height based on where you sit