[opendtv] Re: Popular screen aspect ratios

  • From: dan.grimes@xxxxxxxx
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 09:39:43 -0800


It is quite possible that people would like to watch video in it's proper
aspect ratio but cannot.

I borrowed a very nice Sony XBR 16:9 aspect ratio monitor (not a TV, no
tuner) and plugged my Philips DVR into it with an HDMI cable.  Trying to
get video correctly displayed drove me nuts!  All the HD channels had
correctly pillar boxed 4:3 content but the SD channels showed 4:3 content
in wide screen, distorting the images.  The HD channels with HD content
also displayed correctly.  But there was no getting the SD channels with SD
content to display right.  I tried all kinds of combinations of menu
settings for the TV and the DVR but never was the 4:3 content displayed
right.  Evidently, the Philips DVR does not use AFD and the HDMI to the
monitor is fixed at 1080/60P (according to the monitor).

So my conclusion is that many might be forced to watch everything in 16:9,
no matter what the content originates in.

On a side note, all our Sony professional production monitors are
(ironically) 16:10.  It does have settings to either letterbox 16:9, fill
the video with distortion, fill with slight cropping, or display natively
(pixel to pixel), causing the 1280x720 to be "postage stamp".  I like
having these options but it is difficult to get our students and production
staff to set and use them properly.

Dan

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