Widescreen troubles - Page 2

Thoran · 01-09-2006, 03:56 PM

A lot of new TV's today let you either scale the image in the direction that would be showing bars to fill the whole screen or zoom the image uniformly to fill the whole screen. In the first case you end up with people looking a bit taller and skinnier, in the second case you lose some image
around the edges.

Personally I just leave the bars there.

The reason for all this is that new widescreen TV's coming out almost all conform to HDTV standards (720p is 1280x720, 1080i or 1080p is 1920x1080), and HDTV has a slightly lower aspect ratio compared to movies (as Zinc illustrated)
so you get bars.

Welcome to the world of HD... you're going to love it! I've had a Panasonic AE700U (720p) with a 120" screen for the last year, watching HD content and Upscaled movies (HTPC with TheaterTek and FFDShow) is pretty much awesome.

[ 01-09-2006, 03:58 PM: Message edited by: Thoran ]

Sir Goulum · 01-09-2006, 04:50 PM

I'm a little confused with the HD... are all movies in HD or just some, or none? Also, with HD channels should I notice a difference when I'm watching it?

Sir Degrader · 01-09-2006, 05:07 PM

Well, it should look more defined, clearer.

Thoran · 01-09-2006, 07:23 PM

DVD's are not in HD... they are the equivelant of something like 512x480... NOT high res. Starting next year (EDIT... THIS year. [img]smile.gif[/img] ) we'll be seeing the next generation of High capacity DVD players coming on the market (Blu-ray or DVD-HD), movies in these formats WILL be true High Definition (assuming the origonal masters are in good enough shape to digitize in HD).

Until that time, the only way to see true HD content is either to have cable/satellite HD channels, OR have a Home Theater PC (HTPC) that can play HD content from Microsoft (WMV-HD). There are a number of titles out for WMV-HD... and it looks pretty darn good.

And as far as the difference in quality... it's night and day... DVD's look fuzzy on my system (hence the need for post-processing), but HD content is razor sharp and...well... DEEPER. Go to a Best Buy and have them play some HD content for you, you'll be AMAZED at the difference.

[ 01-09-2006, 07:27 PM: Message edited by: Thoran ]

Sir Goulum · 01-10-2006, 01:41 AM

Oh, ok... so we'll need to buy special HD DVD players?

Hm, maybe there was a special channel for that game. A sports network was advertising an Oilers game in HD, so I assumed that it was on their normal channel since, as far as I know, they don't have an HD channel. Maybe I'm wrong, since it looked about the same as it usually does.

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01-09-2006, 03:56 PM	#11
Thoran Galvatron Join Date: January 10, 2002 Location: Upstate NY Age: 57 Posts: 2,109	A lot of new TV's today let you either scale the image in the direction that would be showing bars to fill the whole screen or zoom the image uniformly to fill the whole screen. In the first case you end up with people looking a bit taller and skinnier, in the second case you lose some image around the edges. Personally I just leave the bars there. The reason for all this is that new widescreen TV's coming out almost all conform to HDTV standards (720p is 1280x720, 1080i or 1080p is 1920x1080), and HDTV has a slightly lower aspect ratio compared to movies (as Zinc illustrated) so you get bars. Welcome to the world of HD... you're going to love it! I've had a Panasonic AE700U (720p) with a 120" screen for the last year, watching HD content and Upscaled movies (HTPC with TheaterTek and FFDShow) is pretty much awesome. [ 01-09-2006, 03:58 PM: Message edited by: Thoran ]

01-09-2006, 04:50 PM	#12
Sir Goulum John Locke Join Date: February 7, 2002 Location: Edmonton, Canada Age: 36 Posts: 8,985	I'm a little confused with the HD... are all movies in HD or just some, or none? Also, with HD channels should I notice a difference when I'm watching it?

01-09-2006, 05:07 PM	#13
Sir Degrader Thoth - Egyptian God of Wisdom Join Date: November 3, 2001 Location: Canada Age: 64 Posts: 2,871	Well, it should look more defined, clearer.

01-09-2006, 07:23 PM	#14
Thoran Galvatron Join Date: January 10, 2002 Location: Upstate NY Age: 57 Posts: 2,109	DVD's are not in HD... they are the equivelant of something like 512x480... NOT high res. Starting next year (EDIT... THIS year. [img]smile.gif[/img] ) we'll be seeing the next generation of High capacity DVD players coming on the market (Blu-ray or DVD-HD), movies in these formats WILL be true High Definition (assuming the origonal masters are in good enough shape to digitize in HD). Until that time, the only way to see true HD content is either to have cable/satellite HD channels, OR have a Home Theater PC (HTPC) that can play HD content from Microsoft (WMV-HD). There are a number of titles out for WMV-HD... and it looks pretty darn good. And as far as the difference in quality... it's night and day... DVD's look fuzzy on my system (hence the need for post-processing), but HD content is razor sharp and...well... DEEPER. Go to a Best Buy and have them play some HD content for you, you'll be AMAZED at the difference. [ 01-09-2006, 07:27 PM: Message edited by: Thoran ]

01-10-2006, 01:41 AM	#15
Sir Goulum John Locke Join Date: February 7, 2002 Location: Edmonton, Canada Age: 36 Posts: 8,985	Oh, ok... so we'll need to buy special HD DVD players? Hm, maybe there was a special channel for that game. A sports network was advertising an Oilers game in HD, so I assumed that it was on their normal channel since, as far as I know, they don't have an HD channel. Maybe I'm wrong, since it looked about the same as it usually does.

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