Format

[BillyB]

I have a Panasonic 50" 60U plasma display. I'm a little confused regarding viewing formats. For Cable box viewing I have to change the aspect every time to have full screen viewing. Is there a way to avoid this annoyance.(cable box settings don't seem to help).

Also wondering about DVD viewing. I have an Oppo upconverting DVD player. Some movies still have black bars top and bottom despite widescreen display. Is widescreen and 16X9 2 different formats.. I use the zoom setting on the display to full screen view but am unsure if that hurts resolution or sharpness.

These are just growing pains with the new equipment but any feedback would be great.

[pixelthis]

I have a Panasonic 50" 60U plasma display. I'm a little confused regarding viewing formats. For Cable box viewing I have to change the aspect every time to have full screen viewing. Is there a way to avoid this annoyance.(cable box settings don't seem to help).

Also wondering about DVD viewing. I have an Oppo upconverting DVD player. Some movies still have black bars top and bottom despite widescreen display. Is widescreen and 16X9 2 different formats.. I use the zoom setting on the display to full screen view but am unsure if that hurts resolution or sharpness.

These are just growing pains with the new equipment but any feedback would be great.
Some movies have a format of 2:35-1, they will have black bars even on 16:9 sets.
You can zoom em for full screen but some of the picture will be chopped off, but usually
not much. If you're a purist watch em with the bars.
Also sometimes a picture is letterboxed but for a 4:3 (square screen) on a 16:9 set the picture will be streached with bars, zooming will cure this.
Set your set to normal, if the pic is "squished" put it on wide, if normal but with bars on all sides, zoom, if just a normal 4:3 (square) pic you can "streach" it to fit, distorting it or watch it with sidebars.
I watch "stargate atlantis" for example on "zoom" it them fills my screen almost perfect,
and looks great:sleep:

[Mr Peabody]

It sounds like the problem is only with the cable box, how do you have it connected and is the cable box HD? If it's not HD the box could be sending your TV a 4:3 picture all the time or if you aren't using component or HDMI connections. This is the only thing I can think of that would make you have to adjust for the cable box only. When viewing content from my cable box, which is HD and I use component connections, to my HDTV, I get a 16:9 display, but I have to use a composite to my DVD recorder and when the signal is passed through the recorder I get a 4:3 display. I can't remember if the recorder allows for a conversion or not because I don't really use that picture very often.

You mentioned the cable box settings isn't much help, does it allow a choice of aspect or resolution? It does if it's HD, and these do have to be set.

[pixelthis]

It sounds like the problem is only with the cable box, how do you have it connected and is the cable box HD? If it's not HD the box could be sending your TV a 4:3 picture all the time or if you aren't using component or HDMI connections. This is the only thing I can think of that would make you have to adjust for the cable box only. When viewing content from my cable box, which is HD and I use component connections, to my HDTV, I get a 16:9 display, but I have to use a composite to my DVD recorder and when the signal is passed through the recorder I get a 4:3 display. I can't remember if the recorder allows for a conversion or not because I don't really use that picture very often.

You mentioned the cable box settings isn't much help, does it allow a choice of aspect or resolution? It does if it's HD, and these do have to be set.
this is all true, but even with your box set correctly you will still have bars, 4:3 on a high def channel will have bars on the side, cant get rid of em, and 2:35-1 stuff will come across letterboxed.
NOrthern exposure on UHD last night for example, was in 4:3, hence bars on the sides.
In this age of different formats you'll get bars on some material.
But do check your box, on my motorola you turn it off and hit menu, and theres' several options, 16:9 tv, 720p,1080i, etc
But some shows will still give you a picture that doesnt fit, this is the way its gonna be here on out:hand:

[Mr Peabody]

I have the Motorola Moxie box, using component to my HDTV and I never have black bars. But there isn't an aspect setting to my knowledge on my cable box itself. My Toshiba DLP does the conversion of 4:3 to 16:9. My Sony tube HDTV also has this type of setting. Each manufacturer has different names they give the the various conversions. Basically the TV takes the 4:3 picture and stretches it to fit the 16:9 screen. I would think your plasma would have the same settings inside it's set up menu. My Sony has a setting that is great, you can't really tell the picture has been enlarged. Some of the conversions I've seen aren't so hot though, they tend to make faces look oblong.

But, then I wonder why my TV allows a 4:3 on my composite connection from DVD recorder..... He asks hypothetically. Thanks for opening this can of worms:) I just checked, when watching a standard definition channel on cable, from my box via component the screen is filled, when I switch to the input receiving the same signal passed through the DVD recorder via composite, it's 4:3. I'm going to have to check my TV to make sure it's set to "auto" on the conversion which is supposed to convert any 4:3 input to 16:9. If it is, it must have something to do with the DVD recorder. Or, the box does it automatically when using the component.

BillyB try some experimenting and give me some feedback.

[pixelthis]

I have the Motorola Moxie box, using component to my HDTV and I never have black bars. But there isn't an aspect setting to my knowledge on my cable box itself. My Toshiba DLP does the conversion of 4:3 to 16:9. My Sony tube HDTV also has this type of setting. Each manufacturer has different names they give the the various conversions. Basically the TV takes the 4:3 picture and stretches it to fit the 16:9 screen. I would think your plasma would have the same settings inside it's set up menu. My Sony has a setting that is great, you can't really tell the picture has been enlarged. Some of the conversions I've seen aren't so hot though, they tend to make faces look oblong.

But, then I wonder why my TV allows a 4:3 on my composite connection from DVD recorder..... He asks hypothetically. Thanks for opening this can of worms:) I just checked, when watching a standard definition channel on cable, from my box via component the screen is filled, when I switch to the input receiving the same signal passed through the DVD recorder via composite, it's 4:3. I'm going to have to check my TV to make sure it's set to "auto" on the conversion which is supposed to convert any 4:3 input to 16:9. If it is, it must have something to do with the DVD recorder. Or, the box does it automatically when using the component.

BillyB try some experimenting and give me some feedback.

You're box isnt set up properly.
The reason you get 4:3 over your composite is its SD.
And if your motorola is like mine you turn it OFF, hit menu and the white screen pops up.
The choice for 4:3 is auto, streach, 480p, etc
The resolution options are 480p, 720p, 1080i.
And lots of other stuff, like screen size (16:9 or 4:3)
Your TV cant streach a 4:3 picture coming from a progressive or high def source

[Mr Peabody]

Then my box must be set right because when watching SD channels from it, they fill my screen. It doesn't allow for separate settings for the different outputs. I suspect if I cared to fix the feed from the DVD, it's the TV that needs set. But the only time I use this feed is finalizing something I've recorded.