Topic: Problem with ConAir DVD!!!

[antikryst]

got this on sale at astro for 199...didnt open it for a month. just tried watching it last night. HASSLE!!!

it says widescreen...but when i played it...it was fullscreen with letterboxes! making the picture really really small.

also got windtalkers together with this...i havnt opened that one. can i return this and have it exchanged at astro? dont think i have the receipt anymore. now im worried that windtalkers might be the same fake widescreen version. both are from viva i think. 

[talisman30]

sir if i may ask, what do you mean by fullscreen with letterboxes?

[reynold]

...now im worried that windtalkers might be the same fake widescreen version. both are from viva i think. 

Don't worry with your windtalkers, it's a good copy

[vp_ortiz]

i think matagal n talagang ma problem yung con air na disc. pero i think its already known that the region 3 copy is not anamorphic... only letterbox. pero the good side is that it has a dts track.

[antikryst]

fullscreen with letterbox....i meant that it was 4:3 with black bars!!!!

i think the black bars are encoded as pixels in the movie

is this normal for "non anamorphic" widescreen dvds? do i avoid that label? its the only orig dvd i bought that is like this....and i have over 50 already.

[Trauma]

4:3 with Black Bars anitkryst? 

I think you need religion.

[vp_ortiz]

could you possibly give us a screenshot? medyo kakalito yung 4:3 letterboxed? or baka settings lng sa tv? cool k lng... :-)

[Kahon]

Please check these threads about non-anamorphic DVDs and Con Air:



Topics on widescreen letterbox - anamorphic, aspect ratio, matted, etc.


List of R3 non-anamorphic DVDs

[antikryst]

could you possibly give us a screenshot? medyo kakalito yung 4:3 letterboxed? or baka settings lng sa tv? cool k lng... :-)

im in the office now so i dont think i can send a screenshot lol

my tv is set to 16:9...my pio dv 400 is set to 16:9 compressed where it doesnt stretch FS dvds. so...when i played the conair dvd...it has black bars on the side for a 4:3 picture...then that 4:3 picture has black bars on the top and bottom as well.



hassle. hahahaha

[antikryst]

Please check these threads about non-anamorphic DVDs and Con Air:



Topics on widescreen letterbox - anamorphic, aspect ratio, matted, etc.


List of R3 non-anamorphic DVDs

doesnt non anamorphic widescreen mean that it shows on a 4:3 tv as widescreen only while anamorphic removes the black bars and stretches the picture up.

in this case...i think its really encoded in 4:3 with the black bars encoded with it as well.

though it says on the back...widescreen...16:9 presentation.

[techdude]

It is widescreen, just not anamorphic.   

4:3 means the image is in that ratio (black bars doesn't count).   You got your terms mixed up, hence the confusion...

Your TV need to be widescreen to take advantage of Anamorphic widescreen DVDs.  On standard television, Anamorphic and non-anamorphic widescreen will show the same way - with black bars.     

Also note the aspect ratio, anything over 1.78:1 will have black bars even on a widescreen TV.

[antikryst]

sorry for the confusion. my tv is widescreen though.

thanks for all the help. i guess its hard to explain this problem without pictures and notes to the picture.

[barrister]

If you familiarize yourself with the terminology, you will be able to describe it without pictures.

...it has black bars on the side for a 4:3 picture...then that 4:3 picture has black bars on the top and bottom as well.

That's windowbox.

Bars on top and bottom             - Letterbox
Bars on both sides                    - Pillarbox
Bars top, bottom and both sides  - Windowbox

[antikryst]

there ya go. thanks.

its windowboxed then lol. which is real bad for me. is this with the dvd itself? i guess this will be letterboxed on a 4:3 tv but since mine is wide...its windowboxed.

[barrister]

its windowboxed then lol. which is real bad for me. is this with the dvd itself?

Yes, the problem is caused by non-anamorphic encoding on the disc itself, as our other members have been saying from the start of this thread   

I understand your predicament, since windowbox is just annoying and simply unwatchable for me too.


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Fiddle with player settings.  I'm not familiar with your player, so I'll just take a guess: 

Switch out of 16:9 compressed and try a plain 16:9 on the player.  If your TV is also in 16:9 mode, you should get a letterboxed picture from a widescreen DVD, but it will be horizontally stretched if the DVD is non-anamorphic. 

To eliminate stretching, choose TV settings: 

1.  A 4:3 mode on the TV will give you a windowboxed picture without stretch;

2.  A zoom mode on the TV will give you a 16x9 picture without stretch, or, in case of aspect ratios greater than 1.85:1, a letterboxed picture without stretch. 

Note, however, that the picture will be worse on a zoom mode, due to the change in pixel mapping.  That's why widescreen TV owners should always get anamorphic DVD versions.

[gearhead]

fullscreen with letterbox....i meant that it was 4:3 with black bars!!!!

i think the black bars are encoded as pixels in the movie

is this normal for "non anamorphic" widescreen dvds? do i avoid that label? its the only orig dvd i bought that is like this....and i have over 50 already.

posted this in another thread, and moving it here:

i'm getting the hang of these "fullscreen" dvd's. it seems they're encoded in 4:3 with the letterbox built-in. in essence the whole picture, including the black bars, is in 640x480 resolution... unlike for native widescreen material which is 720x480 for the picture area. this results in a loss in both horizontal and vertical resolution, but at least you still see the whole picture... unlike those transposed to 4:3 wherein picture elements were lopped off from both sides to fit the display.

for me who has a PJ, i like it more when it's fullscreen with letterbox coz the PJ (or is it the player?) stretches the pic to the edges so the letterboxing is only minimal, much like if you bought a true widescreen/anamorphic dvd. i hate the cropped 4:3 versions though.

the "brokeback mountain" i bought for P100 is 4:3, at least it says so in the cover.
"hostel" is also fullscreen with letterbox so i enjoyed watching it in the pj... so is "the road home".
"chronicles of riddick" has "fullscreen emblazoned on the cover, and it's cropped to fit in a 4:3 box.
so, the consistency in the labelling seems to be one of the problems.

[barrister]

so, the consistency in the labelling seems to be one of the problems.

I don't trust labels on R3 DVDs.  My remedy is to research on pinoydvd first before buying an R3.

[antikryst]

crap...

i was aware i could use the zoom mode but the pq will be off.

impulse buy i guess. i hope we had laws where we can return mislabeled discs.

[aligonzales]

crap...

i was aware i could use the zoom mode but the pq will be off.

impulse buy i guess. i hope we had laws where we can return mislabeled discs.

Actually you can. Some Astro stores (if you bought the disc from them) allow you to return the DVD in exchange for another title. Don't expect to get your money back though. Just tell Astro your concerns.

I remembered returning a Narnia DVD because it's mislabeled. The packaging indicated it has a DTS track but it had NONE when I played it.

[antikryst]

problem is...i dont have the receipt anymore. ok lang kaya to? i think they know me na by face lol.

[vp_ortiz]

try mo na din. sayang din you could exchange with a better title.

[antikryst]

ill try soon and post what happens in this thread. it was the only one i bought + windtalkers in that batch of sale items that i really had to have....well...anything that is not windowboxed should be better

[Hot Mama]

there ya go. thanks.

its windowboxed then lol. which is real bad for me. is this with the dvd itself? i guess this will be letterboxed on a 4:3 tv but since mine is wide...its windowboxed.

Using a PC with DVD drive, the size of the window wil show the ratio if 16:9 or 4:3... non anamorphic widescreen will show the window in 4:3 with black bars.

Hope this also helps.