DVD Playback is in Letterbox WHY?

[pauls898]

I have a Sony RDR-HXD710 PVR and while dubbing a standard 16:9 full screen program recorded from BBC1 to a DVD -R in LP mode the result playback on DVD seems to be in Letterbox mode? The recorder has croped the top and bottom off the picture? Why?

If I dub to a DVD -RW in HQ mode and only fit an hour on one 4.7GB DVD I get full screen, but this is a bit of a waste of disc only puting 1 hour on a disc. When I compress 4 hours of footage ie going from HQ to LP it crops the picture? is this how it saves data by croping the image or am I missing something here

[Hal_loe]

Hi

I don't know the Sony RDR-HXD710, most dvd recorders reduce the bitrate to save space in lower recording modes.

Some also drop the resolution to from 720x576 (704-720 is valid) to 352x576 or 352x288.

I've not heard of them turning a 16:9 anamorphic widescreen image to letter box before.

What source are your recordings from?

Was it 16:9 anaomorphic widescreen?

[pauls898]

It was recorded from Sky + using the RGB input. When I play back the recording from the HDD its fine, fills the 16:9 screen. If I make a 1:1 copy to DVD ie just fit 1 Hour onto a 4.7gb disc this is fine also. However when I fit 4 hours of recording, obviously the machine has to convert from HQ mode to LP mode and then the playback come out as Letter box, and yes it has "Croped the image" as I have compared the before and after results and the tops of peoples heads are now croped. I have read somewhere that using +R media there was a bug, but I am using -R media so it ought to work. I have about 13 hours of programs to back-up and I don't fancy using up 13 discs

[Broadz]

Do you know anybody else with an alternative (non-Sony) DVD recorder that you could borrow and try out? I know my LG DVD recorder successfully records compressed anamorphic signals at 4 hours quality, never tried it at 8 hours, so it must be a "feature" of the Sony to allow it to fit more on the disc. How does 2-hour or 3-hour quality look?

[Hal_loe]

Originally Posted by pauls898

It was recorded from Sky + using the RGB input. When I play back the recording from the HDD its fine, fills the 16:9 screen. If I make a 1:1 copy to DVD ie just fit 1 Hour onto a 4.7gb disc this is fine also. However when I fit 4 hours of recording, obviously the machine has to convert from HQ mode to LP mode and then the playback come out as Letter box, and yes it has "Croped the image" as I have compared the before and after results and the tops of peoples heads are now croped. I have read somewhere that using +R media there was a bug, but I am using -R media so it ought to work. I have about 13 hours of programs to back-up and I don't fancy using up 13 discs

Do you have any means of extracting the video file details on a PC?

If you need help doing so I can explain a methos to do so and also aquire a image extracted from the video.

Most of the DVD Recorders drop the resolution to fit more data on the DVD but I have never heard of cropping an image.

Sounds like a very silly solution by Sony....

[pauls898]

Hi

Just copied the same BBC Episode onto a DVD by only puting on one so not exceeding the hour mark and it plays back correct, ie full 16:9. Therefore its something to do with the way this player compresses from HQ to LP mode to fit 4 hours on a DVD.

As you suggest the next thing to try is to do two Episode therefor 2 hours and that will then go from HQ to SP, I shall see what results that brings.