Arcam dvd79 display options

[Stonedragon]

I'm in the market for a dvd79 and decided to borrow one from my local dealers. Anycase, I cant get anything other than letterbox (16:9) with the black horizontal bars (top/bottom) or a 4:3 display. This is really annoying because I would like to fill the whole screen with a picture, but I cant seem how to. Has anybody got ideas how this can be achieved? I really like this player, but if I cant configure the option for a full display, I probably wont buy it. O yes, another thing, when the player isn't playing anything and you get the black background, this seems to be 'spotted' with very small green and blue dots. Is this normal? When the player is on, then blacks are as they should be.

Any help on these questions woulb be much appreciated

 

[johndon]

If you have a widescreen TV then the DV79 should be set to 16:9. If you are getting black bars top and bottom, it's due to the aspect ratio of the film rather than a problem with the player. The DV79 does have a zoom mode you can access via the remote which would enable you to zoom the oicture in to get rid of the black lines.

On my Hitachi plasma, the black background when there is no DVD is solid, no sign of coloured dots.

HTH

John

 

[Crustyloafer]

You need to make sure you are watching a film which is meant to be full 16:9, something from Pixar is a good bet, like Toy Story. You didn't say what kind of screen you are using, if it is a plasma screen then it may not be able to handle a pure black backround and you end up getting pixels firing off randomly in greens and blues, the Pioneer PDP433 was prone to this although that model is quite old now. If it is a projector then the problem could be the same but is called dot crawl where with very black sections of picture are prone to noise. In either case this is not a problem with the player.

 

[Stonedragon]

Guys,

Thankyou for the replies - its encouraging to know there is help out 'thre'.

I've really enjoyed using the player so far and I've still got a couple of days left, before I have to take it back. I want to buy this but I still have issues. Rather than rambling on, I'll summarise the problems.

1. The full screen issue that I mentioned in my first post - I reckon this is the player because on my cheap dvd player I can watch a film in any mode (full screen, letter box etc). This option is normally available via the TV menu, but somehow the Arcam has limited this to either the 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio.
2. The black dots in the horizontal bars - I believe it is the player, because I dont get this issue with any other player I've used. The black bars are black and are solid.
3. The last problem is that I can't for the life of me get a picture using SCART. I tried SCART/SCART and SCART/component cable. The only way I can get a picture is using a HDMI cable with a DVI adapter going into the plasma.

Any help resolving these issues would be much appreciated.

 

[Crustyloafer]

When you're using the HDMI connection make sure the video output on the player is set to HDMI/DVI, otherwise it tries to send an analogue picture and it looks terrible with loads of noise.

If you need to reset the video output on the player the press and hold the 'Stop' buttin on the front for about 5 seconds.

When using the Scart cable make sure you have it plugged into a scart socket on the plasma that accepts an RGB picture otherwise you will get nothing.

Probably one of the reasons you are having problems with the picture shape is that some screens only allow you to display the picture in thr same format as it is being sent wheh you are using a digital connection. This is to make sure you are seeing the picture as it is meant to be.

 

[Stonedragon]

Crustyloafer,

Thanks for the advice. When I get home today, I'll give this a go and let you know how I get on.

 

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

If you send display a progressive image it only allows 16:9 or 4:3...some even limit this to 16:9.

Flickering dots in dark areas are dither. You should set the black level correctly with a test disc. Once you've done that if you see the flickering pixels it's because the black of the splash screen isn't actually black...it's above black. I've not checked so don't know what it is. I suspect if you turn brightness down on the panel you'llbe able to make the flickering pixels go away if you want.

On the ARCAM if you set the priority to analogue and set interlaced to off you get 480i and 576i out of the HDMI socket digitally. Not many displays are likely to work with this signal type.

Hope this is also of use.

Gordon

 

[Stonedragon]

Gordon,

Thanks for the advice. What you say makes sense because the Arcam is forcing the 16:9/4:3 display because these are the only options available in the menu. I'm going to try turning the progressive off and see what happens then....will let you know. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Stonedragon]

Gordon,

U R a genius. Now sorted - full screen through scart

BUT, lost the quality I was getting through progressive and those pesky dots are still there, but only visible if you stick your nose upto the screen. Will have to get a calibration disk before Sat, when I have to take it back.

Thanks