Pioneer PDP427XD and 4:3 Material?

[Martin J.]

New forum member and new Pioneer PDP427XD owner.

First question for the group is about 4:3 material on the Pioneer. There seem to be two options, 4:3 and "Auto" background, which fills the sides of the screen with a greyscale, enlarged version of the programme, or standard flat grey bars.

What I'd like to know is if it's possible to view 4:3 material with black windowboxing - ie black bars at the sides?

I was watching Cops last night - most of which was shot in the dark - and found the grey bars really distracting. They're OK for general viewing to avoid screen burn, but on "special" occasions, like watching 4:3 DVDs, I'd like to turn them off altogether. Is that possible? Thanks!

 

[chaparral]

I think the answer for this is NO...

But you will get used to them in time...

 

[Martin J.]

I think the answer for this is NO...

Thanks, but that's really bad news.

But you will get used to them in time...

I don't think I will. I've got a lot of classic TV shows on DVD - all 4:3 - and usually watch in a suitably darkened room. Now I've got two bright grey bars either side of the image, and I can't think of anything more distracting.

 

[avfr3ak]

Thanks, but that's really bad news.

I don't think I will. I've got a lot of classic TV shows on DVD - all 4:3 - and usually watch in a suitably darkened room. Now I've got two bright grey bars either side of the image, and I can't think of anything more distracting.

I agree that black bars would be nice to have.

I like using the "WIDE" setting for 4:3 material. This mode very slightly crops from the top and bottom and stretches more towards the sides, so the center area of the screen is mainly unaffected. And because the plasma shows more of the picture than the old crt, it really doesn´t have to stretch that much to fill the whole screen. With good source this doesn´t affect the picture quality much. With very poor source there are just a little more artifacts than with 4:3 format. The WIDE mode is scaling after all.

It really didn´t take too much time getting uset toi the WIDE format. It´s definitely better than the FULL mode which stretches evenly and doesn´t crop from the top and the bottom.

 

[Martin J.]

I like using the "WIDE" setting for 4:3 material. This mode very slightly crops from the top and bottom and stretches more towards the sides, so the center area of the screen is mainly unaffected.

Surprisingly, I didn't find "Wide" too objectionable when I watched a few programmes last night, in fact I had to look closely to see any really obvious stretching. It's not really a purist approach to 4:3 material, but it's a whole lot better than two bright grey bars. Thanks for the tip.

With good source this doesn´t affect the picture quality much. With very poor source there are just a little more artifacts than with 4:3 format. The WIDE mode is scaling after all.

4:3 DVDs are the most important to me, so the quality is generally quite good and I didn't really notice a quality hit.

Sky SD and Freeview broadcasts are a different story, they're bloomin' terrible no matter what the screen mode.