Sony BDP-S6200 pan and scan / black bars problem

bf4rocks

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Hi,

I've just got a new Sony BDP-S6200 bluray player and I'm having problems getting movies to fill the whole screen i.e. I hate black bars at the top and bottom. I know 'zooming' will result in the sides being cropped - I don't care.

Looking at the options and the manual it seems the bluray player 'pan and scan' is what I want but it doesn't seem to do anything - I still see the bars top and bottom, what am I missing ?

My TV is a Samsung plasma 65" (can't remember the model number at the moment) this has useless settings for zoom AFAICT, I can zoom / stretch the picture vertically but not horizontally - I can't watch movies where everyone looks tall and thin either.

I can remember an old Panasonic bluray player having a zoom where I could finely step the zoom up until I was happy with the size of the picture i.e. being able to adjust the size to balance between loss of the sides and height.

I'm passing the HDMI via a Marantz NR1601 AV amp - this can't be messing with the aspect ratio - can it ?

What other options do I have - any suggestions on another bluray player that has a working zoom / fill my screen option, any additional HDMI box I can add inline to give me this functionality ?
 
Hi,

I've just got a new Sony BDP-S6200 bluray player and I'm having problems getting movies to fill the whole screen i.e. I hate black bars at the top and bottom. I know 'zooming' will result in the sides being cropped - I don't care.

Looking at the options and the manual it seems the bluray player 'pan and scan' is what I want but it doesn't seem to do anything - I still see the bars top and bottom, what am I missing ?

My TV is a Samsung plasma 65" (can't remember the model number at the moment) this has useless settings for zoom AFAICT, I can zoom / stretch the picture vertically but not horizontally - I can't watch movies where everyone looks tall and thin either.

I can remember an old Panasonic bluray player having a zoom where I could finely step the zoom up until I was happy with the size of the picture i.e. being able to adjust the size to balance between loss of the sides and height.

I'm passing the HDMI via a Marantz NR1601 AV amp - this can't be messing with the aspect ratio - can it ?

What other options do I have - any suggestions on another bluray player that has a working zoom / fill my screen option, any additional HDMI box I can add inline to give me this functionality ?
There's no zoom function on most Blu-ray Players now. Philips I believe is the only make with that. Your Sony does not have this function. If you want to zoom a letterbox film, you need to use your Samsung TV's P SIZE button and choose the appropriate mode. There is usually an option for Fill in the aspect ratio options of P SIZE, but I don't know your model. Don't forget to change it back afterwards though or you'll have everything beyond the edges of whats visible on the screen.
 
Thanks for the tip, I'll take another look at my plasma options, I'm using a harmony 1 remote, I went through all the 'aspect' button clicks last night and via the Samsung onscreen menu - with no luck. In fact the same options are shown via the on screen menu as what I saw via the remote. So I'm not very hopeful of a solution, why on earth I can stretch the picture vertically and not horizontally on the TV is beyond me.

Going back to the blu-ray player - to quote the manual
"
[Pan & Scan]: Displays a full-height
picture on the entire screen, with
trimmed sides.
"
This is exactly what I want but it doesn't work - I'm wondering now if the blu-ray disc I was messing with last night (I, Frankenstein) has the black bars as part of the picture ?

Or is the Pan & Scan a fixed zoom that isn't sufficient for a really wide film (if that makes sense).

Nothing annoys me more than an option that doesn't appear to work.
 
It is still beyond me why anyone would want to screw up the original aspect ratio of a film...
 
I knew someone would say "screw up the original aspect ratio of a film" eventually or words to the same effect.

IMO most of the action and is in the middle of the screen, my lounge it reasonably large, I have a large screen - I want to use it, I didn't buy it to only use 3/4 of it.

I can cope with smallish black bars just not whopping ones, it just annoys me, I can't enjoy the film I'm watching. Yes I know others will think / say oh you should get used to it / it's how the director wanted you to see the film and so on. NO I say I want to zoom to use the full screen - end of :)
 
Thanks for the tip, I'll take another look at my plasma options, I'm using a harmony 1 remote, I went through all the 'aspect' button clicks last night and via the Samsung onscreen menu - with no luck. In fact the same options are shown via the on screen menu as what I saw via the remote. So I'm not very hopeful of a solution, why on earth I can stretch the picture vertically and not horizontally on the TV is beyond me.

Going back to the blu-ray player - to quote the manual
"
[Pan & Scan]: Displays a full-height
picture on the entire screen, with
trimmed sides.
"
This is exactly what I want but it doesn't work - I'm wondering now if the blu-ray disc I was messing with last night (I, Frankenstein) has the black bars as part of the picture ?

Or is the Pan & Scan a fixed zoom that isn't sufficient for a really wide film (if that makes sense).

Nothing annoys me more than an option that doesn't appear to work.
To do what you want to do, you need a Blu-ray player with a Zoom function (or a TV that can. I am not familiar with your Samsung, but know all Sony and Philips TVs do). In Blu-ray Players, the only ones on the market that I know of with Zoom are Pioneer, Philips, Toshiba, Yamaha etc. Sony and Panasonic do not.

Are the letterbox bars really such a problem? It's how the film was composed and you have a TV screen size big enough for it not to be a distraction.

I think the page from the manual is just describing various aspect ratios, isn't it?
 
You've hit the nail on the head "distraction", I'm not sure how else to put it, I bought a large screen because I like to watch a large picture - see details that are missed on a small screen etc. I bought a surround sound system to enjoy the HD sound i.e. I wouldn't be satisfied with stereo - I wanted 5.1 (if this is making any sense). Perhaps it's a matter of preference / taste, I bought a close to the top of the range Sony player and expected to have this basic option, it has bucket loads of features and functions but not the ability to fill a 16:9 screen - eeeh ?

Obviously I'm not going to rush out and buy another blu-ray player that doesn't have the ability to fill the full screen.

Do you happen to know of a particular model that does this ?
 
You've hit the nail on the head "distraction", I'm not sure how else to put it, I bought a large screen because I like to watch a large picture - see details that are missed on a small screen etc. I bought a surround sound system to enjoy the HD sound i.e. I wouldn't be satisfied with stereo - I wanted 5.1 (if this is making any sense). Perhaps it's a matter of preference / taste, I bought a close to the top of the range Sony player and expected to have this basic option, it has bucket loads of features and functions but not the ability to fill a 16:9 screen - eeeh ?

Obviously I'm not going to rush out and buy another blu-ray player that doesn't have the ability to fill the full screen.

Do you happen to know of a particular model that does this ?
It's retro and not particularly 'smart' but it is very good: Pioneer BDP160 or BDP170 would be what I'd recommend.
Also, everything by Philips has it and all the Toshibas (not recommended due to shoddy build quality). The Yamaha models do too, but not always with BDs AFAIK.

I'd go for the Pioneer. Remote is a bit cheap feeling as it's just a Funai (all of those above models are Funai variants) but it is well made.

The reason you don't see 'zoom' often is because most people don't want it. It's about as popular as slo-mo backwards in disc players.
 
"The reason you don't see 'zoom' often is because most people don't want it" - I find this hard to believe, anyway - Sony have obviously decided to put a load of other useless features into this player why not just add 1 more :)

I don't care about all the smart guff, I have a PC sitting behind the TV I can use for that. I'll check out the players you mention - thanks.
 
I'm not even confident the Pioneer BDP170 can zoom, in the manual it says "This function does not work with some discs" (talking about 'Zoom'), I'm not going to bet £150 on this working or not.

I wonder if there's any PC software / players that offers this (zoom) - but then I guess I've got to battle with audio problems via HDMI.
 
I'm not even confident the Pioneer BDP170 can zoom, in the manual it says "This function does not work with some discs" (talking about 'Zoom'), I'm not going to bet £150 on this working or not.

I wonder if there's any PC software / players that offers this (zoom) - but then I guess I've got to battle with audio problems via HDMI.
They do with most discs. Maybe not Java ones. Those Funai/Pioneers are like early DVD players (which I think is great), very simple and traditional. You can zoom in and out and navigate around the zoomed image.
Sony AFAIK have never had zoom functionality. Panasonic rarely did too.

EDIT: They even do Jacket Pictures (like 1st gen DVD), so if you play an old DVD with one you get that when you press stop. I know, big deal, but I like the traditionalism!
 
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Hmm I was never after navigating around a zoomed image, just after being able to watch a film scaled up to a 16:9 aspect ratio.

I still don't understand why the 'pan and scan' option on the Sony player doesn't do what I want ?

The description of the option sounds perfect (Displays a full-height picture on the entire screen, with trimmed sides.) but it does zippo to the final picture. Is this only applicable for 4:3 screens I wonder ?
 
Hmm I was never after navigating around a zoomed image, just after being able to watch a film scaled up to a 16:9 aspect ratio.

I still don't understand why the 'pan and scan' option on the Sony player doesn't do what I want ?

The description of the option sounds perfect (Displays a full-height picture on the entire screen, with trimmed sides.) but it does zippo to the final picture. Is this only applicable for 4:3 screens I wonder ?
Yes, that's what it's for and only outputs from the SD out AFAIK

The Pioneer zoom is in increments so you would be able to eliminate the matte bars

Your TV should have this function though. I'm surprised it doesn't.

Display: How To Change The Picture Size (Aspect Ratio) On Your TV (2014 UNxxH) : LED TV | Samsung
 
I wonder if I can send this back to Amazon UK - it's not faulty just is lacking something I wanted.

Failing that does anyone want a cheap 1 day old Sony BDP-S6200 ?
 
I wonder if I can send this back to Amazon UK - it's not faulty just is lacking something I wanted.

Failing that does anyone want a cheap 1 day old Sony BDP-S6200 ?
Course it's returnable. You'll probably have to pay return shipping though (cheapest is Interparcel - should be about £6 inc insurance. You drop off at a local convenience store or they collect from your house).

Are you getting the Pioneer?
 
I think I might see if can get a demo of a pioneer perhaps at superfi / richer sounds - before I part with anymore cash.

I will do some more messing with the Sony tonight but I think I'm reasonably convinced it isn't going to do what I want.

Thanks for your help.
 
I think I might see if can get a demo of a pioneer perhaps at superfi / richer sounds - before I part with anymore cash.

I will do some more messing with the Sony tonight but I think I'm reasonably convinced it isn't going to do what I want.

Thanks for your help.
Glad to have helped and good luck. The Pioneer can also be made multi region for DVD by buying a remote on eBay (£12)
 
Just to update this thread on my weekend of messing with Blu-ray players.

Saturday - went off to richer sounds to buy a Pioneer 170K, having spent many hours of messing with the 'zoom' button I discovered / concluded it did nothing, it didn't even let me know it was going to do nothing i.e. an on screen icon / message etc.
Picture was OK sound was excellent. Late Saturday I thought to myself if I'm going to have to put up with a letter box picture I might as well keep the Sony 6200 player seeing as the picture did wow me when I first used it. Unboxed it, plugged it in to discover I couldn't get DTS HD master on my AV amp, from memory the sound options were PCM or Auto. I had no problem getting the Pioneer to give me this correct sound / bit stream via my AV amp, so the Sony was out / back to Amazon today.

Sunday morning looking at the Samsung 7500 Blu-ray player user guide I discovered it has the same screen mode options as my old Samsung player, so back to Richer sounds on Sunday to swap for the Samsung. Feeling sure / smug that I'd got a solution I later discovered when I used the screen mode / stretching option it produced a lovely on screen message of 'not available' aaaaahh !!!

Picture from the Samsung is noisy and colours look washed out as per some reviews have said (although not played with the settings much), at least I can get the DTS audio via my AV amp. Probably would have kept the Pioneer for picture and audio quality if I knew the Samsung wouldn't stretch the picture.

Seems nowadays the focus is on smart features and the fact you can play Blu-ray disk is just a side show.

I'm keeping the Samsung just to have a Blu-ray player for convenience but I think my next option is playing Blu-rays on my gaming PC that sits behind my plasma, so this week I'm buying a Blu-ray drive and preparing myself for more headaches, grief and pain.
 

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