Bad Mix: Blu-ray DVDs on Plasma TV

[PlasmaGuy]

I just bought a Sony PS3 to watch Blu-ray DVDs. The happy new is that the first movie I bought (Disney’s Dinosaur) looks fantastic on my plasma TV! The sad news occurred when I went to view other blu-ray disks. Almost all these moves are released in 2.4 : 1 aspect ratio. When viewing, I get the bars across the top and bottom of the screen, which isn’t much of a problem with LCD TVs, but is a problem with plasma. Because of plasma burn-in issues, when watching these movies I have to use the 16 : 9 zoom feature. This fills the screen with a picture, but of course it looks grainy. So this leads me to my question:

Does anyone know if the movie studios intend to re-master the 2.4 : 1 widescreen movies to the 16 : 9 aspect ratio?

For years studios routinely re-mastered movies for the standard 4 : 3 aspect ratio, but at present they seem content for Blu-ray releases to keep them in the 2.4 : 1 widescreen format. And even though LCD TV owners don’t need to contend with the burn-in issues, there is still that sensation of emptiness you get when viewing a 2.4 : 1 picture on a 16: 9 screen. Over 25% of the screen is filled with black bars.

[jorg]

Originally Posted by PlasmaGuy

Does anyone know if the movie studios intend to re-master the 2.4 : 1 widescreen movies to the 16 : 9 aspect ratio?

isn't 16:9 wide screen?
and 4:3 full screen?

and i do not think they will remaster the movies not for a while atlest

[Heresy]

Well this really isn't just a Blu-Ray disc (they're not DVDs) problem, there are still plenty of SD-DVDs and HD-DVDs that are OAR (and they should stay that way because that is how they are meant to be seen.)

That being said, new plasma TVs are not nearly as susceptible to burn-in as the original models were and are fairly immune after proper use for the first 200 hours of viewing. Just a little bit of caution (e.g. not leaving a Blu-Ray disc paused for hours at a time, etc.) will keep burn-in from being a problem.

[blitz6speed]

Basically, you want Non-OAR for the movies so that the entire screen gets filled when watching movies on your plasma so that burnin will not occur. I will predict a backlash against these hopes and then you will either have more faith in your plasma to not burnin, or, just zoom in from now on.

I would never want the studios going back to cropping, OAR is where its at.

[Blue]

Originally Posted by jorg

isn't 16:9 wide screen?
and 4:3 full screen?

and i do not think they will remaster the movies not for a while atlest

Jorg please have a look here. It explains the different ratios.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=4038

[Iceman_II]

I agree with blitz6speed


The majority of people buying blu-ray want to see the version the director intended, and will neither request nor tollorate "re-mastering" of the movies to fit some arbitrary aspect ratio.

To read your post, you would think that you never played a DVD over your TV before, you talk of the blu-ray as a new purchase, but your post reads like the TV was existing. I understand your concerns about plasma burn-in, but isn't this something you should have considdered before buying the set, I mean really, this isn't a new problem with your new blu-ray, hell, even widescreen SD DVDs often have letterboxing.

What is the difference between your asking if studios could crop it down to fit your screen, and you having your TV zoom in to do it for you, other than not making the rest of us suffer through it as well of course Both result in a completely arbitrary cropping of the image to fit a standard not invisioned by the director... and both yield substandard results.

[Deciazulado]

2.40 wide, or "Scope" Widescreen movies, are meant to be seen bigger and wider than Standard Widescreen (1.85) movies:

But it's the current display technology that makes Scope movies look half their size relative to 1.85 movies, letterboxing them to make the image fit inside the narrower, 16:9 wide, display shape :

Now that we have 16:9 TVs, "Fullscreen" will mean only near 16:9 shaped images.

While Standard Widescreen movies (1.66-1.85 wide) may fill up the screen of a 16:9 (1.78 wide) display (specially if the display ovescans a little) and look "Fullscreen", on these 16:9 wide displays old "Academy" aperture films (1.375 wide) (usually misnomed 4:3) will be "pillarboxed"' while "Scope" and 70mm Widescreen ones (those that are 2.00-2.75 wide) will be letterboxed.

For more info on this, look at these threads, which all interbreed about the same subject, (the Search function is your friend):

How Do I Get the Full Screen??

? regarding hdmi and a 1080i tv (black bars on widescreen)

16:9 FullFrame or 2.39:1 letterbox formatting for Scope films on Blu-ray Discs?

Aspect Ratio List?

[nobody]

Originally Posted by jorg

isn't 16:9 wide screen?
and 4:3 full screen?

and i do not think they will remaster the movies not for a while atlest

Widescreen format is for people who have a 4:3 TV. It will add black bars on the bottom to give you the widescreen effect.
If you already have a 16:9 aspect TV, then you'll want to get a fullscreen version.

[GasCat]

The PS3 has a pan and scan feature for 4:3 TV sets. I don't know what it does exactly or if it wil help you out. It's under "BD/DVD settings" Maybe that in addition to the zoom will help you out.

I'd call the manufacture and ask them for a trade-in to a model that isn't going to have burn-in problems at the very least I would get their advice.

[Iceman_II]

Originally Posted by nobody

Widescreen format is for people who have a 4:3 TV. It will add black bars on the bottom to give you the widescreen effect.
If you already have a 16:9 aspect TV, then you'll want to get a fullscreen version.

You are a bit backwards my friend.... if you get a "full screen" release of a DVD, it is in the 4:3 format, and the "Widescreen" release is in 16:9

Originally Posted by GasCat

The PS3 has a pan and scan feature for 4:3 TV sets. I don't know what it does exactly or if it wil help you out. It's under "BD/DVD settings" Maybe that in addition to the zoom will help you out.

I'd call the manufacture and ask them for a trade-in to a model that isn't going to have burn-in problems at the very least I would get their advice.

The gentleman HAS a 16:9 Monitor.... what he is complaining about is how a lot of 16:9 pictures are still letterboxed (see the third picture in post #7) P&S won't help him. As for calling the OEM and asking for a trade yes, get right on that, I understand lucifer went out last night and bought a parka

In all seriousness... burn-in issues have been know for a while, and while you may not like the answer, this isn't something you can blame on the BD, this isn't even something you can blame on the DVD, this is a problem to lay squarely on the Monitor. Looking at the title of this thread, "Bad Mix: Blu-ray DVDs on Plasma TV" I have to scratch my head and wonder what you used for a signal source before you bought the BD, because DVDs present the same problem.

It seems to me that you don't want to blame the plasma, you would prefer to defend your decision to buy the plasma and blame the BD now for a "bad mix"

just my $.02

[john_1958]

Been to local hometheatre store who has Panasonic plasma with blu-ray not a good combination
there was no depth in the video it just bore me to tears

[DavePS3]

There are about 12 different aspect ratios that directors and studios have been using since television threatened theater movie-going yraes ago. Widescreen was a valid gimmick to keep people in theaters. A wider screen meant a more panoramic view since we all see more horzontally than vertically. The two most common are 1.85:1 - which is the shape of all HD screens and 2.39:1 which some projector screens are shaped now to avoid the black bars. Trouble is, it either cuts off the sides or just drops and raises masking kits where the black bars are now. CinemaScope is just nutty in it's aspect ratio but at that extreme case, it's still what the director intended. On a plasma, you should have a way to convert the black bars to gray or, like LG plasmas do, you can run the white-wash or inverter afterwards to avoid the burn in. That burning takes a good 8 hours of solid straight static imagery before it's irreversable. Yes, zooming is grainier and cuts off the sides but there's absolutely nothing you can do about it unless you buy only films that are shown on the disc(s) at 1.85:1.

[DavePS3]

BY the way... I've seen HD-DVD 1080p on a Plasma too and it looks no better than regular DVD. The monkeys in the stores aren't tweaking the panels properly. Too much contrast, too much color and in some cases, trying to up the sharpness is a nice idea for standard def but bad for Hi-Def.

[dobyblue]

Burn in on plasma is not a problem anymore. If you bought your tv within the last two years or so you shouldn't be experiencing any burn in that can't be fixed by turning the tv off for two minutes.
Also, the black bars are "black" which means they won't burn in anyway.

[GooMan]

Originally Posted by DavePS3

BY the way... I've seen HD-DVD 1080p on a Plasma too and it looks no better than regular DVD. The monkeys in the stores aren't tweaking the panels properly. Too much contrast, too much color and in some cases, trying to up the sharpness is a nice idea for standard def but bad for Hi-Def.

I know, and it almost cost me a Bluray player. I was at Fry's with the misses and they had the Panny BD player connected to a Mitsubishi 1080p (I didn't check the model) and it was playing 8 Below which I heard was supposed to be a pretty good transfer and she about flipped out that I wanted to spend $600 (PS3) on a bluray player that didn't look any better than a standard DVD and looked worst than what was being displayed on the other TVs in the department.

Thankfully Best Buy had the Elite player hooked up to their Elite 1080p plasma and she was blown away. I actually had to hold her back from buying the monitor.

I don't know how common the Fry's situation is, but if stores don't get these players matched to quality TVs the average consumer is not going to want to spend the money (for either of the HD formats).

[eli1277]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Burn in on plasma is not a problem anymore. If you bought your tv within the last two years or so you shouldn't be experiencing any burn in that can't be fixed by turning the tv off for two minutes.
Also, the black bars are "black" which means they won't burn in anyway.

what is burn in?

[BTBuck1]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Burn in on plasma is not a problem anymore. If you bought your tv within the last two years or so you shouldn't be experiencing any burn in that can't be fixed by turning the tv off for two minutes.
Also, the black bars are "black" which means they won't burn in anyway.

Burn in is still a problem with these plasma TV's and the black bars will cause uneven wear on the phospors. I owned a plasma for a couple of years and while I never had anything permanent, i had hundreds of temp burns...turning the tv off does not eliminate it...varied watching does.

We have permanently ruined several sets at Best Buy, mostly Pioneer sets just from the station icons during the loop/feed. You can see ESPNHD burned in on one pioneer and a compilation of several ghosted in images on another. We tryed moving the set to a dedicated hometheatre setup up and while it did fade away mostly, it was still there.

Even LCD tv's can be burned in, despite popular belief...it just takes extreme irresponisbility and time to do so.

as a former owner of a plasma...i do not reccomend the technology to anyone who wants more than 2 years of good PQ out of their purchase. These things fade out quickly. Initially they are show stoppers, but quickly become very flat and washed out even when calibrated off the factory torch modes.

[BTBuck1]

Using the zoom feature on my 788p & 720p sets (3LCD sony's) I do not experience any PQ loss. I do lose some of the sides (obviously) but no grain or blockiness to speak of.

[Deane Johnson]

Does anyone know if the movie studios intend to re-master the 2.4 : 1 widescreen movies to the 16 : 9 aspect ratio?

Plasmaguy, what part of the movie would you like to have chopped off so it would fit a 16:9 format. Perhaps a little on each side, perhaps all off one side, what would be your suggestion.

To be very honest with you, I am surprised you would invest in this type equipment without a better understanding of what it is all about.

I don't mean to be discourteous, or disrespectful, I'm just curious as to what you would like to see done to solve the problem you describe.

[Deciazulado]

This is an example of a cropped Scope area into 16:9.

Compare to full image above