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Posted by Bill's News on 12/21/06 00:59
Citizen Bob wrote:
> On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:31:22 -0500, "Jack Gillis"
> <XXXXXXXX@widomaker.com> wrote:
>
>> I have a Samsung LN S3241D LCD TV connected to Cox Cable
>> through a
>> Samsung DVD VR330 DVD/VCR Combo Recorder and have two issues
>> I need
>> help with.
>>
>> The first is minor abd if I don't get a solution I can live
>> with it.
>> I don't seem to be able to make the TV's remote control the
>> DVD/VCR.
>> If I read the TV's manual correctly, I should be able to do
>> this.
>> Has anyone succesfully accomplished this?
>
> The TV codes are very limited. Get a decent remote, the 8910:
>
> http://www.ofausa.com/remote.php?type=URC%208910
> http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-one4all/list.cgi
>
> Only $20 at amazon.com
>
> Then if you really want to have some fun, get into JP1
> technology. You
> will be able to build your own custom code sets.
>
> http://controlremote.sourceforge.net/rmhelp/rmhelp.html
> http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-one4all/list.cgi
>
>> The second is much more important. I have no HD channels
>> here so I
>> am running on standard definition channels. If I have the
>> TV's
>> Picture Size set to 16:9, I get a nice picture except that it
>> is
>> stretched horizontally - circles are horizontal ovals. If I
>> change
>> the aspect ratio to 4:3, the circles become slightly vertical
>> ovals.
>> Someone suggested I might need a 4:3 overide from Cox. I
>> called
>> them and the lady I talked to knew nothing about such a
>> thing. I
>> know even less.
>
>> Is there anyway I can get rid of this distortion in the 4:3
>> mode.
>> Zoom will set circles correctly but then I loose a portion of
>> the
>> picture
>
>> Can someone help me out here?
>
> Get the classic Indian Test Pattern and burn the JPG on a DVD.
> Find
> the "format" that makes the pattern circular. My son found one
> that
> fills the entire screen.
>
> You should be consulting Samsung customer support.
Bob, you do manage to find some things of interest!! JP1,
hmmmmm!
On another hand, this aspect ratio thing is like plumbing
fixtures. So many "standards" as to be individually unique.
Not all things are the same to all viewers.
Some examples from my own equipment pile:
1) My Westinghouse 42" 1080p monitor has no TV receiver nor any
special "up-convert"-ing capabilities. It relies mostly on its
input devices to present a properly formatted picture. I say
"mostly" because it does have horizontal "stretch" mode (12:9 to
something like 16:9) - this must be an MPAA mandate, as all sets
I've encountered so far seem to support this seemingly useless
non-feature. Beside which, my blue-haired, fellow retirement
community residents just love to employ it, almost universally -
so much for the Gray Panthers being a force to cope with;-0)
2) My two Motorola HDVRs (cable company supplied) each allows me
to designate which vertical line counts the monitor will
display - 1080i, 720p, 480p, and/or 480i. I can specify all or
any, as the monitor supports all.
3) My OPPO DVD player has FOUR "modes" to handle wide-screen
presentation (why? I've NFI) The majority of DVDs which I own
play best in Wide/Sqz mode (we can all recognize that industry
standard nomenclature, eh? - which BTW is not the OPPO's
default). I wouldn't yet have found it, were it not for asking
among these NGs, for my capacity to comprehend English is a tad
challenged when deciphering electronics manuals, or NG
postings;-0)
4) My PC has almost infinite variety in presenting video
material to my monitor and it does so at 1080p. Between VLC
Media Player - the best of the 4:3 or 16:9 aspect pre-sets, and
Media Player Classic - the best of the independent axes
adjustments - I can see any video exactly as I choose: squeezed,
squooshed, elongated, chubby, magnified, minified, or as the
director and cinematographer intended . . . god forbid;-0)
So, when the cable is supplying a 4:3 image which I choose to
"zoom," NOT "stretch," I can tell the HDVR that my monitor only
understands 1080i and then use the idiotic stretch mode of the
monitor as a middling zoom, because the logic sees the 720
frame, rather than the 640 image within, as the bounds for
stretching (surprisingly there is some vertical adjustment in
this idiotic mode, and the result then remains in scale). Now
I'm not the brightest candle in the menorah, but how is
trailer-trash-Jane supposed to figure this out? After all, she
and her sisters are the market at which commercial TV seems to
be aiming, no?
When it comes to HDTV, the 1080i or 720p image transmitted on
the cable is clearly the best of their offering, all around.
But when the HDTV image is 480i (I've yet to notice any pee on
my cable) it's best to "fake out" the STB/HDVR so that the image
can be "zoomed," albeit a restrained zoom somewhere between 12:9
and 16:12.
When it comes to DVD, the PC, and any of its player programs,
out-performs the OPPO - and with my recently upgraded PC/GPU
(tho only to an ATI x1300) the 1080p picture quality is as good
as, or better than, the OPPO - which itself was superior to the
older PC/GPU combo.
There are many non-16:9 broadcasts which are better presented
here after capture by the PC than are presented from the cable
equipment to my specific display. These are primarily letterbox
films for which the DVDR does nothing, and the monitor does
little, to "enhance." The OPPO and the PC each handles this
aspect subset desirably and effortlessly.
In fairness to Motorola and Time Warner, my cable carrier of the
month, the HDVR does a better job today than it did several
years ago when I first rented it from that month's supplier, tho
it still does not handle this specific situation.
My Aesopian moral? One can not, in a chaotic collection of
manufacturer cosmetics, suggest that A=B or that they are even
similar to each other.
The OPs problem is twofold and quite clear: he has a 16:9
monitor and a 4:3 source - he wants to zoom but can only find
stretch. Also, revealed later, his monitor MAY not display 4:3
images properly in 4:3 mode, as his circles aren't.
"Indian test pattern?" No comment.
Were I a Cox-man, I'd ask for a service call so that the tech
can see what I mean and suggest or make the fix - since the
tele-tech can't visualize it.
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