DVD playback- 16:9 format

[rb-thompson]

I have an issue I am trying to solve, so far, to no avail.

I have a Pentium 4 w/ WinXP and a Radeon AIW 8500DV in my PC. Attached to this is a nifty DVI to Y/Pb/Pr adapter enabling the video output of a computer to be attached to an HDTV capable set.

When I have my resolution set to display 720p @ 16:9 I am unable to watch most all of my DVD's. This means that I have to downgrade the resolution to 480p (fixed in the 4:3 ratio) to watch any movies which results in those ugly black stripes at the top and bottom of the screen. Currently the only movie I own that I can watch at 720p (16:9) is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (which looks really nice w/o the letterboxing). I am given a macrovision error and according to ATI's website, dvd playback is only enabled for 480i/p modes. Anyway, is there any software that will let me play DVD's at 720p? My standalone DVD player won't do that is seems to be fixed to the 4:3 format since that's what most people use and I gained no help from the manual in trying to change this. All I can get from that is letterbox 4:3 so what good is buying widescreen DVD's going to do for me? Or does anybody know of a work-around for this problem? I need the adapter in order to be able to select a 16:9 aspect ratio and I do not want to have to manually change the resolution just to watch a movie.



I would like to be able to hook up my computer to my BenQ DX 660 projector via the component inputs as my HDTV receiver is currently attached to the VGA connector. (when connecting my HDTV receiver to the Y/Pb/Pr inputs the picture becomes so dim that it is unwatchable except in a pitch-black room despite the 2000 lumen output) So I think swapping inputs is not a viable option.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Brad (possibly an idiot, definitely in need of help)

[setarip]

Are you confusing High Definition Television with Widescreen Television? They are not synonymous.

The fact that you have an HDTV doesn't mean you have the ability to properly display widescreen output.

It would be rather unusual if yor standalone DVD player does not have the following three options available from within its "Setup" configuration: 4:3 Pan and Scan, 4:3 Letterbox, and 16:9 Widescreen.

The 4:3 Letterbox setting provides a reasonable means of displaying actual 16:9 DVDs, whereas the 16:9 Widescreen setting provides a reasonable means of displaying 2.35:1 Anamorphic DVDs.

[rb-thompson]

I've got a very cheap DVD player with no instructions and no visibly obvious setup button.

I took the liberty of borrowing my neighbor's DVD player and hooked it up to my system. So now we have a stand alond DVD player connected to my projector (BenQ Dx660) via the component video inputs. The projector is set to the 16:9 ratio, and I went into the DVD player setup and set that to 16:9. When I put my disc (Harry Potter = known good) into the DVD player and throw it up on the wall, the picture looks squashed vertically, and stretched horizontally. When I change the projector back to 4:3, the picture looks normal. Using the 16:9 ratio on the projector in combination with the component output of my PC (720p mode) the picture looks normal, when I switch the projector to 4:3, the picture becomes stretched vertically, so now all of the characters look unusually tall.

This appears to me as if the stand alone DVD player isn't capable of displaying a true 16:9 picture and that it can only output 4:3 regardless of the 4:3/4:3 pan-scan/16:9 settings.
I've noticed this same problem on the wide-screen tv's displayed at my local Circuit City. The picture only looks normal if they force the 4:3 aspect ratio inside the TV.

If you have any other suggestions I'm still open. Perhaps I was able to clarify myself a little better.
Thanks,
Brad


***Although since I can't watch most DVDs on my PC in the 720p 16:9 resolution, I have no way of being able to tell if some of the DVD manufacturers are actually taking a letterboxed version of the movie in 4:3 format and billing it as being the "widescreen" version.
I suspect this may be part of the problem.