Boy is this a discovery

[357mag]

I bought a Philips 20 inch flat screen TV today at my local Best Buy store, cuz I've really grown fond of flat screens. I got home and hooked it up and watched a football game and it looked good. Then I watched a TV show that was released on DVD and again it looked good. Then I put in a movie and it looked like the characters faces were a little scrunched together, kind of on the narrow side. I put back in the DVD TV show and again it looked normal. Tried a different movie and again the faces looked a bit narrow. So I unplugged my new TV and put back the old one which is a Samsung 20 inch curved TV. That too had the narrow face look. I never watch movies on that TV so that is why I was unaware of it even though I've had it for about 5 years.

So here I'm thinking what is goin on. I took the movie into my bedroom and put in on my Sony 13 inch flat screen TV and the faces looked normal. Then I noticed something. The movie I was using was Goldeneye, a James Bond film. If you've never seen a James Bond movie right when the movie starts it shows the actor walking towards the center of the screen and then he turns towards you and fires his gun. Next to him are a bunch of circles. On my Sony 13 inch that is what they are, perfect circles. On both of my 20 inch TV's in the living room they are not perfect circles, but rather ovals. Just like an egg.

That must have something to do with why the faces of these characters looked a little scrunched together. Why this is I don't have a clue. And maybe this is not even the right forum to post this but this blows me away, and baffles me. Do the people who make TV's and movies know this? And if a person wants a bigger TV for his living room, say a 20 or 23 inch what does he have to buy in order to ensure that this strange thing does not happen?

 

[JimP]

Check the output setup of the DVD player to verify that you have it set to 16:9 or widescreen.

 

[Purogamer]

Yeah, sounds like your settings are wrong. The tv show was full screen but the movie (and probably all movies, you should check) which are widescreen are being squished. Get the manual to the tv and figure out how to fix it...

 

[DVDDAD]

You might have to check the settings on your DVD player as well.

 

[Stacy A]

Bear in mind that your TV has an aspect ratio control which will cycle through things like "stretch" or "zoom" or partial zoom, full, or fill, etc.. AND your DVD player needs to know if your TV is widescreen or not. And, if you have dish network, your receiver may need to be told if the TV is 16:9 widescreen.

 

[Bruce]

Goldeye at the start will ask if you want wide screen or pan and crap and you have to select, I believe if you do not select it defaults to pan and crap.

 

[357mag]

On another forum someone said the same thing about it sounding like my DVD player in my living room probably thinks my TV there widescreen. I may be wrong, but I don't remember seeing anything in the manual of the DVD player that allows me to set the output to widescreen or 4:3. It is an older DVD player. How old I don't know.

 

[TNGTony]

BTW, for those that do not know, the "circles" at the beginning of the Bond flicks are the representation of you looking at Bond through a gun barrel. The spiral patters are the "rifling" groves on the gun barrel. That is why Bond shoots you. You are aiming at him!

See ya
Tony <---thank you Mr. Obvious.

 

[gammadude]

On another forum someone said the same thing about it sounding like my DVD player in my living room probably thinks my TV there widescreen. I may be wrong, but I don't remember seeing anything in the manual of the DVD player that allows me to set the output to widescreen or 4:3. It is an older DVD player. How old I don't know.

All DVD players should have a setting for TV aspect. It is usually located in the player's setup menu. If you do not set TV type to 4:3 the player will not letterbox anamorphic DVD movies for you and the picture will look narrow.