That's what I suspect too

Post #325,172 by SpiceWare 4/25/10 11:51:17 AM Reply	That's what I suspect too that the DVD player still has it's own set of settings. Have you tried switching to the DVD player when it doesn't have a DVD in it? I've seen DVD players that only display the "output screen 16:9/4:3" option when there's nothing in them. Another thing that might help is if we knew the make & model of this combo set.
Post #325,175 by Another Scott 4/25/10 12:00:13 PM Reply	It's a Coby something or other. No sign of an online manual.
Post #325,182 by drook 4/25/10 7:02:55 PM Reply	Score! LCD setup and DVD setup are two different menu systems. When I told the DVD that it was outputting to a 16:9 screen, then set the LCD to 16:9, I get full scope with correct letterboxing. It hadn't occurred to me that the cheapest way to integrate a DVD player into the TV was to just stuff one into the case, connect two sets of wires to the infrared pickup, and use a multi-function remote. But that seems to be exactly what they did. -- Drew
Post #325,186 by static 4/25/10 8:27:45 PM Reply	Saw with it Video TVs years ago. Would never buy one myself, but Dad sometimes gets given trash like that that usually has just one thing wrong with them (he sometimes repairs things like that). Wade. Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
Post #325,188 by drook 4/25/10 9:07:15 PM Reply	This was a deal on Woot I think it was like $200 for a 23-inch HDTV/monitor with integrated DVD. Haven't seen anything else close to that price. -- Drew
Post #325,189 by SpiceWare 4/25/10 9:10:22 PM Reply	wonder if that's why it was on Woot! Seems to be a major QC screwup to have the integrated DVD player set to 4:3. Bet they got lots of returns.
Post #325,190 by drook 4/25/10 9:16:22 PM Reply	Wouldn't surprise me I'd have to go double-check the manual, but I'm pretty sure it didn't mention the DVD settings at all. I just saw the button on the remote and thought, "Huh, I wonder what this does." Speaking of the manual, it was typical of the kind I hate. Click the "Format" button and it cycles among, "Standard, 16:9, 4:3, Cinema". In the directions it says, "Press the "Format" button to select Standard, 16:9, 4:3 or Cinema format." Well no shit, really? I'm glad they wrote that down. -- Drew
Post #325,196 by Another Scott 4/25/10 11:07:42 PM Reply	:-)
Post #325,205 by static 4/26/10 3:51:40 AM Reply	I forgot to mention. I've seen idiotic default settings numerous times before. I have a portable DVD player. Typical flimsy plastic, top-loading thing. It seems to be imported through a small dealer on ebay who made a very cursory request for it to support region 4 DVDs by default. Unfortunately, it has a rather ironic bug: the LCD and it's controller chip were unashamedly designed for NTSC. PAL is so much of an afterthought that the scaler in the LCD controller is barely capable it. The support person for the importer did not understand my problem. But there is a simple, albeit non-obvious solution. The DVD player's rendering chip can transcode from PAL to NTSC! And it does a much better job than the LCD's scaler at handling PAL... Urk. Next time I want a portable DVD player, I'm going to try one out in a shop and pay twice the going rate on ebay. :-( Wade. Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
Post #325,211 by boxley 4/26/10 8:31:12 AM Reply	next time you want a portable dvd player buy a macbook If we torture the data long enough, it will confess. (Ronald Coase, Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences, 1991)
Post #325,270 by static 4/26/10 7:57:10 PM Reply	Two problems with that. 1. It's a lot larger than the conveninent 7" or 9" displays of the portable players. 2. It's a lot more expensive than a dedicated portable player from a mainstream electronics store. And I don't need another computer. Oh, and it's an Apple. The fanboism by the employees in the Mac stores is a distinct putoff. Other than that, it's basically not a bad idea. Maybe for my next Linux laptop I'll get one with an optical drive. Wade. Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.

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