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Hello!
Do you like movies? Do you sometimes watch them on a portable DVD player? Are you fussier than the normal braindead member of the public when it comes to aspect ratios?
Well, I DO sometimes like to curl up in bed with a nice DVD on a portable player. This is usually because my dear wife is curled up on the sofa watching some bollox on the big TV and I have to escape. Until now I had a jolly nice 7-incher (not very big, I know, but it's only me on the bed), of the Schaub Lorenz variety. I could easily choose the correct aspect ratio at the flick of a switch. But yesterday it died.
So I went out in search of a new one. I couldn't get the same kind that I'd been happy with for years, and being aware that nowadays the vast majority don't want to see those horrible black bands that waste space on your screen, much preferring the sight of short, fat actors who at least occupy the whole width of the thing, I shopped around and "plumped" (ha!) for one that clearly stated "Aspect Ratios Widescreen and 4:3 Options". It's a Nevir - made here in Spain, I believe. Well, after hours of trying to configure it to try to see a tall, thin Boris Karloff instead of a squat one, I suddenly realised that (I THINK) the 4:3 option is only available IF YOU CONNECT IT TO YOUR BIG TV! So it's for people who don't have a normal DVD player under their telly.
I know there are more important things in the world, but I'm bloody annoyed. Would you take it back to the shop and get your money back? And, while I'm at it, can anyone recommend a portable DVD player which gives you the chance to see things more or less the way they were meant to be seen?
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Thanks Chris. I can imagine the blank stare when I explain that I WANT the black bands down each side for "old films". I'll keep the Basque accent for the Basque Country shops though. I'm in Galicia (which has its own group of "freedom fighters") you see.
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Thanks people! I actually love watching films on the wee screen in bed. Big TVs and cinemas generally have screens that are too far away for my eyes to see, so if I bury my face in the portable it ain't half hot, mum.
So - nobody watches DVDs on portables except me. I'll give this a day or two before publishing the statistics. Oh, mastadge watches on a 17-inch "computer" thing. That's an option I never considered. Do portable computers always give you the right ratio? (I AM that caveman).
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I have one that I keep at work and use on my lunch w/small Koss heaatdphones. I have a Panasonic DVD-LS91 model (at least 5 years old) and have never had a problem with it. I bought a special 15 hour rechargeable battery for it. It's a 9" screen. It's a bit tricky, but yes, you can adjust the aspect ratios on it. Like I mentioned I keep it at work and only play it for my lunch. What I almost always watch are older tv shows from the 60's and 70's that just (maintain) the 4x3 aspect ratio. But I can change it to widescreen as well. I've never had a problem, like I said. Perhaps you can find one on E-Bay or Amazon, but of course, it would only play whatever the American standard is. Sorry if this wasn't any help.
(what is it with the wives of members here who control what the husband watches?)
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Thanks Montana! Men who like like film music are weak, they are easily dominated by women. Women don't like film music, they are more realistic. They watch sitcoms. My wife she watch sitcom? I go to bed and curl up with nice portable toy! Oh, and thanks for pointing me in the direction of a device which may serve my purposes.
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Posted: |
Mar 24, 2012 - 2:41 PM
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By: |
mastadge
(Member)
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I always wanted a little portable DVD player, though. I don't know why I haven't gone in to get one yet. They're all widescreen ratios now, aren't they? I'm a stickler for proper ratios too.
Almost all screens will be 16:9 or so these days. Aspect ratios should be correct on any portable player or laptop, I'd think; the problem with TVs usually comes when the old-school 4:3 TV image is either stretched to fit the 16:9 screen, which leads to distortion, or somehow zoomed or cropped to fit the screen -- or, conversely, when the TV is set up to correctly display a 4:3 image when the viewer is mostly playing widescreen content. These problems used to be more annoying with non-anamorphic DVDs*. I'm very surprised that a modern portable player would have image distortion problems.
*with non-anamorphic DVDs, the video file itself is optimized for a 4:3 screen, which means that even on a widescreen film, the black bars on the top and bottom will be part of the video image, so on a widescreen TV you'll have black bars on all four sides. Anamorphic video has the video file at 16:9.
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Posted: |
Mar 24, 2012 - 3:34 PM
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By: |
Metryq
(Member)
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I see any optical media (including Blu-ray) as a dying breed. It may take a few years, but file-based options are already serious competition without many of the pitfalls of optical discs.
A laptop with a DVD and/or Blu-ray player will give you the most options for control. Considering the price difference, one should have proper use for the greater functionality of the laptop. Otherwise, stick with a portable disc player and face the possible aggravation of lesser control.
Many tablets will play movies and might be worth considering. They are lighter, easy to hold and may have a bigger screen than the portable DVD player. Many tablets can access video rental and purchase services (Apple iTunes, Netflix, Amazon, HuluPlus, etc.). My sister enjoys Netflix through her iPad. She watches movies and TV shows while working in the kitchen, or while sitting up in bed.
If what you want to watch is available only on DVD, then take a look at Handbrake (handbrake.fr)—
***I realize this is treading on dangerous ground for this forum, but I am suggesting only temporary ripping of discs, like time-shifting with a VCR.***
Handbrake is a multi-platform DVD ripper with built-in presets to make the job easier. The ripped files can include subtitles, if you need them. And most of the presets include automatic cropping to aspect. That is, all letterboxing is cut off. So if you rip an old 4:3 DVD with letterboxing, the resulting "widescreen" movie file will simply fill your screen without distortion. Using Handbrake assumes one has access to a computer with a DVD drive. Yes, it's one step more than simply dropping a disc into a portable player, but it gives one access to the widest possible content. For example, Handbrake will rip a movie from another region. I find many older American-made films not available in widescreen on DVD in the US, yet available from the UK. (What's that all about? One example is the movie COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT.) Handbrake allows me to enjoy such films without tinkering with my computer's region code.
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