looking for saorview box which has same aspect ratio as analog

sky23

i'm looking for a saorview box for the parents they have a tv for the sitting room and i'm getting a box for the 4:3 CRT in the kitchen. I'm wondering what boxes have the analog aspect ratio setting (14:9?? i think) so it will look the same and not cut off too much screen like the pal scan mode. doesn't matter if its approved either no need for txt or anything

formerly scottish paddy

sky23 wrote: »

i'm looking for a saorview box for the parents they have a tv for the sitting room and i'm getting a box for the 4:3 CRT in the kitchen. I'm wondering what boxes have the analog aspect ratio setting (14:9?? i think) so it will look the same and not cut off too much screen like the pal scan mode. doesn't matter if its approved either no need for txt or anything

I think most of them allow you to choose if the set is 16:9 or 4:3.

byte

None that I know of will do a 14:9, thankfully, as it's a stupid aspect anyway, IMO.

You're gonna have to make do with 4:3 Pan & Scan, 4:3 Letterbox, or just get a widescreen TV.

watty

We use 16:9 on our 4:3 TVs. Chopped off bits is more objectionable than black bars as I made sure all TVs have black frame anyway.

jonnygee

I have a cheap 4.3 tv that i bought from argos about 4 years ago for 99 stg. that allows you to stretch the picture to fill the screen, so no black bars , for a bedroom tv it is fine, actually the picture quality is excellent on it. it is a mikomi brand. After a few minutes watching it you dont notice the picture stretch. wont be changing it anytime soon.

swoofer

sky23, i posted a while ago showing how a 13 ins portable looks, the box i used has a setting that says, "squeezed" and looks great.

here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056774386

Capt'n Midnight

How big is the TV another option might be to replace it !

Plenty of people getting rid of large TV's as they trade up to flat screens
check freecycle / adverts.ie


Check out the bargain alerts thread too

cheapest 16" saorview TV I've seen is €89 , not much more than the price of a saorview box and a lot neater in the kitchen

https://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5298226.htm

mike65

jonnygee wrote: »

I have a cheap 4.3 tv that i bought from argos about 4 years ago for 99 stg. that allows you to stretch the picture to fill the screen, so no black bars , for a bedroom tv it is fine, actually the picture quality is excellent on it. it is a mikomi brand. After a few minutes watching it you dont notice the picture stretch. wont be changing it anytime soon.

:eek: even as a bedroom viewing experience that is caveman!

(and analog is spelt analogue)

jonnygee

No, it,s not. It does the job just fine.

winston_1

Those pictures look awful, squeezed. Use pan and scan mode for correctly formatted pictures.

Speak Now

Lads whats the smallest saorview box on the market?
I have a flat screen on the wall in the bedroom with very little room for a box.

watty

Put the box somewhere else and run an HDMI cable. They can be up to 14m without an amplifier.

Speak Now

watty wrote: »

Put the box somewhere else and run an HDMI cable. They can be up to 14m without an amplifier.

So it's not like a sky box? The remote will be changing channels through the tv rather the box?

watty

no, the box. But unless the IR remote is really poor the location isn't very important.

Our sky box is quite far from TV and you don't have to point the remote exactly at it.

byte

me wrote:

None that I know of will do a 14:9, thankfully, as it's a stupid aspect anyway, IMO.

I stand corrected, as the Nordmende NM8030 has a 14:9 option

watty

It's still pointless.

WS IMO should not have been EVER done on SD, only on HD, and 14:9 was a stupid compromise.

lawhec

watty wrote: »

It's still pointless.

WS IMO should not have been EVER done on SD, only on HD, and 14:9 was a stupid compromise.

It's down to personal preference. In terms of picture preference, the anamorphic widescreen employed with 576i pictures looks OK in my opinion provided the horizontal resolution is 720/704 pixels provided the bit rate is sufficient. When its 544 or 528 pixels though the sharpness does suffer though.

For me 14:9 is a good compromise on small-screen 4:3 TV's as displaying 16:9 content gives too much black space for my liking without missing too much important content in the frame unless it's specifically designed for 16:9 viewing - for larger 4:3 screen sizes though 14:9 display isn't as important as viewing 16:9 material in a letterbox mode should still be sufficient for most viewers.