My old WDTV Live Plus had this option. While watching a video, you could change the video playback format from “Normal” to “Widescreen”. Now I have to stop the video, go the the Settings menu, then Audio/Video Output, then Aspect Ratio.
I have a mixture of “old” 4:3 content and new 16:9 content. Having to keep going through the menus to change this is cumbersome.
If no shortcut exist, this can be solved by:
One of the colored buttons on the remote cycling through the aspect ratios.
Adding an option in the Option menu of the current video that’s playing.
I have a Live Plus, too, and a mix of video formats like most people. I never change the format in the WD (It is always set to widescreen, because that setting is for the TV size; not the media.).
We use the buttons on the TV to change format. For modern stuff it is set to screen format FULL, and for the older “square” stuff we just change the TV setting to 4:3. As a bonus, our TV allows us to set the L/R border color from default black (or white) to grey, making it easier on the TV and the eyes. And, for letterbox format, we set TV to ZOOM. All this per the TV’s instruction manual; which has it right! (Yes, there is some loss on the picture using ZOOM, but hey, life is not perfect, and neither are all solutions.)
So, you should be able to do same with your TV’s controls and the new player. Just leave the media player set to widescreen.(unless your TV is NOT widescreen!)
As far as I am aware the normal / wide screen option is for the player menu only and does not affect media you play. It does not convert 4/3 to 16/9 or vice versa. As mike has said the TV is normally used to make these settings.
richUK wrote:
As far as I am aware the normal / wide screen option is for the player menu only and does not affect media you play. It does not convert 4/3 to 16/9 or vice versa. As mike has said the TV is normally used to make these settings.
Actually it does, at least with HDMI and component. Not too sure about composite.
If you set the WD to “Normal” and play 4:3 content on a 16:9 TV, the WD will “stretch” and distort the video to 16:9.
If you set the WD to “Normal” and play 16:9 content on a 16:9 TV, the WD will “squash” (letterbox) and distort the video to some weird aspect ratio.
If you set the WD to “Widescreen” and play 4:3 content on a 16:9 TV, the WD will “pillarbox” the video to 4:3 and will be undistorted.
If you set the WD to “Widescreen” and play 16:9 content on a 16:9 TV, the WD will play the 16:9 video full screen and be undistorted.
It’s a different mix of behaviors if the TV is actually 4:3.
I, too, have seen the distorted effects caused by the widescreen/4:3 setting of the player as Tony describes. All are undesirable outcomes, so as previously mentioned, set the player setting for the type of TV, and use the TV’s format setting to set correctly for the media being displayed.
My HDTV does have a “Ratio” setting but none of the settings give me the desired results. The video is either stretched to much or still has black bars on the side. The setting on the WDTV though give me the desired results and looks good.
My post isnt asking how to do this, its stating that WD should make it easier to change this setting. Like I said in my WDTV Live Plus, I was able to change the aspect ratio during playback. My WDTV Live Streaming and WDTV Live Hub, you have to change the it buried in the Settings menu.
As Tony stated:
“Normal” setting, plays 4;3 content full screen, 16:9 content has bars at the top and looks odd.
“Widescreen” setting, plays 4:3 content with bars on the side, 16:9 content is full screen.
This seems like a simple thing that WD can add via the next firmware update.
Regarding HDMI, all of my components are running via HDMI.
I remember being able to do this in the options. I gave this player to a relative, so I cant test it out (I could be wrong). Regardless, its something that should be in the options menu during playback.
My HDTV does have a “Ratio” setting but none of the settings give me the desired results. The video is either stretched to much or still has black bars on the side. The setting on the WDTV though give me the desired results and looks good.
Maybe this is because you do not have the WD set to widescreen. Do that first, and then adjust with your TV.
I am assuming your TV has format settings like 4:3, FULL, ZOOM, etc.
My post isnt asking how to do this, its stating that WD should make it easier to change this setting.
A few of us told have you how this works, so it is not a “WD issue” – it seems to fall under “operator error”.
Operator error? What do you mean “a few of us told you that this works?” Yes, the settings that are buried in the Settings menu works, my first post stated.
1. One of the colored buttons on the remote cycling through the aspect ratios.
2. Adding an option in the Option menu of the current video that’s playing.
