I was wondering if anyone can help me? I just bought the Philips dvp642 so that I can play xvid files of UK TV shows that I have downloaded whilst living in the states. I copied six of them on to a DVD+R. When I placed the disc in the machine they started to play OK apart from one problem. I have a 16x9 plasma TV and the Xvid files are all widescreen, but when they play they are squashed vertically and do not fill the screen correctly. When I have gone through the lengthy process of converting the same xvid files to DVD format they fill the screen perfectly and are not distorted at all. Does anyone know anything about this problem and if there is a way to fix it? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
hi!i'm not sure of your problem.you say the converted files are squashed when played in the dvd player. then you say "When I have gone through the lengthy process of converting the same xvid files to DVD format they fill the screen perfectly and are not distorted at all" do you mean they play ferfect on you pc??
Jenk, Thanks for your reply. They play Ok on my PC but my main aim is to play them on my DVD player and watch them on my big TV. Until I bought the DIVX playing Philips dvp642, I had to convert them to DVD format (mpeg2 / VOB files) using a DVD authoring program. This takes ages to render and then burn, plus you can only fit two episodes on each DVD. However the shows have the correct dimensions, and fill the 16x9 screen perfectly. When I only do a straight copy of the xvid files on to a blank disc, it takes only a few minutes and can fit 8 episodes on the disc. When I place this new disc in the machine the picture fills the horizontal dimension of the 16x9 Tv but the vertical remains letterboxed and the image is squashed, which is a bit odd??? Waynecow
sorry waynecow! i thought you wanted help with authoring but obviously not. have you checked out this thread i'm sure you'll find something in it. http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/82733 goodluck
Common problem with ESS based standalones. I would suggest you return it and get a MTK based one. Better support of XviD features and no issues outputing to wide screen.
Celtic_d I'm not familiar with all the terms, what is an ESS based stand alone and what is an MTK based one. Could you also give me some product examples and where I might be able to buy them. Thanks for your help. Waynecow
That is the chipset that controls most of the players functions. As a general rule all players of a given chipset share common traits. MTK = MediaTek. One such common trait is issues on MTK based players with more than 1 consecutive bframes that are packed. Easily fixed by unpacking, however the LG player from what I hear doesn't suffer from the problem, despite using a MTK chipset. Player model numbers vary around the world and my player is by a local company and isn't sold outside of Australia. Pioneer also do a nice MTK based player. One thing you could also try is bringing a test disc in to the store and trying out different players.
