4:3 display on Sony Bravia

[CRB]

Hi, I recently bought a Sony Bravia 46" LCD TV. But when using DVD or Sky HD box connected to the TV by HDMI cable, I can't ever select the 4:3 option (like I would want to for a 4:3 original broadcast programme). It says "unable to display" or some such.

Any ideas ?

Thanks

[simong]

I have a 32" Sony and I had similar problems when I first had it. I believe this is basically to do with the fact that the 720p, 1080i etc resolutions relate to a 16:9 screen. This means unless the source forces the TV to display in 4:3 it will automatically stretch the picture to 16:9.
Not sure if your DVD player will have an option like this but my Cambridge Audio has a Wide/SQZ option under TV Display, which means it will squeeze 4:3 DVDs back to that ratio rather than trying to fill the screen. Pretty sure my Technika blu-ray player didn't have that option for DVD playback and I'm not sure if my PS3 does either.
As for Sky HD if you go to Settings, Picture, HD Resolution Output and change it to Automatic it should change the resolution depending on the channel and the Bravia should switch to the corresponding ratio, at least that's what mine does anyway.
Hope that helps.

[jroadley]

On the SKYHD box there is a setting for the screen resolution to be set to "Automatic" - most people have them set to 1080i so anything on a SD channel broadcast in 4:3 will be stretched as it upscaled.

Changing the setting to Automatic will display SD content at 576i and should display 4:3 stuff with the black bars down the left/right hand side.

[DVDWotcha]

Mine is just set to Wide. The V+ is set to HDMI 720p and DVD set to 16:9. This results in 4:3 displayed in the correct AR (i.e. unstretched) with black bars down the side.

(I can't abide stretching)

Typically the HDMI connection will follow the output of the source, so if it's set to 1080i or 720p it will be a 16:9 output and the TV probably can't covert that to 4:3 hence the "unable to display" message. :shrug:

[CRB]

Ah ok, thats making a bit more sense now.
So it sounds like I cant have it fully automatic where 16:9 films are upscaled (1080) on the DVD player and 4:3 films are shown as 4:3 (not upscaled). Sounds like I can do it manually though.
Same with the Sky box.
A bit annoying but ah well

Thanks for responses guys.