A solution to letterboxing!

[Outland]

This product appears to be visually similar. It appears to have an aspect ratio function (if zoom is held down) according to this.

I bought it and will see if it works, I need something that will properly letterbox 16:9 HDMI content onto 4:3.

[user181]

Originally Posted by Outland

This product appears to be visually similar. It appears to have an aspect ratio function (if zoom is held down) according to this.

I bought it and will see if it works, I need something that will properly letterbox 16:9 HDMI content onto 4:3.

I have a converter that is almost identical to this one, except it doesn't have the headphone jack. Otherwise it looks the same. The "zoom" function on mine was disappointing. All it does is scale the image at a few increments between 90% to 100%. It provides no letterboxing at all, so if it is fed a 16:9 signal, it will only squeeze it to fit 4:3.

I do hope what you ordered does better, but I have a suspicion that it will function the same way mine did.

[Outland]

The zoom button has two functions on that one I think. If pressed it will scale, and if held down it will change the output aspect ratio. So yours only scales/zooms?

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by user181

I have a converter that is almost identical to this one, except it doesn&r.squo;t have the headphone jack. Otherwise it looks the same. The &l.dquo;zoom&rdq.uo; function on mine was disappointing. All it does is scale the image at a few increments between 90% to 100%. It provides no letterboxing at all, so if it is fed a 16:9 signal, it will only squeeze it to fit 4:3.

I do hope what you ordered does better, but I have a suspicion that it will function the same way mine did.

Your keyboard has a strange character set or macros for " and ' characters. Those rsqou things are really annoying to read.

[user181]

I apologize for that. It is some quirk with the Tapatalk app. When I type the characters, they appear normally, but after posting, they show up with that bizarre macro stuff. If I try to edit it, it appears normally again. The only way to get it right is to go in through the full website.

I will do better about catching this.

[user181]

I've attached a photo of the converter I have which has a zoom button. The zoom function scales the output in increments between 90-100%, as I wrote earlier. If you press-and-hold the zoom button, it will toggle the output between 4:3 and 16:9. This does not add letterbox and it doesn’t crop. When toggling the output to 16:9, the picture is squeezed horizontally to fit a 4:3 screen. When choosing 4:3 output, it adds pillar boxes and squeezes the picture horizontally even more.

[Outland]

Dang! I bet mine does the same.

[user181]

I've ordered a few more converters and have verified that these two add letterboxing to a 16:9 signal shown on a 4:3 screen:

Gefen, model GTV-HDMI-COMPVIDSN

Hall Research, model VHD-HD2CV


I can provide additional details on each, if there is interest.

[Outland]

Is the Hall Research converter sensitive to HDCP? I know the Gefen converter is.

[user181]

Originally Posted by Outland

Is the Hall Research converter sensitive to HDCP? I know the Gefen converter is.

Not in my limited testing, with a Roku Ultra.

As you know, the Gefen "obeys" HDCP, so I needed to use a defeater with it. Without the defeater, it threw up an HDCP error even when I tried to play local media files that clearly weren't protected. It must be that the Roku generates HDCP for anything it outputs.

One other thing I needed to do with the Gefen was to download and install special firmware which maintains aspect ratio. With the standard firmware, it does not letterbox.

With both products, playing 4:3 native content from the Roku results in the frustrating effect of pillarboxes AND letterboxing.

The Hall Research converter has a mode called Pan & Scan, which, as described in the manual, seems like exactly what I need, but when I've tried it, it severely squeezes the picture horizontally (worse than a 1:1 ratio). I haven't figured out what might be causing that. I reached out to the company for support and they were less than helpful, saying there could be many factors.

[Outland]

I ordered the Hall Research converter too. I'll update if I find a way to do what you want.

[Outland]

Are there any other differences between the converters, like image quality?

[user181]

Originally Posted by Outland

Are there any other differences between the converters, like image quality?

I personally think the Gefen has a better image quality. I've read reviews on the Hall Research claiming it was overly sharp. I'd tend to agree, but don't find it to be a deal-breaker, all things considered.