Resolution Confusion: A Quick Tip

Any of you who, like me, are using a HDCP stripper and D/A converter to tether your HDMI-equipped Xbox 360 to a display’s VGA input may, like me, be confused by the fact that videos played on the console end up being excessively short-and-squat (i.e. not being displayed at their full vertical resolution potential). I noticed this last night when watching the HD version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which I’d previously downloaded from the Xbox Video Marketplace. I confirmed the unwanted behaviour by subsequently popping in a HD DVD.

Nothing I did (altering the aspect ratio setting on my Samsung 16:9 plasma HDTV, or toggling through the various aspect ratio options in the Xbox 360’s video player) produced the desired correct resolution result…until, on a hunch, I went into the Xbox 360’s display settings and switched from 720p to 1080i. All’s now well. Why, I haven’t a clue. And I haven’t tested, so don’t know, if I would have had the same problem with analog component video interconnect between console and display.

Now can someone tell me why my PlayStation 3 refuses to pass optical S/PDIF audio to my A/V receiver through a mechanical switch intermediary (a PS3-to-JVC direct-connect works fine)? The Xbox 360 conversely doesn’t have a problem with the S/PDIF two-step.

Followup: Now the optical S/PDIF switchbox is working fine, with both the Xbox 360 and the PS3. That’s it; I give up trying to brainstorm a logical explanation for all of this craziness. My home theater system is, I’m finally convinced, satanically possessed.