I have joined this forum specially, purely because after my recent purchase of an AVH-P3200BT, I couldn't find anywhere via google an answer to the question of perfect background images for my unit. I assume this should also be applicable to the AVH-3200BT, AVH-P3200DVD, AVH-P3100DVD, AVH-P4100DVD and the AVH-P4200DVD. Who knows, it may also be applicable to the whole AVH series..? Here is my experience...

 

The native resolution is 16:9 ratio, just like normal widescreen, so lets take a 16:9 resolution, for example 1440x810.

 

This resolution does not work as a background, it does not fill the screen and appears squished. I found that the Pioneer unit was taking photos at 16:13 ratio and squishing them to 16:9. Therefore, what you have to do is take the original widescreen picture of 1440x810, and using a photo editing program, stretch it to 1440x1170.

 

This is the closest I have ever got to filling the screen with a normal looking ratio.

 

Convert the following picture from this:

 

 

To this:

 

 

And this is how it looks on my pioneer (after I cropped to my preference):

 

 

As you can see, the pioneer has taken the stretched 16:13 ratio and squished it to 16:9. This is the closest I have ever got to filling the screen - It is not exactly pixel perfect but looks damn good.

 

Which leads me on the next issue, blurry pictures, poor quality or even flickering. I found that the smaller the resolution, the better the quality got to a certain extent. As long as you always stick by the 16:9 to 16:13 rule you should be good. For example, stretch 720x405 to 720x585 and it looks better on the pioneer screen than the 1440x1170 does. I actually use as low as 360x293 for the Jeep background you see on my pioneer - this created the best quality picture. I also had to darken the picture as it was too bright once the pioneer had used it as a background.

 

So, in summary, for best full screen background results:

 

(1) Edit your favourite picture to a 16:9 ratio (example 720x405)

(2) Now stretch it to a 16:13 ratio (example 720x585)

(3) Place on your usb/sd card etc, view on Pioneer and Capture for background.

 

By my calculations, the following 16:13 resolutions work well, but I use 360x293 for best results. 360x293/450x366/540x439/630x512/720x585/810x658/900x731/990x804/1080x878/1170x951

/1260x1024/1350x1097/1440x1170.

Thanks for posted this is great.

 

I have experienced the same issue you're mentioning and after calling Pioneer I was told to use perfect 16:9 ratios, bu that didn't work.

 

It's unfortunate to have to deform the image to have it squeezed by the unit but your dimensions are very helpful.

 

Thanks.

I Just got a 3200dvd and was experimenting with background images.

 

I followed the directions provided but was unable to get a proper fitting with any picture given the squeeze method. I then decided to do a trial and error process with photoshop. I would re size a photo and see how it looked on the radio. After several tries the perfect ratio i found was 550W x 350 H