TT-S4

I've noticed this issue on all S4s and S3s that I test drove, but I wanted to post and see if there is a setting or known fix to what I'm seeing.

The video image I see in my rear view camera has a standard video 4x3 aspect ratio.
However, I can see that the camera itself is a 16x9 HD ratio, thus the subsequent image shown is distorted by taking a 16x9 HD ratio and putting it into a 4x3 standard video ratio.
Everything in the narrower 4x3 ratio is shown thinner and taller than it should be. Instead of using the center dash screen to show the full 16x9 wide image, Audi created a smaller and narrower 4x3 image so that they could put the object warning icons to the right of the video.
Why Audi would do this is beyond me.
It's really ridiculous to take a 16x9 wide ratio and display it in a 4x3 window that then distorts the image making everything look unrealistically tall and narrow.

I don't care to see the warning indicators as they do nothing to give me any needed information.
I prefer that the rear view camera's aspect ratio appear correct so that the image shows objects as they are rather than the distorted image it now shows.
As it is now it looks quite stupid, like someone who doesn't know how to set their TV/monitor aspect ratio for the proper display.

I have the regular dash and screen, not the larger NAV screen.

Is there a way to change the camera's image on the center dash screen?
Can this be programmed?

HCGxKaLiBeR

I don't like the rear view camera either. I sometimes can't judge the distance correctly because everything is distorted.

Could be the lenses too. I found a good comparison sample here.

TT-S4

Thanks.

The image you're showing shows a sharper image, but the image is still in the same ratio.
That's not a distortion, it's simply a less sharp image on the left compared to the right.
The "distortion" I am referring to is not the stretching at the edges that wide angle lenses create, rather it's the distortion created when a 16x9 ratio image is squished into a 4x3 window without properly keeping the aspect ratio correct.
I work in video production and photography, so this kind of thing drives me crazy, because it's just not correct at all.

By not using the full width of the dash screen the video presents objects taller and thinner than what they really are.
It would have been much better to just leave the 16x9 ratio of the camera image in the smaller window that is available.
The image would be not as tall, but the image would at least be a proper representation of what things actually look like.
Instead, Audi choose to maximize the video image height, and that results in having to squish the side edges in then pushes the image to be taller and thinner than the image the camera is actually taking.
What's the fk'ing point of using a 16x9 ratio camera and then squishing the images into a 4x3 window?
They could have simply used a regular 4x3 ratio camera.

I'm hoping that somewhere in the software I can turn the sensor graphics off so that the camera image can be fully displayed on the dash screen.

rccoleman

Currently no way to do that, unfortunately. The backup display in other (older) Audi models superimposes the sensor image on a full-screen view of the backup camera, and that sounds more like what you're looking for. With the addition of the top-down view, they really needed to dedicate a portion of a screen just to that, and I agree that it would make sense to have an option to just show the backup camera view.

TT-S4

Thanks.
I'll just have to "deal with it".

This "new" method looks cheap and out of place in a $50K plus automobile.
At least it's still useful, so that's good.