Hi Guys, I have a feeling that this is a stupid question,but I don't know why. Q1) My tv is a widescreen LCD (Sony KDF-E42A10 42")and a guy at work said that a lot of so called wdescreens aren't really wide screen. He said that the only way you can tell that it isn't a true widescreen is by puting in a 16:9 aspect ratio dvd and if you see black bars on the top and bottom of the screen then you just got ripped off because your tv isn't really widescreen. Needless to say,I'm upset because what he said turned out to be true about my tv.I do have black bars at the top and bottom of the screen when I put on a dvd that said : "widescreen version enhanced for 16:9 tv's".So how come I see black black bars if My tv is widescreen? Q 2) This same guy also said that many tv's are being sold as HDTV's and they really aren't.He said the only way to tell is when you get an HD Satellite box like Star Choice for example,that's sending an image at 1080i and you see black bars at the top and bottom,then you will know that your tv really isn't a high definition tv.He said that Sony is one manufacture that is really guilty of telling the consumer that a tv is HD when it really isn't.This doesn't make sense to me,but is he right? I just bought this tv last week so if I have been ripped off then I can still return it. At present my dvd player is an Hd dvd player but my satellite box is only digital and not HD.I was planning on getting an HD box next week,but if my tv isn't really a true wide screen I will hold off until I can find a real HDTV. Does any of the above crap make any sense to anybody? I would really appreciate some knowledgeable help in this matter. Thank You dvddiva
No offense but your a little confussed. Your are in the right place though. I don't know who is telling you these lies, they need to do some reading. I have never had a problem with Sony products not meeting expectations. Anyway, when you switch your tv to widescreen from a 4:3 screen then you need to let you DVD player know too. Go into your DVD players video settings menu and set the output type to 16:9 or Widescreen. It is mostlikly still set to 4:3 Letter Box or 4:3 Pan Scan. Next, make sure your tv is set to full screen or fill screen mode. Lastly, even though you have a Widescreen tv and buy widescreen dvds you will still run into some dvds that have very small black bars on the top and bottom. I could explain this to you in detail but this site (link at the bottom) does a great job of showing you what is going on. There are actually two articals with sub pages that are real world examples of every case possible. Basicly, there are 3 main aspect ratios. Two of them are wider than 16:9. The ratios are: 1.78:1 (16:9), 1.85:1, and 2.35:1. With movies shot in a 2.35:1 ratio and wider, black bars will still appear even though they are slight! They are there to maintain aspect ratio. With video shot at 1.78:1 and 1.85:1 the screen will be filled with stunning video. What Widescreen is all about: http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/aspectratios/widescreenorama.html ----- I have talked about this subject at length in this thread already so please reffer all questions to this thread. Thankz. http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/226188 Ced
Thank You diabolos, I got screwed up on the 16:9 stuff for several reasons. One,my dvd player is brand new and I was still trying to figure it out when I stumbled onto the 4:3 or 16:9 settings.Then it all began to make sense.I had forgotten and didn't think about( DUH!!!) the different aspect ratios 2:35 and 1:85 because when I burn a movie ( using x copy platinum)I always check full screen. I know ,I know,but I prefer full screen to seeing bars on the top and bottom of the screen like I would have with my old tv.
I have been having the same problem and both my DVD player and TV are set to 16:9 widescreen. I have also used several different DVDs. I noticed that the movie "A Bug's Life" was shot in 2.35:1 but the others I tried were all shot in either 1.78:1 or 1.85:1 and I still got black bars. I am using an s-video cable (I am going to go out and get an HDMI cable this week) does it matter that I am using an s-video cable for the 16:9. I know the quality will be better. Also, are DVI and HDMI the same thing? Can I use the same cable? Thanks in advance.
Make sure your DVD player is set to output a signal to a 16:9 tv and not a 4:3 tv first. Wait, is your tv a 16:9 tv or a 4:3 tv with a 16:9 mode? If your set is a 16:9 set make sure it is set to full screen or fill screen mode! Also make sure that the dvds are anamorphic dvds. Only anamorphicly encoded movies have the ability to fill the screen. Anamorphic dvds say things like "Enhanced for Widescreen tvs" and "Anamorphic Widescreen" on the back of them. Ced
