While watching widescreen movies on my new 58" widescreen plasma, i still get the black bars on the top and botton of the screen, and thats after i cycled through all the aspect ratio modes for the TV...why does the dvd not display as it should? This is a bunch of BS.
This is normal and due to something called OAR or Original Aspect Ratio. You were probably watching a movie that was shot originally in 2.35:1. This is explained very well here: http://www.rexer.com/cine/oar.htm and here: http://www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5140690-4.html
Thanks for that information, it was helpful...I used the zoom function on the TV remote and it expanded the picture somewhat and filled in the entire screen...granted, i did lose a small bit of the picture on the outer edges, but for the most part, its negligable, and it really made the picture look bigger...did notice to much lose in quality either...
I see this question being asked every few weeks or so and is a common cause of concern for HDTV owners. As error5's explanation and links are as good as it gets I think a mod should just sticky this thread.
I think a MOD should sticky this thread: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/226188 My 2cents, Ced
Although, if it is true that some movies are shot in the "super" widescreen aspect ratio, then why are all the movies at the theater still appearing in 16:9 even if the movie was shot with a more compressed aspect ratio?...how is it that every movie seems to perfectly fill the screen at a movie theater without any letterboxing on the top or bottom of the screen?
You may have to set your dvd player to 16:9 aspect rather than for standard tv. I did with my daewoo. It will help some movies fill the screen but some will still be letterboxed. Before they were all letterboxed without setting change.
The screen area in most movie theaters has a constant height. It's the width that changes. They just adjust screen width usually with masking techniques or just by moving the curtains further out to accomodate the increased width of 2.35:1 movies. This can also be done in home theater front projector setups with electronic masking or anamorphic lenses: http://resmagonline.com/articles/publish/article_774.shtml http://www.projectorcentral.com/great_home_theater.htm http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=554901 Actually I'm using a 4-Way Electrimask screen for my JVC RS-1 projector so I don't see any black bars above or below the screen when I view 2.35:1 movies.
