Just got a new lcd HD tv. First of all, what's the best way to get my computer picture to it? Amazingly, it didn't have s-video, it has vga/hdmi/component. (My monitor is a CRT, so I can't unhook it's cable for th tv) Second, my dvd player is just using regular cable lines to connect to it, like on my old tv. Playing a vhs tape right now on it and it's a little "eh", some blurriness happening mostly on like people's faces on up close shots in this movie. Its a dvd/vhs player and I'm not sure how to hook it up properly or how to get movies to properly play in widescreen. If I set the tv to "wide", all it does is stretch the dvd image but I still have the black bars ontop/bottom as if I were playing on a 4:3 ratio tv. Thanks.
The best way to connect your PC to your monitor it seems is definately VGA, unless ur current graphics card supports HDMI. Also, if ur using regular composites with ur DVD player, im gonna be honest, its gonna look like absolute trash. Connect this device with component cables for the best inputs, also, yet again, if your DVD player supports HDMI, go for that. To get ur DVD to play in widescreen properly, u have to change that setting within ur DVD player in its menu. Also in many movies the black bars will never completely go away, they usually just get reduced alot, IF you really wanted to blow out all black bars, then you could set ur tv one zoom, but u lose like an inch of viewing on top and bottom. This is all while ur DVD player is set to widescreen.
Ok so I got my vhs tapes looking good, have my computer hooked up(had a random vga cable just sitting in a back closet that works). My major problem still is when I play a dvd. On a regular old 4:3 TV, you have black bars ontop/bottom because the movie is in widescreen. So it's a lot longer than it is tall. The problem I'm getting with dvds is that it STILL has black bars ontop/bottom and ALSO left/right sides. The whole damn thing is encased in black bars. I've gone into my dvd players menu and tv to 16:9, and it doesn't change a thing. Do I need to be running different wires, like component, for the dvd player to accurately adjust to this widescreen? Using regular compositive right now, still have to buy some component cables if I can't find a set of those anywhere around here either. Yeah I can put the tv on "widescreen mode" but all that does is stretch the image, which is ok for regular tv, but I'm assuming it's supposed to like zoom in some since it has black bars on every side of the picture.
I could be wrong... but I think some DVD's (old ones) that say "widescreen" just have the wide screen image superimposed on a 4:3 background... I'm sure I've seen that before... try a few different movies and see if it's the same... also maybe borrow a DVD player from someone and try a different player to see if it is your player.
