Widescreen DVD won't fill my Widescreen TV?

Question

I have a widescreen LCD "flat panel" TV and a Bose DVD player; the two are connected with an S-Video.

I rented a widescreen DVD and when I play it, it still puts bars across the top and bottom. although the picture does fill the width of the tv. The only only way I can get it to fill the whole viewable screen was to use the TV's "zoom" feature.

What's the deal? Shouldn't a widescreen movie fill the screen of my widescreen tv?

Answer 1

The aspect ratio of a widescreen TV is 16;9, or about 1.8 to 1. However, many movies are made in a wider aspect ratio, sometimes as much as 2.5 to 1. When the DVD is produced, the producer has to decide whether to present the movie in its original aspect ratio (OAR), or crop it to fit the TV screen. More and more, producers are opting not to crop their movies so that the full picture is presented. Therefore these movies appear "letterboxed" inside even a widescreen TV. However, the black bars at top and bottom will be smaller than the same movie viewed on a non-widescreen TV. Some movies may be available in a 16:9 ratio. HBO for example broadcasts its HD movies cropped to 16:9. If you want to avoid the letterboxing, look for movies that specify a 16:9 aspect ratio, and avoid the ones that are labeled "OAR".

Answer 2

If one divides 16 by 9 it equals 1.77777. If the movie theatres use 1.85:1 up to 2.35:1 and use 9 different settings in between, that just isn t productive for DVD movie playing at home on a widescreen TV. I wish the studios would use 1.777777:1 like 16:9 is. Ok, the screens are wider at the theaters. So, why not make widescreen TV s fit 1:85 to 2.35:1 size, which ever is used the most. Or, even, come on, the technology is so great today let s make the players or TV s fit the dang movie with some adjustment somewhere? Geese!

Answer 3

Movies are in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, widescreen dvd, dvd players and televisions usually have an aspect ratio of 16:9 (16 x 9), to compensate for the difference black bars across the top and bottom appear. If you zoom in or view it in 4:3 format, you loose images in either or both left or sides of the movie.

Answer 4

no because the widescreen sets are better fitted for films shot in 1.85:1 or 1.78:1 that ratio will fill a widescreen set, most action films are shot in a very wide 2.35:1 ratio & that's why you still get bars at the top & bottom, just look for the best mode that will fill the screen with the least distortion

Answer 5

When they (TV manufacturers) decided on the new 16X9 format they knew that Hollywood formats didn't match. You can rent 10 movies and there is a chance that 3 or more will have different sized black bars on top and bottom. They decided to go with this format to allow you to be able to see the movie in the format that the director intended, and to enjoy the new Hi-Def TV cameras (which are 16X9). So it is normal and unfortunately it's expected. You have to agree the bars are a lot better than your old 4X3 format.

Answer 6

Stupidly enough, some widescreen TVs are too wide or narrow. My iMac does this a lot. Don't blame me, it's the TV manufacturer or video producer's problem.

Answer 7

Sometimes the movie was made like this on purpose. It's pretty stupid, but there are all different formats and aspect ratios for all the different movies out there. Shouldn't they all be the same?