I have a 42" LCD HDTV. Should I be buying widescreen dvds or full screen ones to avoid blk bars on edges?

Question

I played a widescreen dvd that I already have and couldn't ever get it to get rid of the black bars at the top and bottom (tried using the aspect button to change things, no work). Since I have a 42" screen, I'd like to use the whole thing :)

Answer 1

You need to look at widescreen, and then you need to look on the back of the DVD to see what aspect ratio it is using. If it says 16:9, then the black bars should be gone. If it says anamorphic, then you'll still see the black bars. The advantage of anamorphic is that you see everything that was originally shown in theaters.

Full screen is really meant for regular 4:3 ratio TVs. If you use it on a 16:9 ratio TV, you don't see the black bars, but then again, you won't see everything that was in the movie.

Answer 2

You should buy widescreen DVD's as they preserve the movie the way it was presented in the movie theatre. Unfortunately though, that wont get rid of the black bars on the top and bottom. Although you have an HDTV, some movies are formatted for an even wider screen and the only way you get to see the whole thing is for the black bars to be there.

If you are interested, here is an article that talks about aspect ratios...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image)

Answer 3

Hi, even if you get the "widescreen" version of a film, it probably won't fill your display completely. You are going to get black bars most of the time (either at the sides, or on the top and bottom). This is because there are multiple film formats and they are not necessarily equal to your 16:9 tv screen. Getting the "widescreen" versions is still better than getting the 4:3 version since you maximize the use of your screen.

Answer 4

get the widescreen and watch the movie the way it was intended.