Re: HD DVD screen

As previously mentioned it's the Ratio. For an Easy comparison take Toy Story, it should fill up your entire screen because if it's aspect ratio and then watch Cars it will have black bars on the top and bottom because it is a much wider ratio. This will happen regardless of what players you put the movies in. As someone mentioned you could use a zoom feature but then you're still not getting the whole movie it will be cutting off the sides.

HDTVs have a native viewing ratio of 1.78:1 (info here), and only content filmed either in this ratio (or the popular 1.85:1) will avoid seeing black bars on the top/bottom of the image.

Also, there are plenty of Blu-ray, HD-DVD, and DVD discs that have images with black bars on the top/bottom, since they were filmed in different ratios than the above, such as 2.40:1, 2.35:1, 2.20:1, and many others.

Non-HDTVs (and many TV show content, also older movies) have a ratio of 4:3, the more common squarish image we've known most of our lives.

Since others have posted comments about "Letterbox 4:3" and "Anamorphic 16x9" content, I won't repeat the same here.

-Love Hendrix! (The Loverboy)

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/764

I too am having the black bar issue. Along the top and bottom when I play my HD DVD's through the Xbox 360 HD DVD player. It's not a setting on the discs. And messing with the onscreen menu's of my widescreen 1080p TV. If the there is a setting that tells the TV to stretch the picture it's not in true 1080p then. I must be missing something... i'll mess around with it a bit more when I get home.

I was just saying to myself, where is Hendrix? He always gives good advice about the subject of ratios.

[Post edited by tony1569 on Feb 14, 2008]

1080P is the output setting of how many lines are leaving the source. Most HDTV set only understand 720p or 1080i. Unless you purchased your set in the last year or two. Check the manual.

Aspect ratio on the players are 16:9 for Widescreen TV's. 4:3 and 4:3LB are used for Regular formatted screen, HD or not. You do not want to be using anything above a 480i setting on a non HD TV. I don't even think you can buy a 4:3 formatted HD set anymore. I remember when that was the in thing... geesh, glad I didn't get one of those.

Tony... just look ^up above^, a few posts before yours today of 2/14, and see the info that I posted in Nov. - that LINK provides anything you need to know!

ReaggieP... good comment above. And Sharp still makes a few 4:3 LCD sets (480p non HD only), sizes between 14 and 20 inches - both a few 4:3 'Traditional' TVs (some widescreen show here too) - and three 4:3 Aquos TVs. Remember, these are NOT hi-def resolution TVs, and limited to 480p.

-LH (The Loverboy)

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Feb 14, 2008]

Because of all the black "bars", I recommend a TV with black borders.
It just looks like you have a thicker border on two sides. The alternate grey border/black bar is distracting to me.

Quote:
Because of all the black "bars", I recommend a TV with black borders.

I want a Carada Masquerade screen, and the 142" diagonal should do me fine: http://www.carada.com/Masquerade-Masking-System-Projection-Screens.aspx

Do any of you go to the movies anymore? You might notice that in most multiplexes, there is only one size screen, 16x9 or 1.78:1. When the theater you're in shows a movie in a wider aspect ratio, it is no wider than the theater screen, but it is less high from top to bottom. In essence, movie houses now have black bars on the top (and sometimes bottom) of the screen for 2.00:1 films and wider. Some multiplexes use curtains that pull down from the top (and/or raise up from the bottom) and hide a part of the screen, but it's the same effect as on your widescreen TV at home.

John

[Post edited by John J. Puccio on Feb 14, 2008]