One problem with blu-rays for me

Blu-rays I have like We Own The Night and the Planet Earth box set look great because they are in the 1:85 format so they fill up the whole screen w/out the black bars on top and bottom and it looks beautiful. most blu-rays I have however like Departed, Blood Diamond, Prestige and alot of other movies I rented are in the 2:35 and up and they have the black lines on top and bottom, is there anything I can do about that? Cause I dont see the point in expanding the size because then you lsoe clarity, blu-rays are so much more enjoyable for me without the darn black bars on top and bottom. thx for any help

... You really shouldn't be allowed to own a Blu-Ray player.

^^LOL hmm because I dont like the bars on top and bottom. What is your deal moron, its not a dumb question and I am sure I am not the first person to compain about it.

spice2k8.... ASPECT RATIO (learn more)

> Also, Adventures in WIDESCREEN

Has nothing to do with whatever format you are watching (Blu-ray, HD-DVD, DVD, VHS, LaserDisc), rather it's how the film was shot (ratio, lenses, projection) and then transferred to whatever home video platform you are using, such as Blu-ray in your example.

Only widescreen content filmed/transferred in 1:78.1 and 1:85.1 will 'fill the entire screen' naturally on an HDTV. Otherwise, you will always see some black bars on the top/bottom of the image, for content filmed in wider ratios than these.

Occasionally, for a widescreen film that's close to the 1:78.1 ratio, but has a little black bars on the top/bottom, the studio will transfer it slightly zoomed to fill the entire screen, as Warner did with the hi-def editions of The Fugitive. They also did it with the Kubrick film Full Metal Jacket, removing the 'open-matte' original home video preference of the director, and turning the hi-def disc editions into a widescreen presentation (I own the full-frame 'open-matte' LaserDisc edition).



-JIMI LOVE (the Voodoo Child)

Wow, the OP must be from the really new generation. This was the #1 silly posting complaint about standard widescreen DVD on Usenet back in 1997!

Darn I'm starting to feel old now that we have people who skipped/missed the DVD format all together (let alone VHS) and just started with Blu-ray as their first format experience.

Did you read that link LH? I'm a big Kubrick fan, and I hate when people say Kubrick wanted the movies presented in full-frame. He SETTLED for full-frame, because on a full screeen TV, the movie would have otherwise been presented in pan and scan, or with black bars, which he hated. He wanted them presented in open-matte because he didn't want home video people messing up his movies. Now we have widescreen TVs, so a widescreen presentation which does not have black bars would clearly be the presentation of choice for Kubrick. So, a widescreen edition on a widescreen tv is closer to his vision than open-matte.

I've actually over time got used to veiwing movies like this. Now I prefer to have widescreen versions especially when I had my Optoma projector. I used to stay away from widescreen versions like the plague but after everyone explainning that alot of the shot was missing in scenes in fullscreen I decided to see for myself and after that I was conveinced that WS is better.

[Post edited by tony1569 on Apr 18, 2008]

Thanks for the explanation interplanetaryspy, which I understand, and did so when I made the link. Guess I should have worded the comment a little better, but the point I was making (which you've provided the background for) was that he wanted FMJ shown in open matte (at the time)... but Warner today has instead produced HD versions in widescreen (1:78.1). But with your explanation we understand the reason why. I've seen the film in widescreen on one of the HD cable channels not long ago, and it looked fine/excellent, none-the-less.

-JIMI LOVE (the Voodoo Child)

Oh no, not agian. Really the manufactures should go back to 4:3 production right now Before anymore people get confused...

"...people say Kubrick wanted the movies presented in full-frame. He SETTLED for full-frame, because on a full screeen TV, the movie would have otherwise been presented in pan and scan, or with black bars, which he hated." --interplanetaryspy

Do you have a link to a reliable source for this information? It is not the story Kubrick's own friends and studio told.

Kubrick shot all of his films after "2001" in 1.33:1 (1.37:1). He was not pleased that he had to matte them for 1.78:1 theatrical showing, and before he died he requested that they be shown on disc in their original aspect ratio of 1.33.1 (which is what Warner Bros. originally did). A "full-screen TV" is generally defined as one with a ratio of 1.33:1 (non-widescreen), so the films would have shown up in open matte without any black bars.

Now that widescreen TVs are the norm for high defintion viewing, Warner Bros. went back to the theatrical ratios (1.78:1) for their latest Kubrick releases.

John