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New member Username: RonnadavidPost Number: 1 Registered: Feb-05 | Hello all: I just bought a Toshiba 46hm82. I popped in a widescreen version of Lord of the Rings, and had large horizontal letterboxing. I tried changing from Natural mode to Full mode and then to Theater Wide mode. I could not conjure up a picture without the bars. Isn't an HDTV supposed to eliminate the letterboxing? Does anyone know how to eliminate this problem (without stretching the picture)? Sorry if this had been posted and answered already. Thanks for your help. |
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Bronze Member Username: DwclarkArlington, Tx Usa Post Number: 12 Registered: Jan-05 | I'm interested in this also....It would seem to me that a widescreen movie on a widescreen tv...the image would fill the entire screen |
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Bronze Member Username: GnnrNJ USA Post Number: 71 Registered: Jan-05 | Nope. I thought so too recently when I got my RPTV but the majority of widescreen movies are wider in ratio than the TVs. Some movies have a smaller ratio however. Do a search on the forums, it talks about the ratios and which fits and which does not. |
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Anonymous | That is not how HDTV works. It's all about the aspect ration of the movie. Movies filmed in an 1.85:1 or lower aspect ratio will fill the entire screen, whereas movies filmed in 2.35:1 or higher will still have the black bars at he top and bottom. Here is a site that explains aspect ratios better: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/home/wsfaq.html Hope that helps! |
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Anonymous | When you say 'large letterboxing' what do you mean? I'll share my experience and maybe it will help. I just got a new Samsung HLP5663w on Monday, hooked up my DVD and popped in Return of the King. I had the same problem, with the TV set to Widescreen mode the picture was only filling about 1/3 of the horizontal picture, with black bars taking up the other 2/3 on the top and bottom. That is clearly not right. The only way I could get it to fill the screen was in Zoom1 mode, but the picture looked crappy. I realized two things. First, my DVD player was not progressive scan and second, there must be a way to change some setting on the DVD player rather thatn the TV. I didn't mess with the second issue because it wouldn't solve the first. I went and bought a HTiB and hooked it up. The first thing you do with the DVD Player is Initial Setup ay which point it asked me what kind of TV I was watching on 4: or 16:9. I told it and bingo!! the picture lookes great. Now, Return of the King still has some small black bars on top and bottom, but they are small. They are supposed to be there, but they should be small on a 16:9 TV. Is your DVD player older? Do you have the manual? See if you can change some setting on it to let it know you are watching on a 16:9 TV. Bottom line is that not all movies will take up the whole screen on a 16:9 tv. The other bottom line is that if you have your settings correct you shoudl watch the movie the way they intended it, don't stretch the picture to fit the screen if it's not supposed to. Live with the small bars, thats the way it should look. |
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New member Username: RonnadavidPost Number: 2 Registered: Feb-05 | Thanks for the help everyone. I am using an S-video cable right now. I'll buy some component cables tonight, switch my DVD player to progressive (it won't let me use progressive unless I have component video set up) and see if that helps. As for the size of the letterboxing: it was enormous. Like the last poster said, 2/3 black and 1/3 movie. Hell, the letterboxes on my 4:3 tv weren't so large. Anyway, I hope that I don't have any problems on Sunday. I'm having a SuperBowl party and I've told everyone that we'll be watching on a glorious HDTV. If it doesn't work I'm going to get lynched! |
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Bronze Member Username: GnnrNJ USA Post Number: 74 Registered: Jan-05 | Well, HDTV won't give you bars usually, at least not top and bottom... and the superbowl should be in full screen I would expect. |
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Bronze Member Username: SharonfLake Havasu City, Arizona USA Post Number: 17 Registered: Jan-05 | I have the Toshiba 62HM94. Good component cables will give you a better picture than S-Video. And, as Anonymous stated you have to tell your DVD player what size TV you have. Make sure it is set to 16:9. On the Toshiba I've found that I have to set the picture size to full when playing DVDs for them to fill the screen even if they are the correct aspect ratio. When watching SD TV channels do not set picture size to full or it will appear distorted. If you want to stretch use Theater 1 or Theater 2. Lucky you getting the Superbowl in HD! My cable company doesn't carry Fox HD and I can't pull it in OTA either. |
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Anonymous | Just to clear things up when watching a DVD or any movie for that matter, if the box says 16x9 widescreen it should fill your tv on a 16x9 format tv. It it says Letterbox Widescreen then you'll get the small black bars at the top and bottom. Some DVD packaging will only say Widescreen on the front, but the back of the box should tell you if it's letterbox or 16x9. You basically don't have a choice between which widescreen versions to get when purchasing a widescreen DVD. Lastly, definitely make sure to configure your DVD players to the correct format type of your TV. You should notice right off if there is a problem when everyone looks kinda squashed and chunky ;) |
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New member Username: GojhawksPost Number: 7 Registered: Dec-04 | Just because it says "16x9 widescreen" on DVD box DOES NOT necessarily mean it will completely fill your widescreen TV screen. What matters is the apsect ratio of the film. A movie filmed in 1.85 aspect will usually fill entire screen (technically there are very thin black bars top and bottom but overscan on most TVs will eliminate them). If the aspect ratio is 2.35, 2.40, or some similar ratio then will have black bars top and bottom. It is true need to make certain the DVD player is set to output to 16.9 TV. |