Ok everyone...I just purchased a Panasonic 43" LCD rear-projector and love it so far...hopefully I dont have all of the bulb problems that I've been reading about on here...I'm thinking that extended warranty is worth the $500...
I am very new to the whole HD, progressive-scan, etc world so I have a couple of questions...
1) Now that I have a 16:9 TV, why do some of my DVD movies STILL have black bars on the top and bottom? I have made sure the DVD player (Panasonic progressive-scan with component hook-ups) is set to 16:9 screen....
2) When I put the DVD player in 480P mode, the picture actually looks worse than in 480i...WHY?I read somewhere that this is because the LCD tv's are already increasing the image to 480P...
Some DVDs preserve the exact format that was used in movie theaters, and most theaters arent presented in 16:9 format. Each DVD will format differently, and some will have the black bars, and others wont. If the bars bother you, you can always change to an 'expand' mode and you can fill your screen. That's what I do if there are bars, and(at least with my case)the image is still excellent. Why would they do that if they know the TV standard is 16:9???
I blame the stupid Hollywood directors for the black bars. Most are liberls, and to me, that explains a lot. If they had the slightest bit of common sense, they would surely format 'all' DVDs to fit 16:9 TV screens, and I dont care for the black bars either. Ive heard discussions on this topic before, and directors seem to have 'artsy' reasons for preserving the origional film format, in spite of it not being the HT standard. I guess if you had a projector, it wouldnt be an issue.
As for your second question.....In any case, I would think having your DVD player set to 480p should be better. I cant help you there because I dont know. How are you connecting?