Black Bars during widescreen movies with a widescreen TV?
New TV Owner
Posted on
Hey, I just got a new 65" widescreen HDTV. I've played 3 different widescreen movies on it and they've all had black bars on the top and the bottom of the screen. The only time the entire screen is filled is if I put it on 16:9 zoom. Granted the bars are smaller than they'd be if it was a 4:3 TV, but I thought the widescreen TV would eliminate them altogether. Is this normal? Thanks.
Make sure your dvd player is set to 16:9 as it's aspect ratio.
Also note that movies with a 2.35:1 ratio will stil display the bars since that ration is still wider than widescreen tv's.The 16:9 tv's are mostly in a ratio of 1.77 and most dvds are either 1.85, 1.66, and the real wide one of 2.35:1.
Widescreen tv's will get rid of the black bars for most dvds with 1.85, 1.77, and perhaps some of the 1.66. But with 2.35:1 it's showing you it's actual size and will always show the bars unless you zoom in causing you to cut the picture or stretch it.
Widescreen Tv's are also not supposed to rid of the black bars problem they are to give you the better resolution on dvds that are anamorphic (set you dvd player to 16:9). With enhanced for widescreen dvds your tv will show them better in reolution and quality than most 4:3 tvs can.
There are a couple of things that you need to check out. One is that your dvd player has some configuration menu that you made need to change from 4:3 to 16:9. That is number one, especially if you have a new tv and your old one was a regular 4:3 set. The other thing you have to remember is that some movies are more widescreen than others. I just got a sony wega plasma and I was watching the Matrix. It still had some black bars on the top and bottom. That is because a 16:9 screen has an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. Meaning that it is 1.78 times wider than it is tall. Movies can be at that ratio but are generally 1.85:1 and sometimes 2.35:1 that means that there will be black bars at the top and bottom. So to make a long story short, you may still have black bars, but make sure that you set your dvd player to 16:9. I would bet that it is set to 4:3 Pan and scan in the dvd configuration menu.
New TV Owner
Posted on
Thanks for the replies. I check out what you said and see if that changes anything.