Widescreen Ratios

[brttlt]

Am I to understand that even though I bought a widescreen TV, Panasonic 50" DLP, any DVD that is 2.35:1 or higher I will still get a little bit of the "black bar"?
1.85:1 is widescreen but that will cover my entire screen...correct?

[tomdkat]

Your TV has a 1.78:1 aspect ratio so anything wider than that will result in letterbox bars on the top and bottom of the screen. The bars produced by 1.85:1 AR material are usually "hidden" by the TVs overscan settings. 2.35:1 or wider material will definitely have letterbox bars that get larger as the image gets wider.

If you do a search in this forum on "overscan" or "aspect ratio" or "black bar" you can find tons of previous discussion on this topic and probably get all of your questions regarding "aspect ratios" and 16:9 TVs answered.

Peace...

[snipsnapsappy]

Yes, that is what will happen, when watching 2.35:1 movies, there will be black bars on the top and bottom, and while watching 1.33:1 or full frame, there will be bars on the side. Trust me, it will not take more than a couple of days to get used to a 16:9 TV, your eyes will find it more pleasing and comfortable. You will be a much happier DVD watcher, and if you live somewhere that has High Def broadcasts or HD Digital Cable, you will be in High Def TV heaven!

Check out www.titantv.com to see what kind of HD broadcasts you can get in your area.

If you cannot stand the black bars, many DVD players have a zoom function that will zoom on the image, making it look grainy and undetailed, but it will fill your screen.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by snipsnapsappy

If you cannot stand the black bars, many DVD players have a zoom function that will zoom on the image, making it look grainy and undetailed, but it will fill your screen.

Ah yes, the Zoom functions. The Pioneer DVD players don't tend to have them (for some reason) and I've heard the best feedback about the Toshiba players' Zoom capability. So many things to consider these days....

Peace...

[snipsnapsappy]

The zoom features that I have seen are pretty lousy, they are up there with zooming a non anamorphic DVD on a 16:9 set. My DVD player keeps a little logo in the corner that says it is zoomed so it is unwatchable that way.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by snipsnapsappy

The zoom features that I have seen are pretty lousy, they are up there with zooming a non anamorphic DVD on a 16:9 set.

MurDiddlyUrdler is the person to talk to about this. He bought a Toshiba SD-4800 (partly at my recommendation to check out) and loves the Zoom capability of that player. He had it connected to a 16:9 Mits HDTV but I forget the size (55" I think). Mur and I got into a discussion about DVD player zooming vs TV overscan and he graciously posted pics of his Tosh's zoom in action.

My DVD player keeps a little logo in the corner that says it is zoomed so it is unwatchable that way.

Really? What kind of DVD player is this?

Peace...

[MurDiddlyUrdler]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

MurDiddlyUrdler is the person to talk to about this. He bought a Toshiba SD-4800 (partly at my recommendation to check out) and loves the Zoom capability of that player. He had it connected to a 16:9 Mits HDTV but I forget the size (55" I think). Mur and I got into a discussion about DVD player zooming vs TV overscan and he graciously posted pics of his Tosh's zoom in action.

Yep. tomdkat is referring to this thread. It's an interesting read and it has PICTURES. I no longer have that TV, but I do have a newer model Mitsubishi and all the principles are the same. Check it out!