DVD's; Widescreen or Fullscreen?

[Quig]

I've got an assortment of DVD's some of which are 'Widescreen' and some are 'Fullscreen'. I recently picked up a new TV in the form of a Pioneer Elite 64" Widescreen. I guess I would have figured that the Widescreen DVD's would fit the TV perfect, but the opposited seems to be true. Many of my Widescreen DVDs leave black bars and the top and bottom of my screen in various sizes. Some I can change the picture size to fill up the screen and some I can't. This isn't that big a deal in most cases but some of the movies leave LARGE empty areas above and below the picture(while also distorting the proportions of the picture :( ) even after setting the screen to 'Zoom'.

Basically, my question is which DVDs should I be purchasing? I don't like to skew the picture by changing the size of the picture but I like the black bars above and below the picture even less...

I guess the simply answer is just to purchase Fullscreen huh?

Am I crazy or does this bother anyone else?

[goodman]

Check your DVD player to make sure it is set on wide screen. Make sure the player is connected to the display via three-wire component interconnects (unless you have the newer digital connections on both the player and the display). Set your DVD player to progressive scan, not interlaced. With a big beautiful new display like that, I would never buy full screen discs, because you are giving up the picture on both sides of wide screen media. You're not crazy, but you're better off having black bars at the top and bottom than losing actual content from the picture.

[MDS]

Whether or not black bars appear on a widescreen tv is dependent on the aspect ratio of the DVD.

A true widescreen tv is 16:9 (1.78:1) vs a normal 4:3 (1.33:1) tv. Movies are shot in a wide variety of aspect ratios.

If the DVD says it is 'widescreen' then:
A 1.78 movie will fill the screen completely.
A 1.85 movie will show very small black bars at the top and bottom unless the tv has alot of overscan.
A 2.0 or 2.35 movie will have large black bars at the top and bottom because 2.35:1 is much larger than 1.78:1.

[Quig]

Thanks guys... I'll check the output on the DVD player. I am using component cables but I'll check that it's set for Widescreen. :D

[Az B]

A lot of action movies are shot in 1.85:1. Some less active movies use an aspect ration of 1.78:1. Your widescreen TV is 1.76:1.

Now what do those numbers mean? 1.78:1 is the ratio of width in inches to height in inches. In other words, there's 1.78" width to every 1" of screen real estate on a widescreen TV. So it's nearly twice as wide as it is tall. 1.85:1 is even wider, which is why most action movie directors specify it. You can fit more action on the screen in a more intense display.

Since your widescreen TV is 1.76:1 it so close to perfect for 1.78:1 you'll never notice the difference. But 1.85:1 is a bit wider so you get the black bars on top and bottom.

Fullscreen is 1.33:1. It is noticeably less wide. You'll get the black bars on the sides when you display this on the widescreen TV.

There's also a very good reason not to buy Fullscreen DVDs. If the movie was orginally filmed in and widescreen format, much of the image will have to be removed to make it fit the 1.33:1 ratio. Sometimes as much as 50% of the image is affected. Widescreen is far closer to the theatrical release, even if you still have bars on the top and bottom of your screen.

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

Your options are:

1. Watch only films with a 1.78:1 screen-size format. Once you factor-in overscan(a picture reproduction problem affecting 99.99% of all displays save for front projectors) you can probably also watch 1.85:1 films, and maybe even, if your overscan is really bad, 1.66:1 films and the picture will appear "black bar free". Or you can watch HDTV, which I believe is all 1.78:1 AR.

2. Watch all fullscreen movies and "stretch" the picture horizontally using TV controls. This leaves you with both a highly distorted picture AND upto 34% missing of the original picture frame.

3. Watch widescreen movies and apply a vertical "stretch" to films with an AR wider than the monitor (such as a 2.35:1 or 2.40:1 movie). This allows you to retain all of the original picture frame... but things may appear very tall & thin.

4. Watch all your material in its original aspect ratio (OAR), you will have to deal with vertical bars on scope movies, and horizontal side bars on academy standard TV & movies, but everything will have all of its original picture and have no 'stretch-induced' distortion.

In otherwords..... there is no way to avoid black bars AND picture distortion 100% of the time.

[Leprkon]

Basically, my question is which DVDs should I be purchasing? I don't like to skew the picture by changing the size of the picture but I like the black bars above and below the picture even less...

I guess the simply answer is just to purchase Fullscreen huh?

Am I crazy or does this bother anyone else?

Your new TV is actually optimized for the broadcast TV of the near future (HDTV). It doesn't quite match up to the several theatre aspect ratios discussed above, but you do get to see alot more detail if you buy the widescreen versions.

[pam]

Hi

I have no problems with those black bars on the top and bottom. I prefer to see the film as it was done by the director.

Unless I am distracted, I will only buy Widescreen.
Actually, I prefer to see the black bar instead of having my 16x9 full, this means I am seing the original film. Having a 57 inch allows me to see the real thing (yours is even bigger). When there are not bars on top and bottom (as some DVD) I am thinking that somebody has decided to cut the image: the guy who does the censure has less insight than the guy who makes the film. Every dummy can cut the image in a few minutes.
Cameraman and Director of photography spend hours for every minute to try to have the perfect image/angle. I want to see their result.

At the end of the day, this is a matter of choice.

[crashguy]

With the FULLSCREEN version, you lose about 20% of the picture. FULLSCREEN is for wimps.

[Rob Babcock]

In otherwords..... there is no way to avoid black bars AND picture distortion 100% of the time.

Well, not practical way with a direct view set, anyway. If you have an FPTV and a lot of cash you can buy a motorized masking screen that will move the mask around to the precise size and shape for any aspect ration. This costs more than a lot of HD projectors, but it would solve your problem.;)

As others have pointed out, there's a wide variety of aspect ratios in use, and any single one they'd have chosen would've left out several. The black bars shouldn't too to noticable with most sizes. I guess I just don't notice them anymore.

I'm a fanatic about always keeping the OAR.

[WorkerBee]

WOW..you guy's posted lot's of information!

Before purchasing 75 or so dvd's a salesman tried to explain this stuff to me but I just came away with...I better just buy the widescreen version. Really, my heart sank when I found out even owning a wide screen does not fill out to the edges all the time. Not a problem though because most of the movie watching is done after dark and when the movie get's rolling along I get absorbed into the show and forget all about it. :)

[crashguy]

The way they make Pan & Scan versions of movie is to "zoom in" on the actors and they therefore cut off the edges of the picture. There are some scenes in some movies (cant think of a specific right now) where in the widescreen version (theatrical version), you would see both the actor saying the dialog, and the person listening to it for example. In the full screen version, they have to show the one actor, then "pan" over to the other actor to see the response.

[nick_danger]

I've got to post this because no one else mentioned it. When buying widescreen DVDs, it is vital that you discriminate between "widescreen" and "widescreen enhanced". If the box does not say "enhanced for 16x9 TVs" or "anamorphic", you won't get a quality picture. Normal widescreen DVDs still send out a 4:3 signal that happens to include a matted widescreen presentation.

The result is that in order to get the proper ratio on a 16x9 TV that is not stretched vertically or horizontally, your TV must be in 4:3 mode (which results in bars on the top, bottom, and sides) or in zoom mode (which usually eliminates the top and bottom bars, but decreases the image quality drastically and usually cuts off the image).

[fuzballs]

I have just bought a new 50" plasma.
Now I find the "same as befor" bars. All movies are 2.35(or so)
Almost $4K for the panasonic 9:16 comercial model - It has awesome pictures, if progerssive/interlaced/component/composite/full/normal/just/zoom
I zoom it over fills the screen and they look like old panavision on 1.3 screen (The Clint Eastwood affect) 10ft high x 1ft wide.
What thehell is wrong with hollywood ? Do we need a 9:22 screen!
The 3:4 in "JUST" aspect looks the best(except when things move near the edges) - maybe Full-screen versions are best
They say plasma's don't like dark bars- no waranty for burn-in.
Roger

[brian32672]

With the FULLSCREEN version, you lose about 20% of the picture. FULLSCREEN is for wimps.

I guess I am a wimp. Well a wimp with a 120" screen.

In otherwords..... there is no way to avoid black bars AND picture distortion 100% of the time.

Actually there is, but front projection may not be an option for him at this time. Front projection with masking will equal a large image with no bars. Yes I know that the image has bars, but it will not be noticed one bit with masking......

[chas_w]

This has been posted quite a bit on the forums, but is a nice example of pan-scan vs widescreen:

http://www.ryanwright.com/ht/oar.shtml

[jeffsg4mac]

Hey all, here is one of the best explainations around enjoy.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/index.html

[Shallowmander]

You're kidding, right? In the past (1920's and 1930's and television) full screen or 1:33:1 aspect ratio was the standard for cinema and broadcast t.v.. With the advent of panavision cameras in the 40's theatergoers were introduced to sweeping camera shots that made westerns and epics awe inspiring. Today Full screen is a pan and scan or "cropped" representation "formatted to fit your screen" if you have a regular 4:3 set. For me there is no other way to view a film other than widescreen. Widscreen provides the viewer with the the directors' intended vision and perspective of what he is attempting to relate. The different aspect ratios, 1:85:1, 2:35:1, etc., all give different insights into the development of the story. I have too many movie channels to count but I can't bear to watch them in 4:3 because I know there is something missing...at least 20% of the movie if not more with some cropping edits. If it isn't widescreen its just t.v.. Wide is the only way to go provided the media is available in the format.
__________________________
Sony 42" Widscreen HD LCD projection
BOSE Lifestyle 18 w/ AdaptIQ
DVDO iScan+ Scaler
Denon DVD 2910
Monster Reference Power Center HTS 3500

[j_garcia]

The crappy digital pans in pan&scan are very visible and annoying to me. I DETEST p&s.

For movies - widescreen for me. Full screen only if I have to because there's no widescreen version available.