Black Bars on screen with DVD

[johnjohn]

I am new to the HT world and as such not familar with some stuff. My first question to this group follows:

How do I get the image to fill the screen when playin DVDs? I normally get the black bars. However when I am looking at a feed directly off of my Direct TV, it fills the screen. I know this is not projector specifit because I have seen the same on a buddies project. I am currently using a BenQ7700 with a 92" screen. Your help is appreciated.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I am new to the HT world and as such not familar with some stuff. My first question to this group follows:

How do I get the image to fill the screen when playin DVDs? I normally get the black bars. However when I am looking at a feed directly off of my Direct TV, it fills the screen. I know this is not projector specifit because I have seen the same on a buddies project. I am currently using a BenQ7700 with a 92" screen. Your help is appreciated.

What you are seeing is masking of some film to accommodate their aspect ratios.

Not all video has the same ration of height to width. Standard TV is known as 4x3 or 1.33 to 1. The new HD-TV standard has a ratio of 1.66 to 1. Film in movies range mostly from 1.85 to 1 to 2.35 to 1 or more.

So, for the same height on the screen, you need a wider screen. Instead, the width is held constant and the height is shrunk to accommodate these ratios.

On some DVDS players you can have then expand the picture to fit the screen but either it drops video information or distorts it. Check your manual on how for your player, or TV.

My oversight
HD TV has a 1.78 to 1 ratio, not 1.66

 

[johnjohn]

Thanks for the info... so am I to understand that the closer I get to the 2.35 to 1 the bigger the black bars go? or did I reverse that understanding? so in order to fill the screen with the DVD output (as it does with the TV) I will have to sacrifice some picture quality... I will check my DVD player ...It is a Sony Up Conversion DVD (cannot remember the model)...

 

[jeffsg4mac]

John, just read these two links

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

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/aspectratios/widescreenorama.html

They are the best explainations I have seen.

 

[GlocksRock]

Thanks for the info... so am I to understand that the closer I get to the 2.35 to 1 the bigger the black bars go? or did I reverse that understanding? so in order to fill the screen with the DVD output (as it does with the TV) I will have to sacrifice some picture quality... I will check my DVD player ...It is a Sony Up Conversion DVD (cannot remember the model)...

Yes, you are correct on both accounts. Many dvd players have a zoom option to fit the picture to the screen, but that blows the picture up causing pixelation... you might as well just get used to the black bars.

 

[jonnythan]

Having the black bars means you're getting the best picture with no zooming or distortion.. if you try to "force" an image to fit a screen of a different aspect ratio, you have to distort the image somehow. Unless the black bars drive you absolutely mad, then stick with the "un-butchered" image.

 

[johnjohn]

Thank you all... It would appear that I simply need to wait for the DVDs to be recorded differently in the future. I am SURE I am nto the only one that does not like the bars... I will have to drop some pics of my movie room once I am completely finish with it...

 

[jonnythan]

DVD's won't be recorded differently. If a movie is filmed in 2.35:1, then the DVD will usually be 2.35:1, and that's how I personally like it. I don't want them to crop a film just so that I don't get any black areas on my screen.

 

[BMXTRIX]

johnjohn - As said, you aren't going to get rid of those black bars no matter what you do. One of the things you can do if it annoys you is check out a screen masking system.

http://www.htiq.com makes some very inexpensive masking systems that will properly frame the movie no matter what the aspect ratio is. Since the black bars bug me as well, I know that I will be getting one if I ever get a fixed frame screen.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

We've got an older progressive scan Apex DVD player with an x,y scaler, that allows us to adjust the height, without expanding the width (and vice versa). Maybe all you need is a new player with an x,y scaler to fill your screen. It's really not that noticable on a widescreen plasma or lcd.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Thank you all... It would appear that I simply need to wait for the DVDs to be recorded differently in the future. I am SURE I am nto the only one that does not like the bars... I will have to drop some pics of my movie room once I am completely finish with it...

What you need to do is look for DVDs that has a label either at the top of the box, or on the back that the DVD is "Full Screen" DVD.
This is modified at the studio to fit the TV aspect ration; this will solve your problems. However, if and when you switch to HD TV as you will need to sometime in the future, they will be in the 1.77 format, much closer to eliminating the bars.