HDTV - How do I get rid of Black Bars on the top of my movies?
paladin.macroberts asked:
I like my movies wide screen. I just got a wide screen HDTV. While the TV is amazing and I got it for a steal, I am disappointed that I still have the black bars on the top of my screen.
A) Why does it streach wide screen movies and leave the black bars when it can just chop them off?
B) The only fix I’ve found is ZOOM, which lowers the quality, is there a better?
C) I am told that it has something to do with 480 being 4:3 and and 720+ being 16:9, so that even though the movie is wide screen, the TV does not know this because it is native 480… the question: Will a “near HD” or “up convert” DVD player do what I am trying to do?
I like my movies wide screen. I just got a wide screen HDTV. While the TV is amazing and I got it for a steal, I am disappointed that I still have the black bars on the top of my screen.
A) Why does it streach wide screen movies and leave the black bars when it can just chop them off?
B) The only fix I’ve found is ZOOM, which lowers the quality, is there a better?
C) I am told that it has something to do with 480 being 4:3 and and 720+ being 16:9, so that even though the movie is wide screen, the TV does not know this because it is native 480… the question: Will a “near HD” or “up convert” DVD player do what I am trying to do?
Basically, you can’t if you want to keep the film in it’s original format. Movies are filmed in ratios other than 4:3 or 16:9 so that is why you still have the black bars at the top and bottom.
You can ZOOM and effect the quality or go 4:3 and now have the bars on the sides. That are some movies that will fill your screen like you want, keeping with the original film, but they are rare.
weeder
there are different formats of widescreen depending on which you have you will get the black bars or not . look on the back of your dvd cases you will see this movie is shot in 239:1 or 240:1
For HDTV widescreen the DVD being played has to be 16 by 9 widescreen format (as others have indicated some movies are the theatrical dimensions which is not 16 by 9).
The DVD player has to be set to output in widescreen (this is usually in the menu of the DVD player if available). And the connection from the DVD player has to support widescreen which composite video (NTSC) yellow connectors might not. So you may have to have a DVD player and a TV with either component connections matching between both (red, green and blue connections between the output of the DVD player and the input of the TV or monitor) or HDMI connections between both.
Yes, an upconverting DVD player will probably make it look better but again you will possibly or likely have to play with the settings to get it to look right.
Just make sure to avoid Full Screen (non-widescreen) 4 by 3 aspect DVD discs.
You might also want to get the LG Blue Ray/HD-DVD player combination so you can play the new high defintion formats. Assuming this has not cost you so much already that you cannot spend another $1000 or so. (You’re lucky I don’t have money for HD myself but enjoy that others can appreciate the technology).
Yes some movies are in a very wide ratio that still requires smaller black bars but sometimes movies were put on DVD in full screen format with the widescreen image smashed in the middle. If you put this in a widescreen tv you need to zoom in because it will be horribly stretched if set to 16:9
well pretty much everybody is right. i just want to clear it up abit. you know movies are made in different formats than the tvs, a regular tv screen . is the ratio of 1: 1.33 (thats 4:3). you will see full screen movies use this aspect ratio( it is stated on all movies on the back) , the ratios of 1:1.77 to 1:1.85 will fit nearly perfect on a 16:9 screen this is the raio that most hd tv channels and allof more movies are being made in. but some movies even big box office movies are made in 1:2.25 and up which is some times called anamorphic or panoramic but ive seen the other widescreen formats called this too. allot of hd dvd and bluray movies use this format. so even though you may have the best hdtv and hddvd player the best hd movie may still have the bars on the top and bottom . i usually keep it like that so you can see all the detail and you dont get any of the picture cut off. although you can zoom it with the dvd player or the tv itself might have preset zooms to help this situation. but check your movies the ones that say 1:1.73 to 1:1.85 should be the ones that fill it the best without stretching it to fill like the fullscreen or 1:1.33 movies do. i know i am just trying to make it better to understand so sorry if it got to informational there . hope this helps
Some if not all of the above answers are incorrect. One almost had it all right but messed up later on by stating some weird aspect ratios that do not exist. You cannot get rid of the black bars if the movie is wider than 1:85.1. Movies filmed in 2:35.1 will produce black bars. Read the following it will help you out and give you a better understanding of what your TV is displaying.