Blu-Ray vs. DVD

[bassistist]

Hi, HDTV and BD noob here...just purchased a Samsung LCD and a Panasonic BD35 player (thanks BPBS for the link to the Amazon sale!) and I'm pleased as punch with the pair. One of the most pleasant surprises (among MANY) is how good my "old" DVDs look on my up-converting BD player.

My question: my DVDs still show the letterbox top and bottom bars, instead of using the full screen. It's a minor annoyance, but is there any way to get rid of those? Any setting I might want to look at? I've been futzing with the BD player but to no avail as yet. Any advice/suggestions?

TIA!

[MrBoylan]

Hi, HDTV and BD noob here...just purchased a Samsung LCD and a Panasonic BD35 player (thanks BPBS for the link to the Amazon sale!) and I'm pleased as punch with the pair. One of the most pleasant surprises (among MANY) is how good my "old" DVDs look on my up-converting BD player.

My question: my DVDs still show the letterbox top and bottom bars, instead of using the full screen. It's a minor annoyance, but is there any way to get rid of those? Any setting I might want to look at? I've been futzing with the BD player but to no avail as yet. Any advice/suggestions?

TIA!

Well the short answer is that those black letterbox bars are "supposed" to be there, because you're watching a movie that has a cinematic aspect ratio that is wider than 16:9 (could be 2.35:1 or 2.4:1 both of which are quite common). This will occur on Blu-ray as well as most Blu-ray disc movies are presented in their original theatrical aspect ratio.

On DVD, however, you *might* be able to zoom this to fit the screen (if you must!) by hitting the BD35 remote's "Sub-Menu" button then selecting "zoom" in the aspect ratio choice. While this will not change the geometry (it won't stretch the image), it will crop off the edges of the image, thereby destroying the director's intent when framing scenes for a cinematic aspect ratio.

The only way to get movies like that to properly "fill the screen" is to get a wider screen, e.g., a cinemascope aspect ratio screen and front projector combination that supports a native 2.35:1 aspect ratio either with an anamorphic lens or a zoom setting in the projector.

These can pretty pretty impressive but generally are a bit more expensive than your standard 16:9 flat panel TV (although if measured per inch, they're considerably cheaper than a flat panel TV). Plus projectors usually have pretty strict lighting restrictions (they won't work so well in bright rooms).

Hope that helps.

-Chris

[bassistist]

OK, in retrospect, they aren't buggin me THAT much.

Thanks for the answer, Chris!!