Widescreen DVD's-- on 16:9 TV

[Sandman78]

I don't have a Widescreen TV yet, but my friend has a Widescreen Projector and a Pioneer Plasma. When she puts a movie like Star Wars Episode III in either one, she gets black bars on her screen.

She says it's because she doesn't have a "Movie" screen. I'd not heard of this, so I wanted to ask someone here at Doom9. I thought if you had a widescreen DVD that it would completely fill up the screen on a widescreen TV?

[Matthew]

Widescreen = 1.78:1 aspect ratio
Star Wars = 2.35 aspect ratio

The difference is made up with black bars hardcoded into the video stream.

[SeeMoreDigital]

If you have a look at the back of a DVD cover you will find the "movies" theatrical aspect ratio.

There are quite a few different movie aspect ratios out-there but the most popular ones seem to be, 1.85:1 and 2.35:1

Here's what a typical 2.35:1 movie looks like on a 16:9 (aka: 1.77:1) "widescreen" TV: -

http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/2442/example7ec.png


Cheers

[mudda_t]

What is her DVD players display set as...PS, LB, or 16x9?
If she has PS selected in the dvd players display menu (setup) she's probably seeing bars. If you change it to widescreen 16x9 the picture will stretch a little a fill in the rest of the screen.
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You don't have to do this, it's just a matter of taste. On a full screen tv I can live with black bars, but if I had a widescreen tv blackbars would be history.
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Widescreen dvd on player with PS selected actually looks like your watching LB (letterbox) on a 16x9 TV.
Widescreen dvd on player with 16x9 selected fills up the screen on a 16x9 TV.

[SeeMoreDigital]

You don't have to do this, it's just a matter of taste. On a full screen tv I can live with black bars, but if I had a widescreen tv blackbars would be history. As I pointed out in my previous post, even if you have a widescreen TV, some DVD movie sources (ie: 2.35:1) will still show black bars (aka: mattes)..... This is exactly how such movies are intended to be displayed/viewed.


Cheers

[Sandman78]

Thanks for the information guys. I think I've got a better understanding of this now.