Is it possible for me to get rid of the black bars on the screen while watching a BD? It's super annoying!! Does this depend on the BD player? If not then it's really not as cool as watching an HD movie on satellite. You don't get the bars while watching an HD movie on tv.
I think the discs are formatted that way (letterbox). I agree that it is annoying, especially when you spend all that cash on a widescreen HDTV. HDMI usually formats signals for widescreen without the need for adjusting settings. My HDMI transmits the black letterbox bars. Not sure why they do this, especially since...if you have a plasma TV...those bars can burn into your screen. Horrible flaw in an otherwise great technology. If anybody knows how to get rid of this, I'd be very grateful.
movies are filmed in aspect ration that is wider than 16x9, if you want to watch the movie in it's true format then the black bars are necessary.
I did some research and yeah you are right. But how come when you watch an HD movie on satellite, it has no bars?
You should have a zoom option of your tv or maybe the ps3. It will make the picture look odd though When you watch a Blu-ray disc, This is what the movie actually looks like. HD movies play from a TV station just like all other movies do on TV; cropped. HD movies just require them to crop less than if a movie is playing in 4:3 on a regular tv. Either way, you are not seeing the whole picture when you are watching on TV. This is a problem when you are talking about a lot of good movies in the 70s which were SUPER WIDE (1.37 : 1). Generally, all movies are filmed wider than the HD aspect ratio (16x9). Some wider than others.
According to the link below your post, they are filmed in 1.85:1. If the 1 equates to 9 in 16x9, then 1.85(9)=16.65. 16x9 would be pretty close.
the black bars are there so you would get the same viewing angles as in a movie theater. i don't find it annoying at all. otherwise, you'd be watching the movie with inches cut off from view.
Unfortunately channels like HBO-HD and the major networks crop 2.35:1 films down to 16:9 because they figure people will be annoyed by the black bars. I can't imagine what would give them that idea. Thankfully Showtime-HD and HDNet Movies show respect for OAR on all their broadcasts.
Poor uninformed masses. BLACK BARS! SKY IS FALLING! Even if a Movie is shot in Steven Seagal Letterbox 2000, and that's the way it was intended to be viewed, that's how I shall watch it.
Whoa you scared me. I am a LCD boy recently converted to plasma. I understand the burn in issues. But how serious is this? I get black bars all the time when viewing SD cable.
i may not quite consider people who don't have an HD tv cheapskates, but if you don't understand widescreen, that's a problem.
I just got an LCD. When I was looking at HDTVs, I started out wanting plasma. Everybody I talked to at about a dozen stores told me the same thing...if you are going to use it for games, or images which may be stationary for a time, do not get plasma because of the burn in issues. I don't know for sure about the hazard of the black bars...but I would be careful if I were you. I suggest talking to somebody who actually knows rather than listening to me. All I am doing is spotting a possible issue based on my very limited knowledge of the workings of plasma TV.
I've had a 50" Panasonic plasma for over a years now and I have no burn in issues at all. We watch movies with the black bars at the top and bottom and SD 4:3 TV with the bars on the side, play the WII, PS3 and haven't experienced any burn in. Burn in was an issue with plasma in the past but not anymore!
On my panasonic TV. There is a setting where you can zoom in, which will normally get rid of the bars. Check your TV manual.
i thought at times HBO uses open-matte format which actually shows more content on some films but is not the intended aspect ratio of the director. I'll have to dig up the pic I saw over at avsforum of King Kong, but there was more shown on the HBO broadcast than the hd-dvd of it. but even if that is the case for HBO I prefer to watch anything at its intended original aspect ratio the way the director wanted to present it. i was trying to convince my sister that ws>fs she doesnt like the black bars at all says its wasting screen space on her tv. I told her to get a HDTV and she finally did two months ago. now she wants to borrow all my dvds to watch. but i know her and my brother in law they "borrow" something I dont ever see it again, especially now since they live out on the east coast
Is it actually possible for black bars to burn in? I thought stuff had to be some color other than black for screen burn to be possible.