A general HD question

[sullic82]

I have a Westinghouse 32 inch lcd tv and when i watch certain movies (i use my XBOX 360) for example "Cars" there are black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. I thought this was normal but when they have TV's on SHOPNBC, they show cars. They are showing the widescreen version but there arnt any black bars on the top and bottom. What are they doing that i am not? Shouldnt there be black bars on the top and bottom of the screen? B/c arnt they just streching the screen to fill it in?

 

[hook'em]

It depends on the aspect ratio of the movie and the setting the TV is on. A lot of newer movies are in anamorphic widescreen ( I don't recall the exact aspect but its greater than 2:1) which will appear on a widescreen television with black bars on the top and bottom. The johnny cash movie is one that comes to mind. Regular 16:9 widescreen films are 1.77:1 ratio's and will fill up the widescreen tv. Some tv's have an aspect button which allows the viewer to change the aspect. One of those settings is one which stretches only the corners and leaves the middle as it was originally. I don't know what shopnbc showed but if the aspect ratio on cars is greater than 1.77:1 (some movies round to 1.78:1) then it will appear on a widescreen television with black bars on the top and bottom when viewed in the original aspect ratio. I hope that answers your question.

 

[KE4EST]

to Satelliteguys hook'em!!!

 

[8bitbytes]

Nobody wants to see the bars, most people don't know why the bars exist. Most places that are selling widescreen tvs know this so they use the partial zoom/ stretch on displays to make sure nobody sees the bars.

I have seen people at a store pass up a tv just because they saw the bars and thought that there must be a problem with that brand of tv...

I'd bet you these same folks have a dvd collection at home of fullscreen dvds because "the picture is bigger than on those widescreen dvds".

LOL

 

[caam1]

Any movie that was shot in a 2.35:1 format will have black bars when shown on a 16x9 TV. On some TVs you can do a partial zoom to eliminate the bars, but then you cut off the sides of the picture. Some channels such as HBO show some 2.35:1 movies "zoomed in" so that the bars are eliminated. HD Net Movies always shows movies in their original aspect ratio so you will always have the bars on 2.35:1 films. I always prefer leaving the bars because I like seeing the whole picture that was shown in theaters without it being cropped.

 

[Kevinw]

Because the shopping channel is showing a version that is cropped slightly on the sides in order to not have black bars.