movie with widescreen can it be edited to full screen?

[budz]

Not sure if this belongs in the right forum. Is it possible to go from widescreen to full screen? Below is a example of what I mean. The picture below is in widescreen. Basically can I edit in some way to make it full screen. I want to know if that is possible to remove the black on the top and bottom essentially meaning it would become a full screen movie. If it can be done will it hurt the quality of the video in any way? I would appreciate any comments or help. Thanks in advance.

[gitreel]

what are you playing it with?

[budz]

I backed it up DVD SHRINK then burned with Nero. Do I use tmpge to convert to fullscreen?

[gitreel]

you could but you would lose part of the movie.

[ZippyP.]

You could stretch it to fit but that will distort the picture. Alternatively, you can change it to full screen and loose about 1/3 of the picture. You can also use the zoom feature on your DVD player to simulate a similar effect. Just leave it as it was meant to be seen.

[budz]

Thanks Zippy and gitreel for responding. So there is no way to get rid of that black border on the top and bottom. I thought I read somewhere in this forum there was a way to get rid of it. If the picture quality is lost then I'll leave it as is.

[guns1inger]

You cant just throw them away. If you want a 4:3 version, you either have to fill them with the original frame by stretching and making everything taller (like watching an anamorphic print on a 4:3 with letterboxing turned off), or zoom in and cut the edges off, like the old (still used - bastards) pan and scan technique. Either way, you will lose quality. One will distort the image (stretch), the other will blur it (zoom)

Disclaimer : I am a firm believer in the widescreen format if that is how the film was originally made. The director and/or DOP made a decision that this is the best way to present their artistic vision, and it is disrepectful to them to present the film in any other way. This is especially true if it is being done in the mistaken belief that the black bars mean you are not seeing the whole picture. Chopping off up to 50% from the ends means you are not seeing the whole picture.

End soap box rant.