Widescreen movie on Widescreen TV with blacks bars???

[overloaded_ide]

Widescreen movie on Widescreen TV with blacks bars???
WHY?
How many widescreen ratio's are there out there and which one is the most used for DVD and Blueray, DVD being my only interest right now .

I have gone to stores and looked at widescreen TV's, some have a picture on the entire screen, others have the black bars at top and bottom just like the normal old TV's just the bars are not as large. All the TV's were playing the same movie and all were called widescreen.
For the fun of it knowing they would not have an answer I asked the sale person at the store why there was black bars on the widescreen I was looking at. I was told they are supposed to be there cause it was a widescreen movie, DUH!
I nicely told them NO they are not supposed to be there, the only purpose for me to buy a widescreen is to get rid of the black bars and use the entire screen when watching a widescreen movie, else I could just use my square TV I already have if I wanted black bars at top and bottom!

So would the store just not have the TV's set up correct? Is there 2 different ratio's for the widescreen TV's being produced? Are some movies in 1 ratio and others in a different ratio, so you need 2 widescreen TV's one for each ratio if you don't want black bars on any of your movies?

The TV I looked at filled the screen side to side with the movie and the video looked correct, not squished or anything but had those bars top and bottom. Other TV's looked like about the same picture without the bars. They were all playing the same video feed.

Also I noticed some TV's had different colors though playing the same thing. I mean really different, like leaves on ground were yellow on one TV and red on another, the vehicle on one was green I think and on the other red.
Would they have had the settings that messed up in the store on the TV's or is there really that much error between TVs? Both pictures looked good, but of course only one could be correct but which one?
Makes it hard to decide what to buy when they all play the same movie and none look the same!

[dvd3500]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_%28image%29

[manono]

For the fun of it knowing they would not have an answer I asked the sale person at the store why there was black bars on the widescreen I was looking at. I was told they are supposed to be there cause it was a widescreen movie, DUH!
I nicely told them NO they are not supposed to be there, the only purpose for me to buy a widescreen is to get rid of the black bars and use the entire screen when watching a widescreen movie, else I could just use my square TV I already have if I wanted black bars at top and bottom!

Sounds to me like you're as ignorant as was the salesperson (and that's if you're even quoting him properly). If the movie is wider than 16:9 (1.78:1), you get black bars. They are supposed to be there.

Also I noticed some TV's had different colors though playing the same thing. I mean really different, like leaves on ground were yellow on one TV and red on another, the vehicle on one was green I think and on the other red.

If you buy a new set, one of the first things you do is calibrate it. Most out-of-box settings really suck.

[samijubal]

Sounds like some of the TVs were in zoom mode and some weren't. That should have either made the picture look wrong or have a lot of cropping of the picture.

[jagabo]

There are many widescreen aspect ratios. And none of them was 16:9 (1.78:1) before that was set as the broadcast standard for USA HDTV. The closest match was 1.85:1. Many widescreen movies are ~2.35:1.

[filmboss80]

Yep, even though the TV set is widescreen, many Hollywood movies are even wider than that widescreen, so there still may be a little bit of letterboxing going on -- just not as drastic as it would look on an old 4:3 TV set.

As was mentioned -- store TVs can have their viewing modes set differently, while unevenly distributed signals are piped into them. If store personnel had such a high level of technical expertise, they probably wouldn't be working in a store.

[Sakuya]

Yep, even though the TV set is widescreen, many Hollywood movies are even wider than that widescreen, so there still may be a little bit of letterboxing going on -- just not as drastic as it would look on an old 4:3 TV set.

I just purchased a Samsung LN40B630 HDTV and installed it. I also noticed this issue and was going to create a thread but this thread is perfect!

When I pop in a DVD, it would show the black bars on top and bottom and the video would actually be squished vertically, everyone appears fat. If I switch to Zoom1 mode, it would be perfect. But then I'd have to change it back to 4:3 when viewing regular TV and back to 16:9 for HD channels. Does everyone keep changing it like this or is there a better solution that makes it detect automatically?

[manono]

Does everyone keep changing it like this or is there a better solution that makes it detect automatically?

It's different for different TVs. Mine detects the DAR automatically and I don't ever have to switch anything, but I've read some people have to switch back and forth between 4:3 and 16:9. Maybe someone that has your TV can help.

[netmask56]

Yep, even though the TV set is widescreen, many Hollywood movies are even wider than that widescreen, so there still may be a little bit of letterboxing going on -- just not as drastic as it would look on an old 4:3 TV set.

I just purchased a Samsung LN40B630 HDTV and installed it. I also noticed this issue and was going to create a thread but this thread is perfect!

When I pop in a DVD, it would show the black bars on top and bottom and the video would actually be squished vertically, everyone appears fat. If I switch to Zoom1 mode, it would be perfect. But then I'd have to change it back to 4:3 when viewing regular TV and back to 16:9 for HD channels. Does everyone keep changing it like this or is there a better solution that makes it detect automatically?

The DVD in question was probably not anamorphic but widescreen with a 4:3 frame or the DVD player setup needs adjusting. I've seen many DVD players set up for a 4:3 TV or monitor - change it to 16:9

And as other have said the movie industry never used 16:9 as a primary capture. If there is a standard it's 2.35:1 and in-fact Phillips have produced an HDTV LCD that is 2.35:1 This means of course all 16:9 HDTV transmissions will have black bars either side

[jagabo]

I agree with netmask56, your DVD player is set up wrong.

[Sakuya]

Thanks! Forgot DVD players have this setting. It's fixed now.

[overloaded_ide]

For the fun of it knowing they would not have an answer I asked the sale person at the store why there was black bars on the widescreen I was looking at. I was told they are supposed to be there cause it was a widescreen movie, DUH!
I nicely told them NO they are not supposed to be there, the only purpose for me to buy a widescreen is to get rid of the black bars and use the entire screen when watching a widescreen movie, else I could just use my square TV I already have if I wanted black bars at top and bottom!

Sounds to me like you're as ignorant as was the salesperson (and that's if you're even quoting him properly). If the movie is wider than 16:9 (1.78:1), you get black bars. They are supposed to be there.

Also I noticed some TV's had different colors though playing the same thing. I mean really different, like leaves on ground were yellow on one TV and red on another, the vehicle on one was green I think and on the other red.

If you buy a new set, one of the first things you do is calibrate it. Most out-of-box settings really suck.

Sorry, but NO, the black bars are not supposed to be there! 80% of the widescreen TV's did not have those black bars, only a couple I was looking at, and all of them were playing the same video feed. Either the ratio of the TV's were not the same or some TV's not set up correct or something.

That's why I ask about it here, I don't know much about the HD and widescreens but I do know if all the TV's are the same Ratio then they should all have black bars or none should, and the only real reason I want a widescreen is to get rid of black bars.

[jagabo]

the only real reason I want a widescreen is to get rid of black bars.

You will be sadly disappointed unless you only watch 16:9 TV shows.

[manono]

Sorry, but NO, the black bars are not supposed to be there! 80% of the widescreen TV's did not have those black bars, only a couple I was looking at, and all of them were playing the same video feed. Either the ratio of the TV's were not the same or some TV's not set up correct or something.

Yes, or something. I suspect samijubal already gave you the answer - that most of them had the picture zoomed in, so the black bars went away at the expense of picture lost from the sides.

[jagabo]

In my experience, big electronic stores only show 16:9 demo videos to avoid having black bars on any of the HDTVs.