Menus - 16:9 or 4:3

[wulf109]

The menu on retail DVD's shows as 16:9 if you look at the ifo file and plays 16:9 in PowerDVD on my computer. But they always seem to play as 4:3 on my standalone DVD players. Why??

[lumis]

pan & scan

[guns1inger]

Do you have a 16:9 TV (either true 16:9 or 16:9 switchable) ?
Is your DVD player set up to output 16:9 or letterbox for 16:9 material ?

[BSpielbauer]

The menu on retail DVD's shows as 16:9 if you look at the ifo file and plays 16:9 in PowerDVD on my computer. But they always seem to play as 4:3 on my standalone DVD players. Why??

I agree wih the second reply above, based on the little info we have here... I wonder if your DVD player is set correctly for the type of display you have it hooked up to. Almost all DVD players have an option in the setup menu that you must visit, and tell the player whether your TV is a 4 X 3 set, or a 16 X 9 widescreen set. If this is wrong, you can expect bizarre results.

Of course, many DVD players also have various options for zooming and cropping and altering the aspect ratio, and this should be checked and double-checked, to make sure it was not the cause of this problem. Similary, many TVs also have some options for zooming and cropping and altering the aspect ratio, which could cause you to see some bizarre-looking results, which are not reflective of what is actually on that disc.

-Bruce