Some DVD's stretch properly to full screen and some don't. But why? (PDVD6)

[uart]

Hi, I'm using PowerDVD 6 and am having a slight problem playing back some DVD's at full screen (on a widescreen monitor).

Basically the problem is that widescreen aspect ratio movies don't want to use all of the screen area, they generally want to leave some blank (black) space at the top and bottom of the screen. I understand that this is a just an aspect ratio thing, the software thinks it's doing me a favour in keeping correct aspect ratio. It isn't really doing me a favour however because it looks a little squashed (vertically) and I actaully think it looks better when stretched to full height.

Anyway whether it's better or not is not the point. I'm just trying to understand why some DVD's do correctly stretch (vertically) to full screen when I untick "keep aspect ratio" whereas other DVD's refuse to do so.

Any ideas much appreciated.

[Baldrick]

Many movies should have black space on widescreen monitors also, all 2.35:1 movies for example...but maybe you want fullscreen anyway.

Can't you use any zoom in powerdvd 6? It was a long time ago I used it...
Or try Zoom Player or Media Player Classic, they have better zoom functions or custom aspect ratio settings.

[uart]

Many movies should have black space on widescreen monitors also, all 2.35:1 movies for example...but maybe you want fullscreen anyway.

Yep that was the point I wanted to make. I know that they "should" have the black space but I want to stretch them to fullscreen anyway. And it's not just a case of "use all the screen for the sake of using all the screen", I really find that many of these movies look better to me when slightly vertically stretched like this.

Can't you use any zoom in powerdvd 6? It was a long time ago I used it...

Yes there are two "zoom" levels available, they both work and they both remove the black spaces, but zoom is not what I'm after, I'm truly after stretch.

Note that "zoom" removes some of the picture on the edges (left and right) to get more vertical height without changing aspect ratio whereas "stretch" should use the full screen at the expense of perhaps having the aspect ratio off. I'm not interested in zoom at the moment.

Or try Zoom Player or Media Player Classic, they have better zoom functions or custom aspect ratio settings.

Ok, thanks for the links I'll take a look. Note however that Power DVD6 came with my digital TV card and works "as is" with the remote control, so I've got some incentive in continuing with it if possible.

Also the thing that's still really got me stumped is why it is only some DVD's that refuse to stretch once I untick "keep aspect ratio". What is it about these DVD's that makes them different?

[uart]

Oh yeah, one other thing I was thinking that may be related. In the past I've often used tools like DVDx to make VCD's, SVCD's and divx/xvid movies from my DVD's. Now this software has various zoom options, like "full screen", "letter box" "custom" and various pre-defined zoom levels.

I've also noticed in this software that some DVD's respond as expected, they will stretch to full screen if you select "fullscreen" whereas they'll keep the black space top and bottom if you select "letterbox". Other DVD's however just refuse to respond to the "fullscreen" option and always come out just as if I'd selected "leterbox" no matter what.

I don't know for certain but I strongly suspect that this is a result of the same underlying issue (whatever that may be) with Power DVD. Is there something to do with how the DVD is authored that "prevents it from" or "allows it to" stretch ?

[Krispy Kritter]

Some movies are matted, meaning the black bars are actually part of the video image. In other words, you have a widescreen presentation recorded in a 4:3 format. The movies that "stretch properly", do not have the black bars as part of the picture, they are added by the player.