General question about blu ray files and HD

[True Colors]

I have a new 42" plasma TV 1080p. I have time warner cable. When I watch HD channels like sports or TV shows it gives me a beautiful image and the entire screen is full. It looks amazing.

However, when I play HD videos...... such as blu ray disks...... the images are all widescreen and they have huge black bars at the top and bottom. I am sure that these are 2.39 to 1 ratio files.

Obviously I could use my TV to artificially stretch the image and make it fill up more of the screen. However, that might degrade the way that the image is supposed to look.

So....... are there 1080 high def movies available which will fill up the whole screen without stretching them? How do I find these?

Thanks,

TC

[bmwracer]

I think most (all?) movies indicate in their case descriptions what their aspect ratio is: 4x3/1.33:1, 16x9/1.78:1, 2.35:1, etc...

[HARRYSPADGE]

You are supposed to see those black bars with that screen ratio.
You will get a full screen image with movies having a ratio of 1.78:1 or 1.85:1.
Don't bother trying to zoom or stretch the image as that is not how it is intended to look, just accept the black bar's and enjoy the movie.
You will get used to it

[True Colors]

I love the image quality but I absolutely hate the huge black bars.

Are there 1080 movies out there in 1.78:1 or 1.85:1 ratio?

Thanks,

TC

[HARRYSPADGE]

I love the image quality but I absolutely hate the huge black bars.

Are there 1080 movies out there in 1.78:1 or 1.85:1 ratio?

Thanks,

TC

The majority of movies these day's have the black bars, but there are a few of them which don't.
The most recent Bluray movie I have seen without the bars is 'The Orphan' which was full screen.
I have seen a couple of other's but can't for the life of me remember what they were
I'm sure if you did a google search of 'Bluray 1.78:1 1.85:1' you would get a few hit's.

[edDV]

The only titles shooting 16x9 are TV series. If you want current movies you will have wide aspect ratios.

I think you should consider returing that TV for a larger model. You don't like the "bars" because your screen is too small.

When you consider pillarbox 4x3 and letterbox movies, a 42" screen is not much larger than a classic 27" TV.

[Jim44]

I love the image quality but I absolutely hate the huge black bars.

You only hate them because you can see them. Might I offer a suggestion - dim the lights in your viewing room so that you can no longer distinguish the edge of the TV. If you can't tell were the TV ends and the rest of the room begins, it's all black, with only the frame of the movie being noticeable and hence no "bars".

(Obviously, this is best achieved in the evening, but can be do-able to some extent during the day.)

My 2 cents.

[Colindale]

I love the image quality but I absolutely hate the huge black bars.

Are there 1080 movies out there in 1.78:1 or 1.85:1 ratio?

Thanks,

TC

The majority of movies these day's have the black bars, but there are a few of them which don't.
The most recent Bluray movie I have seen without the bars is 'The Orphan' which was full screen.
I have seen a couple of other's but can't for the life of me remember what they were
I'm sure if you did a google search of 'Bluray 1.78:1 1.85:1' you would get a few hit's.

I'm the same as you, hate bars top and bottom, I notice that movies broadcast here in Australia are shown without bars.
Do as I did get a Blu-Ray player like an LG 300 or 307, allows you to reduce the bars in stages, works for me.

[edDV]

The broadcast movies simply chop off the sides or may pan/scan. Either way you are missing a good part of the movie since they were framed for wide format.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_and_scan