I now know how to watch HD movies in full 16:9 (no black bars)

Does this not result in everything being too tall?

I can't stand the distortion of this "fit to the screen" kind presentation, that either makes things too narrow, or normal people look like weigh lifters depending on the relative original ratio and the screen ration being accommodated. I would take the black margins any time over distortion ...

Each to his own though ...

ATB from George

Actually, George, it is not!!

It looks exactly as your 16:9 TV looks when watching e.g. the BBC news. So there is no distortion to the image.

Regards,

Jon

So the ends are cut off?

Conciousmess,

Assuming your TV is 16:9, then that is the only aspect ratio picture that will fill the screen. The other common aspect ratios for DVD's/films are of course 4:3, 1.66:1, and 2.35:1 (leaving out 1.85:1, which although slightly wider, is to all intents and purposes the same as 16:9 unless you are using a projector). These aspect ratios will inevitably result in black bars at the sides or top and bottom of the picture. It cannot be any other way - the image is a different shape to your screen! Of course it is possible to manipulate settings in the player or TV menu in order to artificially make the picture fill the screen. BUT, this will result in either some of the image being lost or distortion of the image, making it look stretched either horizontally or vetically. I would far rather have black bars than a distorted or partially lost image - on a large screen at least, thay cause no problems at all.

Peter

And the worst of all is 'Smart Stretch' found in WinDvd, it's like hallucinating or a bad trip to the opticians.

I always seek the original aspect ratio, can't stand it being mucked around with.

regards,
mat

Consciousmess, I'm not sure I fully understand you haro against non-16:9 aspect ratios, but I'm pretty sure you'll like this:



See more here if you haven't already.

quote:

Originally posted by Consciousmess:
I own an Xbox360 and can download movies in high definition. It is only 720 lines not the full 1080, but all the movies I have downloaded are played back in the full 16:9 screen of my TV.

Kind of puts my Blu-Ray out of use!

Never mind the quality, feel the width! (or height in this case)

This is pretty much the same as someone finding a 'solution' to perceived lack of bass on their Naim system in using a nice Yamaha mini-hifi with a really great bass boost setting.

The films you're watching are either:

• 16:9 to begin with
  
• being cropped
  
• being stretched

and all at a lower resolution on an) inferior player.
I'd prefer almost any other solution so much it makes my head hurt just thinking about it, but I'm glad you're happy.

My conclusion, David Scott? (interesting name!!), is that they are being cropped as there is no stretching.

I am watching these in 720 high definition, and so far I have watched:

The Firm
Carlito's Way
Scar Face
Some George Clooney film with a famous female where the guy breaks out of prison...
Oceans Eleven

These have all beein in 16:9 and in high res (well 720).

Regards,

Jon

Jon,

I don't have a question mark in real life and given the choice I wouldn't have one here. It's a dull story.

Carlito's Way's a good film.

David

Not to worry, David - it would be a great name to use in court though wouldn't it??!!

Carlito's way is a great film, and I need to add on to this list of 16:9 films as I just saw:

Get Smart (Steve Carell and that huge New Zealand rugby player whose name I forget)

Fully in 16:9. They must crop the picture somewhere, but as I know no different, the picture looks perfectly fine in high resolution.

Regards,

Jon

Jon,
They haven't necessarily been cropped. At least a couple in your list were filmed in 1.85:1 which is approximately 16:9.

Tom.

Do you have a feel for how compressed the downloads are? A lot of broadcast HDTV is pretty nastily compressed when compared to Blu-ray. There must be the temptation to compress the hell out of downloads to save server space and bandwidth, as well as to reduce load times. I've never seen anything off the net that really comes close to Blu-ray in terms of overall quality. Its time will come - but it is not quite here yet IMO.

If you are watching a downloaded movie effectively "zoomed in" to remove the top and bottom black bars and it is only in 720P anyway (and compressed), wouldn't you just be better off just watching the 1080p Blu-ray version with the black bars? Full width, less compression, a better player, you get to turn off the jet-engine that is the Xbox 360's fan, extra features etc, etc. Just sit a bit closer, man.

That is a good point, Winky!!

As it happens, I'm watching Heat tonight (Val Kilmer, Al Pacino, Robert DeNero) on Blu Ray in 1080p

I suspect there will be black bars -it does kind of make me wish my 50" was 100"...

Regards,

Jon

Great movie. That's really what counts.

I just zoom if I want it bigger and in scale though usually not my preference. Lose some info on the edges. I suppose they're all a bit different but my zoom is perfect for this.