Why black bars on a widescreen?

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Hi, I'm just watching a DVD (The bourne Identity) which is 2.35:1 ratio on a sharp LC-26GA4E. There are black bars top and bottom of what look like a similar size to what I would get on a 4:3 panel. Should it be like this or do I have to change some settings on my DVD player?

Thanks.
 
Widescreen TVs are a compromise inbetween "traditional" 4:3 (or 1.33:1) and "cinemascope" 2.35:1 - so for most modern movies there will be black bars top and bottom. Some movies are made in 1.85:1 which almost exactly fits a widescreen TV screen leaving no bars - or extremely narrow bars (Spider-man 1 was made like this in 1.85:1, but Spider-man 2 was made 2.35:1). All new TV programmes are made to exactly match widescreen TVs i.e. 16:9 (which is 1.77:1).
 
Lol, the tv was setup as 16:9 but the DVD was 4:3 letterbox, I've changed that now and the black bars are much smaller. One other thing, in the denon 1910 display setup menu there is video out with the option on scart, component interlace and component progressive. Which one should I have selected if I'm connected via DVI?
 
Nick25 said:
Lol, the tv was setup as 16:9 but the DVD was 4:3 letterbox, I've changed that now and the black bars are much smaller. One other thing, in the denon 1910 display setup menu there is video out with the option on scart, component interlace and component progressive. Which one should I have selected if I'm connected via DVI?
Firstly, I'm a little concerned that you haven't got this aspect ratio thing just right yet. With a 2.35:1 DVD you should have black bands top and bottom that measure approx 43mm each on a 32". (Your 26" should have 35mm bands). On 1.85:1 DVD's there should be virtually nothing. Don't try and change these to get rid of the black bars as you'll seriously distort the picture...

AlanD, I think, is your man to get the setup sorted on the Denon 1910. Certainly your DVI output probably isn't even under the Video section at all...the list of options you've given sound like analogue options to me...

Jimmy
 
I have a Denon 2910 using the DVI output to a dvi LCD, I take it that I should also have bars at the top and bottom? (which I have)
 
The TV should tell you what it is recieving. Press the i+ button...If it says 720p for instance, it should use 720 of the 768 vertical pixels. There'll be 48 unused ones - ie 24 lines at the top and 24 at the bottom if you have the screen centred.

This adds up to approx. 8 - 10mm top and bottom. Probably similar at the sides.

Jimmy
 
Hi Nick25, "component interlace and component progressive" settings only relate to the component outputs and have no effect on the DVI output. So, if you are just using DVI and Scart, leave the setting on Scart.
Incidentally with the Denon 1910, when cycling through the DVI modes with the button on the front OFF>480p/576p>720p>1080 - note that RGB is disabled on the Scart output (and it becomes composite) except when DVI is OFF (and the little orange LCD on the front of the player goes off). So if watching through Scart make sure DVI is off (you will probably watch most DVD movies via the DVI output, but may prefer some DVDs - those shot on video perhaps - through Scart).
 
Jimsan,
That maybe the way the Phillips operates, the Sharp is different. Do not use HD on mine so cannot really comment further.
 
Yeah, sorry, I was referring to the Philips 9986 that Diving Bear has.

Jimmy
 
Jimmy- i dont see an i+ button on the 9986 remote or are you talking about i+ on dvd?
 
It's there Hunter. Bottom left of the numeric keypad.

Jimmy
 
info button on the philips 9986 only tells me the channel and time plus auto format doesnt tell me the dpi is something wrong
 
mine doesnt either! maybe because i only have a tosh 220e and cant use the fancy 720 and 1080
 
Alan D said:
Hi Nick25, "component interlace and component progressive" settings only relate to the component outputs and have no effect on the DVI output. So, if you are just using DVI and Scart, leave the setting on Scart.
Incidentally with the Denon 1910, when cycling through the DVI modes with the button on the front OFF>480p/576p>720p>1080 - note that RGB is disabled on the Scart output (and it becomes composite) except when DVI is OFF (and the little orange LCD on the front of the player goes off). So if watching through Scart make sure DVI is off (you will probably watch most DVD movies via the DVI output, but may prefer some DVDs - those shot on video perhaps - through Scart).

Thanks for that Alan, when watching through DVI does it automatically go on progressive scan? and if not how do you make it? Sorry I'm a complete novice to all this..
 
The various screen displays are shown in this weblink (just quick digital photos I did).
The top two are when watching DVD (using my Denon 1910) through Scart (RGB and composite).
The others are when watching via DVI - in it's various modes.
Occasionally I also get "1080i/1250" coming up which I'm not sure how to interpret!
http://www.adfx.demon.co.uk/phil1.htm
 
Nick, 720p - the p is for progressive scan. 1080i - the i is for interlaced. It will automatically cope with these changes.

Jimmy
 
It selects progressive scan for 576p[rogressive] and 720p[rogressive] and interlace for 1080i[nterlace].
576 is the "native resolution" of the PAL DVD. 576p is output by the DVD player as an "unscaled" progressive picture. The TV then "upscales" this to fill the 768 vertical pixels of it's screen.
To get 720p and 1080i, the Denon "upscales" the picture using its Faroudja chip.
Then the TV shows the picture - without any further scaling at 720p - so you get a 1280x720 pixel picture - hence a border around it, as the screen is 1366x768.
(Some other makes of LCD TV allow further scaling of the 720pixel picture to fill the 768pixel screen)
For 1080i the "upscaled" picture from the DVD player is further scaled to fit the 768pixel screen.
So all these numbers (apart from giving some people a headache) lead to 2 questions -Which gives the best picture? Do you let the TV or the DVD player do the scaling? Or both?
"Whatever your eyes tell you" is the answer. Personally I have been avoiding 720p because, even though it gives a stunning pixel-matched picture - there is this black border around the WHOLE picture, which I just find bugs me.
1080i and 576p both give great pictures and I find I use both - although for older 4:3 material (eg Star Trek Original Series - which I am working my was through) I use 576p because you can't select 4:3 aspect ratio in 1080i or 720p mode.
Phew! Rather long-winded, but hopefully some useful info...
 

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