Widescreen DVDs on a Widescreen

dogcow

I have 17inch imac and I tried playing a DVD on it and was disappointed to see that my Widescreen Edition DVD doesn't play widescreen on the screen. Or rather what it does do is just create a box to play the movie in. Soo.. now i have black bars on the top/bottom AND left/right. I would think that because the screen is wide and the movie is wide it would play using the whole screen and have few, if any black space... am i missing something?

brussell

It depends on the DVD. If it's anamorphic (they usually say if they are), it'll go to the full size of your screen. If it's just a regular widescreen, it's just stuck into the same size as a regular TV, but with the black bars at top and bottom.



I think most recent DVDs are anamorphic, because more people are getting widescreen TVs. But many are still just the "fit it into the same size as the TV with the black bars" type.

giant

you probably are. it should go all the way to the left and right. But as for top and bottom, there will be black bars. Not all widescreens are the same, and the imac is not 16:9 as is the dvd. In other words, the bars on top and bottom will not be as big as on a normal monitor or tv, but they still will be there. But I don't know why you have black bars on the side. you shouldn't sorry...

dogcow

Must just be this DVD then. I will try a few others later and see if the same thing happens. Its still rather annoying.

eman

If Widescreen DVDs don't play on the whole screen on a widescreen display then what's the point of having widescreen?

stroszek

[quote]Originally posted by EmAn:

<strong>If Widescreen DVDs don't play on the whole screen on a widescreen display then what's the point of having widescreen?</strong><hr></blockquote>



[quote]Originally posted by BRussell:

<strong>I think most recent DVDs are anamorphic, because more people are getting widescreen TVs. But many are still just the "fit it into the same size as the TV with the black bars" type.</strong><hr></blockquote>

murbot

Hey Zoolander, how did you get EmAn's password?

ghost_user_name

[quote]Originally posted by EmAn:

<strong>If Widescreen DVDs don't play on the whole screen on a widescreen display then what's the point of having widescreen?</strong><hr></blockquote>



Most "widescreen" computer displays operate at an aspect ratio of 16:10, giving that extra vertical space for computing applications. Most computer users, I would hope, didn't get a widescreen display just for watching DVDs



Since film is at a 16:9 aspect ratio, when you drop it to DVD and play it on a 16:10 screen, you still get letterboxing. The point of having a widescreen display allows you to gain that extra horizontal space, without getting the extra vertical space.



Why would you want this?



Turn away from the computer, go look out a window. Think about everything you can see while looking straight ahead. We naturally view the world as a panorama, and this is why most film has a 16:9 aspect ratio (Super 8, Super 16, 35mm, 70mm are "wide" films). Having a computer display be wide "fills" your natural eyesight better.



&lt;/tangent&gt;

giant

[quote]Originally posted by EmAn:

<strong>If Widescreen DVDs don't play on the whole screen on a widescreen display then what's the point of having widescreen?</strong><hr></blockquote>



computing. timeline based apps, such as audio and video, can really use the horizontal width. With design app, like photoshop and illustrator, you have extra room on the sides for you tools, palettes and such.

eman

Thanks guys. I never really new the reasoning behind why widescreens were becoming so popular.