Stupid question re letterbox dvd format and widescreen monitors

[simplygreg]

Hi guys,

Okay so when I play a dvd in VLC, why do i have the top and bottom black bars running?
My monitor is an LG 226WTQ - 22" widescreen...

I thought the whole point of having a widescreen TV/monitor was so that you don't have to have the top and black bars running whilst watching a DVD

Am I missing something blatantly obvious? Do I need to fiddle with the viewing ratio or something?

Thanks guys

[handscombmp]

I think its that pc monitors as 16:10 whilst tv is 16:9 (most films are even wider) so what happens is you have black bars on the bottom and top where there is no picture.
To make sure that you have the least lines make sure the resolution is widescreen

[Flibster]

I think its that pc monitors as 16:10 whilst tv is 16:9 (most films are even wider) so what happens is you have black bars on the bottom and top where there is no picture.
To make sure that you have the least lines make sure the resolution is widescreen

Yup. 16:9 TV's are the best compromise between 4:3 and 2.39:1 Watching anything other than the exact ratio of your screen gives you either letterboxing *black bars at the top and bottom* or pillarboxing *black bars at the left and right*

Nothing you can do about it.

[RinSewand]

Some media players allow you to 'zoom' slightly, to get rid of the black bars. You miss off the very edges, but you don't miss much, might be worth a try if you dislike the bars that much.

RwD

[Funkstar]

Or you can stretch the picture out to 16:10. It isn't a huge difference so you probably won't notice that things aren't 100% correct, especially with films.

[simplygreg]

Thanks guys, shame about this really as whats the point in having a widescreen monitor combined with a widescreen dvd if you can't get all the benefits!!

Never mind though

[shaithis]

Or you can stretch the picture out to 16:10. It isn't a huge difference so you probably won't notice that things aren't 100% correct, especially with films.

Sacrilege! Burn him at the stake! Heathen!

Try your hardest not to stretch the image, I find it totally ruins films for me when the aspect ratio isn't correct....things always look a little odd.

I personally don't like zooming either, I'd rather see all the picture that the director intended me to see.

Look at the black bars as "potential space for a larger image", instead of lost space

Thanks guys, shame about this really as whats the point in having a widescreen monitor combined with a widescreen dvd if you can't get all the benefits!!

You are getting the benefits.....you have to stop and think for a moment about all the different aspect ratios that have been used on all the films and tv programs out there today.....so, unless you have a tv that can morph it's shape, you have to have bars in some programming......and widescreen is a generic term which covers a lot of aspect ratios....

[Funkstar]

Sacrilege! Burn him at the stake! Heathen!

Try your hardest not to stretch the image, I find it totally ruins films for me when the aspect ratio isn't correct....things always look a little odd.

I normally wouldn't, but to be honest I'm so used to normal Freeview and sky feeds being stretched to fir widescreen TV's that I really don't notice or mind these days.

What does bother me is TVs that have "smart" stretching techniques, where they stretch the edges of the frame more than the middle, so you get a weird almost fish eye effect at the edge of the screen. This is especially easy to spot on 24h news stations with their scrolling tickers. I don't like it.