I recently purchased a 61" Sammy DLP (HLT-6187s) to replace my old Sony 53" full screen.

Because I had a full screen all my HD content (HD channels, XBOX 360) would come in with black bars at the top and bottom as well as my widescreen DVD's. I got used to it after a while and it really didn't bother me much.

With the new TV, all my HD content now comes in full screen. However my widescreen format DVD's still have black bars at the top and bottom even though I changed the TV type on my DVD player from 4:3 to 16:9.

The black bars are not nearly as big as they were on my old TV and it doesn't really bother me that much. I am just wondering if this is normal; and if not, is there is a way to get it full screen like my HD Channel and XBOX 360 games are now short of using the "Zoom" feature or buying a new DVD player?

 

It's normal. A full widescreen movie has a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, where as 16:9 works out to 1.78:1.

So to get the full movie picture on an HD set it still needs to be letterboxed, only with thinner black bars as you've noticed.

 

Yeah it sucks IMHO. Your paying for this huge $ TV that was supposed to be wide screen yet DVD's in wide screen almost never fill up the entire TV. Some DVD's have more extream ratios & have HUGE top & bottom bars.

That pissed me off big time & is why I will not go HD or buy a new TV until I absolutely have to

 

Thats because you, like many people, have no concept of aspect ratios.

 

Black bars on 16:9 big screen > black bars on 4:3 small screen.

BTW my TV has a 2.35:1 stretch mode to fill the screen but it cuts off some of the left and right sides to do it.

 

 

If you're waiting for a display to solve your "problem," you're going to be waiting a long, long time.

 

No I understand them. I also understand the world could have made changes long ago to the specs before they settled. Greed won.

 

Huh? What do you mean by "specs before they settled?"

 

The HDTV standard that was settled on.

 

Are you talking about the aspect ratio? If so, there's no way to avoid the varying ratios. Filmmakers decide whether they want 1.78:1, 1.85:1, 2.35:1, 2:40:1, or any other of a number of different ratios. There's no way to avoid it.

 

http://www.widescreen.org/widescreen.shtml

That site should be required reading by anyone buying a dvd/tv.