Widescreen dvds? why are all dvds in widescreen?

Question

hello

I have a old 54cm tv, and have a dvd player connected via composite, and all dvds are in widescreen; even if i change the aspect ratio, it still has the black bars!

it gets annoying, i dont like widescreen, how can i change to full screen?

HELP-thanks

Answer 1

DVD's are not all in widescreen you can get fullscreen if you look around the widescreen is designed to give you more of a theater look vs chopping off the edges to make it fit to full screen.  The widescreen is suppose to give you the look the director intended.

Answer 2

Here's a link explaining (mostly with pictures) why we're forced to "suffer" through movies with those "annoying" black bars pasted at the top and bottom of our old "square" (non-widescreen) televisions:  http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/a...

Answer 3

That's because movies since about the 1950's are shot in the widescreen aspect ratio.

If you prefer not to watch your DVDs in widescreen there are a couple of things you can do.

Some DVDs are have two aspect ratios for watching movies,

widescreen and full sceen, you prefer the full screen, just select this in the main menu of your DVD, or flip it over, some DVDs have widescreen on one side and full screen on the other.

When purchasing a DVD make sure it has full screen aspect ratio  on it, it will say on the outside of the DVD box.

Answer 4

You may have options to force the movie into full frame via the DVD player if your TV doesn't have that.  My DVD player has it (it never gets used - you see more of the movie in widescreen).  There may even be a zoom or picture size setting that you can adjust.  This may alter the picture depending on how it works.  My TV just zooms a widescreen movie so it is looking at a full frame section, while my DVD player will stretch/shrink the movie to fit.  

The other option is to make sure that you are purchasing the full frame versions of movies.  Most movies come in both formats, either separately or on the same disc.

Answer 5

Is it happening with movies that are labbeld full screen. Or are they just the wide screen format movies.  That will make a difference if it is cause there is no way to change it.  But if not i dont know what the problem is.

Answer 6

Widescreen is the way movies are shown in the theatres....it is the way the makers of the film (ie the producers and directors) intend the movie to be seen. The movie is shot to fill a rectangular shaped screen....like the one you see in a movie theater....the black bars are just empty space not used.

Full screen movies are altered from their original version....they cut off the left and right sides and stretch the remaining image so it will fit those old square shaped tv's. So you're saying you prefer half of the picture stretched out to fill your tv rather than the full picture with black bars representing the empty space?

You can always go back to VHS....although you won't be seeing any new releases....or get a widescreen display.

Answer 7

Not all DVD are widescreen. You need to find "full screen" movies. These movies have been reformatted to fit your 4:3 full screen TV. SOme movies have both formats. Many times it will be full screen on one side and widescreen on the other side. read the back of the disk case if it does not say widescreen or full screen on the front packaging.

It is usually listed in a grid like box on the back cover which details the sound and video formatting of the disk. Although this is not always true. If you are unsure just read the whole back cover.

Answer 8

There is no way to take the bars off even if you change it to full screen in your player or tv the bars will be on the side of the tv or on top and bottom that is how all movies are shop on camera today this is been going on in the 1990's with laserdiscs as well before dvd's

Answer 9

The widescreen format is exactly how you see the movie in the theaters. Its made this way because the human range of vision extend futher horizontally than vertically , making it fit better. Just focus on the movie and ignore the bars, you will get used to it the more you do so.

Answer 10

you can see more