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Wrong Framing on TV....No Matter What I Do!

posted 14 years ago by Mark_Graisons_Moustache
3 replies | jump to latest

I just bought a new BluRay player and hooked it up to my 2 year old TV. My TV has never been able to properly format films, so even though it's a widescreen, I've always got black bars on the side. Thusly, if I watch a widescreen film, I have bars on the sides and top. I got used to this and just started using the "zoom" feature. I have studied this and deducted that it loses no information on the sides, but I do tend to wonder whether this has an adverse effect on the picture quality.

For some reason, as I bought my new BluRay player, I assumed the TV would just know and things would fit properly. Nope. No matter what format I program the DVD to, I have black bars on the side. It just sucks that I have this wonderful new technology and if I watch a widescreen movie, I have to use the "zoom" button on my remote. I called the Samsung people and they couldn't help me, so now I'm at a loss.

Can anyone help me so I can watch anamorphically enhanced DVDs and BluRays the way they are intended to be watched?

"I've flown this route before."
"When was that?"
"IT WAS ON THE WINGS OF A DEMON!"

[–] mikejonas 14 years ago

Many movies are in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and would normally have "black bars" above and below on a widescreen (16:9) TV.

Anyway, somewhere on your player there's a setting that tells it what type of TV it's outputting to. There are usually three choices:
- 16:9
- 4:3 pan and scan
- 4:3 letterbox

You'll want to choose the 16:9 setting.

One more question that may sound stupid but I have to ask: You *are* connecting your Blu-ray player to your TV via HDMI, right? Not (heaven forbid) ye olde yellow-white-red RCA composite video, right?

[–] critic-2 14 years ago

I don't have a Blu-ray player, but I believe the aspect ratio on a DVD player works independently of the one on your TV. It doesn't matter if you already have your TV controls set to 16:9. You also have to do the same to your DVD player (at least I did).

[–] Mark_Graisons_Moustache 14 years ago

I think the only solution is to burn the piece of crap TV. I just spent an hour fiddling with stuff trying to get the aspect ratio to work, and it's futile. It's not the BluRay player's fault since I called their help line and they told me the problem must lie in the television itself and I have no idea what kind of number to call to get help from them. I guess I'll just deal with using the "zoom" button when watching widescreen and the probably impaired picture quality of doing that.

By the way, my TV is AOC and the player is Samsung.

"I've flown this route before."
"When was that?"
"IT WAS ON THE WINGS OF A DEMON!"