Hey, I just got a Portable DVD Player (a PDV-LC10 to be exact) in the mail, and am having trouble. You see, I've tested several movies. First, was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It had small bars at the top and bottom.
I then tried out Princess Mononoke, which had no bars and all, fitting the screen perfectly.
Then, I tried Perfect Blue. The movie is widescreen, but when played, has bars on the left and right as well, as would any DVD made to fit a television screen.
My question is this: is there a way to get rid of the bars on the sides so it fits the screen better? Is so, what settings should it be on? Thanks.

It has to do with the titles aspect ratio.

I'm not an expert on this but my experience with my LV-50 portable is that 2.35:1 titles will appear with black bars all around. You can use the "full" mode to make a little bigger and eliminate the black bars on the side.

Titles that are 1.85:1 (like the Emperor's New Groove) fill the entire screen.

Other aspect ratios will appear with top and bottom black bars.

There should also be a "zoom" mode on the Panasonics, but that really make the picture resolution look terrible.

Correct me everyone, if I'm wrong.

I looked through the manual, but could find much of anything about a "full" option.

The movie I'm trying has a 1:85:1 aspect ratio, just like Princess Mononoke... But it's not working like Mononoke...

Anyone have any experiances with the PDV-LC10?

Well, I figured out how to stretch the screen, not that it matters. It looks terrible that way. I guess if there's no way for the movies to play without the sidebars, I can live with it.

This is just with anime movies, right? Most "normal" movies will play without that, right? The only "normal" movie I own is CT,HD, out of the 100 DVDs... :P

Li,
Congrats on your purchase! The difference your talking about is Anamorphic vs Non-anamorphic. Your portable has a 16x9 viewing area like a widescreen TV.
When viewing a DVD that is non-anamorphic, you will have bars down the left & ride side as well as top & bottom. On your screen it's hard to tell because all of the bars are black & your left with a tiny picture within your viewing area.
All 1.85:1 Anamorphic DVD's will fill your screen.
When I purchased my portable that's when I started understanding what all this Anamorphic stuff was about. Now I also have a 16x9 HDTV so I'm an Anamorphic freak at this point!

Hey, Low RG, thanks. But shouldn't these movies be anamorphic, or were they made to be non-anamorphic and just fit a television screen? They're 1:85:1, but since they're not filling in the screen, I'd guess that they're non-anamorphic. I suppose that all makes sense.

Are all (or most) hollywood movies anamorphic 1:85:1?

That's correct. I'm not sure when they starting making Anamorphic widescreen? Almost all current releases contain Anamorphic transfers (enhanced for Widescreen TV's). A lot of older titles are non-anamorphic (i.e. Top Gun, 48 HRS, Air Force One, Crimson Tide, Etc..). I always hope for Special Editions of these titles that contain Anamorphic transfers and 5.1 (DTS) soundtracks.
Hope this helps? Other forum members can explain the difference's better than I can (I'm still a widescreen newbie myself )

I've had the panasonic L10 for about 3 years now. You need to check the setting for the aspect ratio in your menu - you can adjust it. I have no problems watching widescreen without bars on the sides. Depending on how wide the ratio of the movie is,you will have bars on the bottom and top (just as you will on a widescreen tv).

n/m