then why does it looked slightly squashed from top to bottom and have the black bars...its not until I watch it in STRETCH mode that it looks normal like 1.85 is suppose to. There's also like 1-2 other movies like this....why does it do that? 1.85 movies always fill the whole screen on my widescreen rptv.

I've been to the sites explaining anamorphic and all that stuff, but that doesnt tell me anything.

Dumb question, but are you sure you're watching the anamorphic widescreen Predator and not the previous letterboxed, non-anamorphic release?

hhmmm...it was the one that came in the Schwarzenneger 4 pack.

so if its letterboxed AND non anamorphic...its gonna look squashed with bars? What purpose does that serve? I guess it looks squashed cuz my wide screen is stretching the image? So on a normal 4:3 tv it would look letterboxed but NOT squashed, correct? Ok, i think I get it now.

its confusing. Should just make every darn movie in 1.85

The anamorphic version of Predator has a silver banner across the top of the insert that reads 'Enhanced Widescreen' and 'DTS.'

The non-anamorphic version doesn't.

"Should just make every darn movie in 1.85" uggh...JSP? Back on topic, hopefully Fox will do the special edition of this now that Aliens vs. Predator is coming next year.

Yeah, but this is a whole new breed of J6P to contend with. J6P with a 16x9 HDTV. We all knew this day would come

A new animal discovered by scientists:

Joe16:9P.

And sadly, i don't blame them for being confused.

As for the disc, i think you may just have the old version since you got it from the Schwarzengger 4 pack, which has old versions of Total Recall as well.

The aspect ratio of 1.85:1 has nothing to do with it. The studios should have just released every DVD from day one in anamorphic or enhanced mode unless the OAR was less than 1.66:1. The 4:3 TV owners would then get a down converted image and the 16:9 owners would then get the hires version and nobody would need to worry about stretching this one but not that one.

To watch a non-anamorphic letterbox DVD, use the "ZOOM" mode on your HDTV.

For anamorphic, obviously use the "FULL" mode.

unless you've a proper 4:3 display which exhibits no overscan . . . only thing worse than anamorphic 1.66:1 is anamorphic 4:3.

I don't think there are any 4:3 TVs that have 0% overscan. What's wrong with anamorphic 1.66:1? I'm also not aware of any anamorphic 4:3 discs.

i doubt there are very many tvs with no overscan, but there are plenty of displays without overscan. anamorphic 1.66:1 on such a display shows the same problem that non-anamorphic letterbox does on widescreen tvs. and there are a number of "extras" presented in anamorphic 4:3.