I just bought Pulp Fiction collecters edition and I noticed that during the movie that the bars on the top and bottem of the screen are each kinda split in two and the ones on the edge are lighter and you can tell while watching, it was kinda bugging me so i was wondering if this is normal for this disc cause if not ill take it back for another one, thanks

That sounds weird because the outmost parts of the black bars are generated by your dvd-player when you're playing an anamorphic dvd. It must be because the rest of the screen has been mastered really dark. In either case, exchanging it won't make a difference.

Anyone else have it and notice anything?

What Yocke said.

The main problem is that it sounds like the brightness and contrast is not set properly on your TV, which accentuates the differences in the appearance in the black bars that are part of the image and the black bars that are generated by your DVD player. (Your DVD player also might not be good at generating the bars.)

My recommendation would be to use a calibration DVD such as Avia or Sound & Vision to properly set your brightness and contrast.

Sounds good thanks

They were very apparent on my friends TV but on mine you could only see them if you were looking for them.

Buy Avia --- best DVD investment.

Avia is good, but the new Digital Video Essentials disc is not only better, but more affordable.

I've heard the new Digital Video Essentials might have some incorrect displays for sharpness and some audio tests. SOme claimed that it suggests your sharpness level be up way too high. There was discussion and debate on HTF about this. Also, many claimed it is not user-friendly at all.

As to David's comments, I would NOT reccommend DVE. Kane has been less than forthcoming on its shortcomings (some of which are very obvious). The LFE channel test is not correct, the color tests could be much better and the user interface is garbage.

Avia is much better for a beginner/intermediate tweeker.