Hi..

I got myself a Blu-Ray Player not to long ago, and it seems to be playing my DVDs (which the back cover indicate is wide screen) in full screen. This also applies to a couple of Blu-Rays which again the back cover says there wide screen but they play in full screen. Exceptions are the final cut of Blade Runner on Blu-Ray which runs in wide, Jesse James shot by the Coward Robert Ford on DVD which also plays in wide but some DVDs and Blu-Ray are playing in full. Does anyone know why my blu-ray player is running certain DVDs and Blu-Rays this way?

Um, more info? Blu ray model? TV model? How is your Blu ray player setup? HDMI? Coaxial? Through the receiver or direct to the TV? Etc, etc, etc......Right off hand, without any of this info, I am assuming you have your blu ray player setup to show 16x9 and not 4x3?

it's a QPB301B Soniq Blu-Ray Player, connected to a HD-TV which is also of the Soniq brand. The Blu-Ray Player is connected via HMDI cables, and the blu-ray player display runs them as wide which I think is 16x9.

Tell me which movies are "fullscreen".

Yeah, knowing which titles aren't a problem is useless. We need to know which titles you think are problematic.

I think there was more, but these are the DVDs/Blu-rays I can remember.

Marry & Max (Blu-Ray) - Fullscreen
One Missed Call (2008) (Blu-Ray) - Fullscreen
Predator (Special Edition DVD) - Fullscreen

All of those films have an aspect ratio of 1.85:1-1.78:1. They should fill your entire screen. The films that you listed that are "widescreen" to you have an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Not every "widescreen" film should have black bars, it just depends on what ratio the filmmakers decided to use.

but the ones with the black bars like Blade Runner look so much better on my HD-TV, which isn't even full-HD. Plus another movie I tested called precious is listed as "Anamorphic Widescreen" yet its 1.85:1. So theirs no black bars. Plus the blade runner blu-ray is 16x9 2.4:1

1.85:1 (and 1.78:1) fill up your entire screen. 2.4:1 will not. It will show more picture on the right and left screen. It's kind of hard to describe...

and where are you from? I've never heard of 'Soniq' before so it must be a knockoff from somewhere else.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...reenorama.html

Fills up whole TV:


and won't fill up all TV, even though it's widescreen:

Precious is 1.85:1, not 2.40:1, meaning no black bars. Blade Runner looks good because it has a 8k master format and a great transfer, not because of it's aspect ratio. The Blu Ray says "16:9 2.4:1" because it includes the black bars as part of the picture space. The actual films aspect ratio is 2.40:1 or short listed as 2.4:1. Your Blu Ray player/TV does not have a problem.

Australia, and actually my Soniq HD-TV has a panel by LG in there.

thanks for clearer that up Gizmo. Are 1.85:1 and 1.78:1 (fill up entire screen) and 2.4:1 (bars on top and bottem) - 16x9 the only things I need to remember in regards to Blu-Ray ratios?

and which ratio do you prefer?

thanks blu_man

What films would you recommend btw that have great transfers like Blade Runner? Keep in mind my TV is 32" and isn't full HD.

No problem. Hellboy II: The Golden Army has a great transfer, so does The Incredible Hulk, Avatar has about the best transfer out there, everything animated (especially Pixar), District 9, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, Terminator Salvation and many, many other great titles. Just pick out a movie you like and then read about it's Blu Ray reviews on this site or "Blu ray.com", DVD Beaver, etc...

I prefer whatever ratio the film was intended to be seen in. Every ratio has films that just wouldn't look right in another (either 4:3, 1.85:1 or 2.40:1). It's probably a snobby attitude to have, but you want to see whatever the Director wanted you to see (or not see - in some case a 4:3 movie was opened up and lots of boom mikes etc were now visible).

Most people like 1.78:1/1.85:1 as it 'fills up the entire TV', so it's understandable how one might think all Widescreen was like it.

Those 3 ratios are really the only ones you will encounter on Blu-ray. There is some 4:3 content, but it's pretty rare. Now go rent "How the West Was Won" and let us know how you like 'Smilebox'

You mean it's 1080i? It's full-HD. The 'p' won't make any difference on a screen that size.

yes well it offers both 1080i and 720p. The Blu-Ray Player is set to HDMI auto or something so I'm not sure what the blu-ray player display is set on with that setting. Perhaps I should just switch it from HDMI auto to 1080i? as it potentially could be auto set on 720p without me knowing. In short, is 1080i genreally better then 720p for blu-ray on a TV like mine?

1080i and 720p are pretty much identical.

Neither really matters. Whatever your TV is set to, just set the BD player to the same. Some TVs prefer a certain input, but I always just went with 1080i.

Watch the movies you want to see, regardless of which aspect ratio they were filmed in

I just rented the original Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory on blu-ray. Hope the transfer is good, one of my all-time favorite childhood films

and how do I check what my TV is set to? I have no idea if its on 720p or 1080i because some channels are 1080i while others are 720p.

You set your Blu Ray player output, not your TV. And it really doesn't matter...

ahh so so change it through the blu-ray player via display... k thanks again

Yeah, I'm still pretty annoyed that the colored version of Casablanca in 16:9 is not out on Blu-Ray yet.

Others have discussed this but I'd like to explain a bit more. You can have your BD player output at several different resolutions, usually 1080p, 1080i, and 720p/760p*. Your HDTV should be able to accept the signal (some older models don't handle 1080p) and convert it to whatever the native resolution of your HDTV is, usually 1080p or 760p. However, you might get a better picture if you have the player do the conversion by having it output a signal as close to the native resolution of your HDTV as you can. Check your HDTV owner's manual to see what the native resolution of the screen is; this has nothing whatever to do with what signals it can accept through HDMI. A 32 inch screen is probably 760p, but there are exceptions.

If you have a 1080p native screen you would want to feed it a 1080p signal (or 1080i if the player doesn't do 1080p, although such players are unusual these days). But with a 760p screen you might get a slightly better image if you feed it a 720p or 760p signal from the player. Just try it and see you can detect any difference; there may be not be any you can discern.

*Terminology:
1080i means 1080 horizontal lines interlaced, that is, every other line is scanned per screen change. This is the broadcast standard resolution because it takes less bandwidth than 1080p. All HDTVs are required to be able to accept a 1080i signal and convert it to the native screen resolution.

1080p means 1080 horizontal lines progressive, that is, every line is scanned per screen change. This is how computer monitors work and it makes them seem to flicker less than an interlaced display. But 1080p takes twice the bandwidth of 1080i to encode. Nearly all Blu-ray discs are encoded in 1080p. So far as I am aware, nearly all Blu-ray Disc players are able to output a 1080p signal. Some older model HDTVs aren't able to accept a 1080p signal but essentially all current models can.

720p is another broadcast standard for HDTV. Relatively few HDTVs have a native screen resolution of 720progressive, but all are required to be able to accept the signal and convert it to the native resolution.

760p is a common screen resolution for HDTVs, especially in the smaller screen sizes. A 760progressive HDTV will be able to accept other signals and convert them to 760p. While a 760p screen won't be quite as sharp as a 1080p one, especially in large screen sizes, it is much, much better than the old standard definition TVs.
Not everyone around here likes the movie, to put it mildly, but the best looking Blu-ray Disc I've ever seen is Avatar. The surround sound is pretty good too. FWIW.

Damn right. Boycott that black-and-white fool-screen crap till they get it right.