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Black vs. White border bars

#1
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8/28/08 at 4:14pm
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I don't know if this is the correct forum to bring this up, but I have a question.

I have upgraded to a 16x9 screen and BluRay player. Almost all the older 4x3 films I viewed, they have the proper black bars on the right and left of the picture. However, I am run across a couple of instances (so far) where the black bars are actually white or cream color, which is really distracting.

One is the old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films put out by MPI. The image is fine, but they have white borders. Also, the BLU-RAY version of ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, has the proper black bars for the film and most of the extras, but the Flynn trailers seem to have that white border instead of black. I couldn't figure anyway to make it black. Has anyone else noticed this Is it the way the disc itself was prepared?

Thanks.....
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#2
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8/28/08 at 5:15pm
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Re: Black vs. White border bars

I have a 16x9 but no BluRay player, all the borders show as black for my Sherlock Holmes DVD I have viewed on this newer TV. Is this with all of the Holmes films or just some? Which ones have you seen it on? I have noticed some cable stations broadcasting light grey bars for their 4:3 airings on their HD stations, most distracting. What type of BluRay player do you have?


As an aside, the 16:9 TV messes up playing the old video game Super Mario Bros, it extends the background image on either side but not the ground Mario walks on, leaving an image of a pit that is not there.
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#3
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8/28/08 at 7:12pm
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Re: Black vs. White border bars

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tory
As an aside, the 16:9 TV messes up playing the old video game Super Mario Bros, it extends the background image on either side but not the ground Mario walks on, leaving an image of a pit that is not there.

I'm really perplexed as to how this works. Are you playing the game on actual NES hardware, or on some kind of emulator? The console should be outputting the same standard 4:3 image you'd have seen on your tube television back in the '80s. Your 16:9 television might stretch or otherwise distort the information, but I can't imagine how it could add visual information that's not actually contained in the signal, such as the background image beyond the edges of the screen. Are you sure it's your television that's "messing up" the picture?

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#4
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8/29/08 at 1:18am
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Re: Black vs. White border bars

Quote:
Originally Posted by cafink
I'm really perplexed as to how this works. Are you playing the game on actual NES hardware, or on some kind of emulator? The console should be outputting the same standard 4:3 image you'd have seen on your tube television back in the '80s. Your 16:9 television might stretch or otherwise distort the information, but I can't imagine how it could add visual information that's not actually contained in the signal, such as the background image beyond the edges of the screen. Are you sure it's your television that's "messing up" the picture?

I don't know quite what's happening here (my Holmes films show black borders), but I do know that some DVD players (my Oppo among them) offer the ability to have the borders either side of 4:3 images in white, black and all shades in between.
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#5
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8/29/08 at 5:26am
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Re: Black vs. White border bars

I have the Panasonic BD30 Blu-ray Player and had the same problem with white bars for all standard definition material in 4:3. I changed the "Screen Saver Function" setting under the "Display" tab to "No".

From the manual:
Quote:
Screen Saver Function
This is to prevent burn-in on the screen.

≥When this is set to “On”, the masked-off area on the screen becomes gray. [Only when connecting with an HDMI cable or a component video cable and “HDMI Resolution” is set to any other mode than “480p”, or “Component Video Resolution” is set to “720p” or “1080i”]
What BR-player do you have? Maybe it's the same "problem" with your machine.
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#6
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8/29/08 at 6:19am
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Re: Black vs. White border bars

Isn't this all to do with the display rather than the disc? I have a Pioneer plasma screen and one of the disappointments I found when I first had it installed was that it displays a grey border at the side instead of a black border when viewing both broadcast and DVD 4 x 3 material. I understand that due to their design many (most?) plasma screens do not display black side borders. My screen also has the option to display an image (distorting the sides of the picture) instead of a grey border.
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#7
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8/29/08 at 7:02am
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Re: Black vs. White border bars

Never owned a plasma, but an 'other than black' border preference is more to avoid image retention than an inherent inability to display black?

And yes, in the vast majority of cases anything either side of a 4:3 image is generated either by the monitor or the source (the player) and has nothing to do with the disc.
So many films, so little time...
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#8
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8/29/08 at 10:06am
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Re: Black vs. White border bars

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tory
As an aside, the 16:9 TV messes up playing the old video game Super Mario Bros, it extends the background image on either side but not the ground Mario walks on, leaving an image of a pit that is not there.

That's always been there, you just never saw it on your old TV because it was cover up by overscan.

(

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#9
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8/29/08 at 11:21am
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Re: Black vs. White border bars

Quote:
Originally Posted by ChristianLiemke
I have the Panasonic BD30 Blu-ray Player and had the same problem with white bars for all standard definition material in 4:3. I changed the "Screen Saver Function" setting under the "Display" tab to "No".

From the manual:

What BR-player do you have? Maybe it's the same "problem" with your machine.


I think Christian has hit on it. My Blu-Ray player is a Panasonic BD30 like his. I will try this remedy.

Thanks everyone. Will report my success.
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#10
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8/29/08 at 11:29am
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Re: Black vs. White border bars

Thanks so much! The borders are now black! What a relief!
I would never have thought a screen saver button could save the day!
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