[Reni D]

Please need help to understand

Last Christmas I bought a PS3 game console mostly to watch Bluray DVD’s on my TV. I own a Mitsubishi 1080i 55’’ 16x9 HDTV. I connected my PS3 using a HDMI to DVI cable since my TV only has a DVI connection. I connected the audio with a optical cable to my surround sound system. I am having a problem and I hope someone could assist me understand how HD and bluray works. The main issue I am having is that when I bought my PS3 I was under the impression that when I watch a movie in bluray I would not see the black lines on top and bottom of the screen like when I used to watch a widescreen movie on my old DVD player. The first blueray disc I got was the Spiderman 3 DVD that the PS3 came with.
When I asked a few friends and a clerk at my local Bestbuy they told me the reason is that certain movies like Spidey 3 are film in different ratio and only movies that say 16x9 will cover the whole screen. Therefore, I thought ok that makes scenes. So I purchased a few blueray DVD’s in 16x9 . I got “3:10 to Yuma”, which has an Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 and it says it’s 16x9. I also just got “I am legend” which also says its 2.35:1 16x9 but I still see the movie in widescreen.
I checked with the settings on my PS3 and on the disc setting, I only see an option to put the screen in Pan scan or letter box I don’t see an option to change it to 16x9 like most DVD players I had owed. I am not sure if that is the way it should be or I my doing something wrong. I called Sony to ask but the rep was not much help.
Can someone please answer some questions :
1. Does anyone know why I only have the 2 options on my PS3 setting of pan scan and letter box ? Is that the way it should be ?
2. Why can’t I see blue ray movies in 16x9 when the discs say they are? Is it because I don’t have a 1080p TV? , is it my connections? or is it that’s just the way it is ?

Thanks for any help I’m new at this whole HD Blueray and I just may be misinformed.

[TravisR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reni D

When I asked a few friends and a clerk at my local Bestbuy they told me the reason is that certain movies like Spidey 3 are film in different ratio and only movies that say 16x9 will cover the whole screen. Therefore, I thought ok that makes scenes. So I purchased a few blueray DVD’s in 16x9 . I got “3:10 to Yuma”, which has an Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 and it says it’s 16x9. I also just got “I am legend” which also says its 2.35:1 16x9 but I still see the movie in widescreen.

If a movie has an aspect ratio of 2.35, you're still going to see black bars because the shape of your screen is 1.78 (and the image is 2.35). To fit the 2.35 image onto a 1.78 screen, you still need to have the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. The bars on 2.35 movie are normal and you're seeing the movie as it's intended to be seen. If you have a movie that is 1.78 or 1.85, you're not going to see black bars because your TV screen is 1.78.

[Reni D]

Travis thanks for the help,
I was not sure since the disc says 16x9. Do you know anything about the setting on the PS3 ? I want to make sure I got the right setting on it.

[TravisR]

I've used my buddy's PS3 but have never gone into any of the menus, I'd guess that if you want it set to letterbox. Let me repeat though, that's only a guess.

[Jeff Gatie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reni D

Travis thanks for the help,
I was not sure since the disc says 16x9. Do you know anything about the setting on the PS3 ? I want to make sure I got the right setting on it.

You have to make sure the PS3 is set for a 16:9 widescreen TV. Regardless, as has been said before, 2.35:1 films on Blu-Ray disks will give you black bars. This is a good thing, because with the bars you can be sure you are seeing the entire film the way it was in the theater. The alternative would be chopping the sides off the film in order to make it fit your screen. This would ruin the composition of each scene by putting the framing all out of whack. The best thing to do is to dim the lights so the bars fade into the darkness and concentrate on the movie. Pretty soon, you won't notice the bars anymore.

[Reni D]

Jeff,
Do you know how to set up PS3 to a 16x9 widescreen TV ?
Like I posted earlier the only two options I see in my PS3 are pan scan and letterbox. I can't find any option that says 16x9. That is what makes me dought my settings.
Not sure if thats the way it is in a PS3 console.
Thanks

[Man-Fai Wong]

Reni,

"Enhanced for 16x9" on the DVD does *not* mean it will fill your 16x9 TV w/ no black bars at all. It just means that it's formatted to optimize picture resolution for a 16x9 TV. But if the movie is actually a wider aspect ratio than 16x9 (ie. 1.78:1) like 2.35:1, then you will still see black bars. However, you will get smaller black bars (and/or better details/picture quality) than if it was not "enhanced for 16x9".

As for Blu-ray Discs, there is no such thing as "enhanced for 16x9" on the Blu-ray format AFAIK -- well, not in the same sense as for DVD anyway. Blu-ray Discs are simply formatted for 16x9 displays -- it's not an enhancement or 2nd format like on DVD.

In any case, just as w/ DVDs that are "enhanced for 16x9" (or anamorphic for another commonly used term), Blu-ray Discs will still show black bars when the movie has wider aspect ratio than 16x9.

IOW, there is probably nothing wrong w/ your settings. You *should* see black bars for movies like 3:10 to Yuma and I am Legend. And it doesn't matter whether it's the anamorphic/16x9 DVD or the Blu-ray version.

As for setting the PS3 for 16x9 display, there's no such setting. As far as I can tell, it probably assumes your display is 16x9 (or at least 16x9 capable) if you set it w/ output options like 480p, 720p, 1080i and/or 1080p. Well, if you use full HDMI (w/ whatever communication protocol it might be capable of), I guess it might also be possible for the PS3 to automatically communicate w/ the TV to figure out something like that, if the TV can handle that -- but I'm just guessing there. Since you're using an HDMI-to-DVI conversion, I doubt it can do that at all. It's probably still just relying on your output resolution setting. I just use analog component video connection, and that's pretty much all I do, ie. set output to 480i/p + 1080i. The PS3 assumes I'm using a 16x9 display -- and I can do whatever aspect ratio conversion on the display side, if I want/need (assuming my display doesn't lock that feature, eg. for 1080i).

The option for letterbox vs pan-and-scan probably has no effect on this -- that setting probably only matters if you do *not* have a 16x9 display and tell it to output 480i only, and even then, it probably only matters for non-anamorphic DVDs that have a specially formatted version of the movie for on-the-fly pan-and-scan.

_Man_

[Reni D]

Thanks for the education _Man_
now I understand better

[Jose Q]