Titanic dvd on HD TV (1 Viewer)

[MThorin]

I don't know if I'm posting in the right forum or not, but hopefully if I'm in the wrong place you can point me in the right direction.

I just bought a Panasonic 42" Plasma Tv.
I also picked up a Panasonic blu-ray player.
Obviously using the HDMI cable.

I went to the store and rented a non blu-ray version of Titanic (because the movie isn't out in blu-ray). And there are black bars on both top and bottom and left and right side of the movie. I don't really understand why. I mean if it were just top and bottom I could understand that. or if I had picked up the full screen version then I could understand if there were black bars on the left and right. But all the way around?

Please explain this to me.
BTW I have played the movie The Replacements (non blu-ray also) and that movie only had black bars on top and bottom. Just thought I'd toss that out there.
Andrew

 

[DeanR]

Andrew, The first DVD release of Titanic was not 16:9 but 4:3. A few years ago a special edition DVD of Titanic was released in 16:9 widescreen format. The rental place has the original release.

 

[TravisR]

It sounds like you rented the original DVD release of Titanic that isn't enhanced for widescreen TVs. If a DVD isn't formatted for 16x9 TVs, it will play with bars on all sides when played on a Blu-ray player. If The Replacements DVD plays with just bars at the top and bottom, it is enhanced for widescreen TVs.

EDIT: Dean beat me to it.

 

[MThorin]

http://www.amazon.com/Titanic-Leonardo-DiCaprio/dp/B00000JLWW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1255233216&sr=8-1
that is a link to the movie at amazon , that is the copy that i rented.
and it says 2.35:1
I guess I thought that was wide screen? or is there something that I am missing.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Oh, okay, if that's the copy you rented, that's the original DVD release from '99. It's non-anamorphic widescreen, which will make a difference.

Plus, because the original aspect ratio was 2.35:1, the black bars will always be there on the top and bottom to preserve the original aspect ratio.

Play with your TV and DVD player Settings and see if that makes the picture wider.

 

[MThorin]

thanks
the top and bottom black bars i knew about. but as for it not being anamorphic (which is what caused the problem.) that i didn't know. thanks for the info.


now if they (the industry) would fix either a: the size of the tv to match the movies they are making or b: make the movies match 16x9 tv sets.. then i'd be happy. I realize movies that have already been made we are just SOL on but be nice if they would do one or the other for new movies.

btw I found a setting in my panasonic blu-ray player where i can have the tv type set to 4:3 or 16x9 or 16x9 full... it's that last setting is what got the movie to fill the screen from left to right and what is wierd is that people didn't look stretched when i did that. yet they didn't look weird (squished) when i didn't have the player set that way (hopefully that made sense). and i can see it right away if someone stretches their screen.