question about VCD/ SVCD movies (1 Viewer)

[Al Hammond Jr]

When watching dvd movies which are filmed in the 1:85:1 aspect ratio, they automatically conform to my Toshiba Widescreen hdtv. But when I watch an svcd or vcd on the same tv, with the same dvd player and same settings, there are black bars. Is there any way to fix this, or make the black bars go away somehow?

 

[Yee-Ming]

The VCD/SVCD is almost undoubtedly non-anamorphic, i.e. the black bars are hard-coded in the software. You can eliminate (or at least reduce) them by using the zoom function, which you probably use for viewing regular broadcast TV that is now broadcast letterboxed, but this will of course reduce resolution, and in the case of VCD/SVCD which is already pretty poor, you may see more artefacts or pixelation which may be unbearable.