PreWide Screen Movies How Do You Watch Them on Your HD System?

I'm curious as how people watch older movies on DVDthat weren't filmed in widescreen on their HDTV? I personally watch them at 4:3 as I find trying to stretch them out or watching them on the "Full" widescreen setting, distorts the picture too much for me. Am I in the minority here? Also, are there widescreen DVDs that actually completely fill the full HD TV picture because it seems like the ones I see, don't.

Hi Ed.

I use the setting on my set that stretches the corners a bit to fill the screen. the distortion to the picture is almost impossible to tell, to the point we don't notice it. And even though I know it's not the pure signal, it's looks much better (and bigger) than having bars on the sides. The "Full" setting would be inappropriate.

Some Widescreen DVD's will fill the complete picture, some won't...there's a few different aspect ratios:
1.78:1 - The dimensions of a widescreen television set; roughly equivalent to 16:9.
1.85:1 - Popular aspect ratio for many movies. about 16.7:1
2.35:1 - Another popular aspect ratio for movies, usually big epics like Star Wars, Gladiator, etc, guess it gives it a cooler effect...whatever.

The wider aspect ratio (2.35:1) is the one that causes the top and bottom bars to be more noticeable, even in full mode...I like it better though, they're not really that noticeable, and there's a lot more going on.

Get yourself an HD upscaler they're pretty cheap now. It'll fill the whole screen, at least mine does. You have to set the dvd settings accordingly though. I think mine is set to full.
It's the HDMI cable that's expensive, which you will need.

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Originally Posted by EdwardGein

I'm curious as how people watch older movies on DVDthat weren't filmed in widescreen on their HDTV?

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At the native aspect ratio. Similarly, I always bought letterboxed versions of movies even before I owned a 16:9 monitor.

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Originally Posted by EdwardGein

I find trying to stretch them out... distorts the picture too much for me.

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Ditto. My Samsung also has a zoom setting which leaves the aspect ratio alone, but lops off the upper and lower parts of the screen in the process. Sometimes I might choose that setting depending upon the source.

rw

You should definitely watch them at the proper aspect ratio. Wasn't the whole point of getting a widescreen so that you wouldn't have to watch movies "incorrectly"?

No, nothing personal, the point of me buying my HD TV was to watch widescreen HD TV shows properly. I guess in fact I am watching them properly from the Posts here as I watch older movies at 4:3 What drives me crazy are the widescreen movies that still don't take up the full 16:9 screen unless I use one of the modes to alter the picture which I find uncomfortable for my eyes & do notice the distortions, however minor.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EdwardGein

I'm curious as how people watch older movies on DVDthat weren't filmed in widescreen on their HDTV? I personally watch them at 4:3 as I find trying to stretch them out or watching them on the "Full" widescreen setting, distorts the picture too much for me. Am I in the minority here? Also, are there widescreen DVDs that actually completely fill the full HD TV picture because it seems like the ones I see, don't.

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OAR all the way for me... I keep those at 4:3 if that is how they were created.

---Dave

I watch the 4-3 movie on our widescreen TV. 4-3
I don't like s t r e e c h i n g the picture or losing the top & bottom.

GTF