Star Wars III (1:2.35 anamorphic) showing with black bands on my 16X9 Sony

I'm new to widescreen but I have a Pioneer DVD player I have set to an
internal setting of 16X9. I just bought a Sony Grand Wega 50 in. Rear
Projection 3LCD HDTV. When I play Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith (1:2.35
anamorphic) it doesn't fill the screen (black bands top and bottom). Even
though it says specially mastered for 16X9 TVs. Am I doing something wrong
or is this how it's supposed to look. Other Widescreen movies fill the
screen (Finding Nemo for example).

Jim Jogenson wrote:
I'm new to widescreen but I have a Pioneer DVD player I have set to an
internal setting of 16X9. I just bought a Sony Grand Wega 50 in. Rear
Projection 3LCD HDTV. When I play Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith (1:2.35
anamorphic) it doesn't fill the screen (black bands top and bottom). Even
though it says specially mastered for 16X9 TVs. Am I doing something wrong
or is this how it's supposed to look. Other Widescreen movies fill the
screen (Finding Nemo for example).

It's proper. 16:9 is 1:1.78 (16/9=1.7777). 1:2.35 is obviously wider
than 1:1.78, so for the entire width of the picture to fit at the
proper aspect ratio, black bars must be at the top and bottom.

Think of it as fitting a narrow rectangle into a rectangle that isn't
quite as narrow. Something's got to give.

On 2006-01-11, Jim Jogenson wrote:

I'm new to widescreen but I have a Pioneer DVD player I have set to an
internal setting of 16X9. I just bought a Sony Grand Wega 50 in. Rear
Projection 3LCD HDTV. When I play Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith (1:2.35
anamorphic) it doesn't fill the screen

You're watching a 1:2.35 movie on a 1:1.78 screen. The choices
a

1) letterbox (black bars above below the picture).

2) crop off the left and right ends of the picture to get it
down to a 1:1.78 ascpect ratio. For some movies this is OK.

3) stretch the picture vertically to fill up a 1:1.78 screen.

4) pan and scan with a 1:1.78 window.

Most film geeks want #1. Your TV or player _may_ have options
that let you pick one of the other choices. Except #4, that
has to be done by whoever is mastering the DVD.

--
Grant Edwards grante Yow!
at TAILFINS!!... click...
visi.com

I thought so, but just wanted to make sure. It looks amazing anyway. Pure
eyecandy.


"Grant Edwards" wrote in message
...
On 2006-01-11, Jim Jogenson wrote:

I'm new to widescreen but I have a Pioneer DVD player I have set to an
internal setting of 16X9. I just bought a Sony Grand Wega 50 in. Rear
Projection 3LCD HDTV. When I play Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith
(1:2.35
anamorphic) it doesn't fill the screen

You're watching a 1:2.35 movie on a 1:1.78 screen. The choices
a

1) letterbox (black bars above below the picture).

2) crop off the left and right ends of the picture to get it
down to a 1:1.78 ascpect ratio. For some movies this is OK.

3) stretch the picture vertically to fill up a 1:1.78 screen.

4) pan and scan with a 1:1.78 window.

Most film geeks want #1. Your TV or player _may_ have options
that let you pick one of the other choices. Except #4, that
has to be done by whoever is mastering the DVD.

--
Grant Edwards grante Yow!
at TAILFINS!!... click...
visi.com

"Jim Jogenson" wrote in message
...
I'm new to widescreen but I have a Pioneer DVD player I have set to an
internal setting of 16X9. I just bought a Sony Grand Wega 50 in. Rear
Projection 3LCD HDTV. When I play Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith
(1:2.35 anamorphic) it doesn't fill the screen (black bands top and
bottom). Even though it says specially mastered for 16X9 TVs. Am I doing
something wrong or is this how it's supposed to look. Other Widescreen
movies fill the screen (Finding Nemo for example).

Using Math(TM), I determine the 16:9 equals 1.78:1. Since you yourself point
out that SWEPIII is approximately 2.35:1, I don't see how else you expected
to see the entire movie but to have some empty space at top and bottom.

Even though 16:9 is not the same as the common movie formats (though it is
very close to 1.85:1), it allows movies to be represented in higher
resolution than if letterboxed on a 4:3 image area (wasting less space
encoding black pixels at top and bottom, and allowing the actual picture
area to use those pixels instead, giving the picture area higher vertical
resolution). And it matches the resolution of 16:9 TVs.

In theory 16:9 DVDs could be pan-and-scanned also (I think some of the pay
movie channels tend to do this), in which case it really would be full
screen, while cutting off less of the picture at left and right than a
pan-and-scan to 4:3.

I know I know. I'm a newbie and I was just wondering if I had it set wrong.
The math makes sense. But I also tried Halo 2 on the X Box and even though
the TV display says it's 4:3 the display is wide screen. I'm just trying to
figure it out.


"Matthew Vaughan" wrote in message
...
"Jim Jogenson" wrote in message
...
I'm new to widescreen but I have a Pioneer DVD player I have set to an
internal setting of 16X9. I just bought a Sony Grand Wega 50 in. Rear
Projection 3LCD HDTV. When I play Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith
(1:2.35 anamorphic) it doesn't fill the screen (black bands top and
bottom). Even though it says specially mastered for 16X9 TVs. Am I doing
something wrong or is this how it's supposed to look. Other Widescreen
movies fill the screen (Finding Nemo for example).

Using Math(TM), I determine the 16:9 equals 1.78:1. Since you yourself
point
out that SWEPIII is approximately 2.35:1, I don't see how else you
expected
to see the entire movie but to have some empty space at top and bottom.

Even though 16:9 is not the same as the common movie formats (though it is
very close to 1.85:1), it allows movies to be represented in higher
resolution than if letterboxed on a 4:3 image area (wasting less space
encoding black pixels at top and bottom, and allowing the actual picture
area to use those pixels instead, giving the picture area higher vertical
resolution). And it matches the resolution of 16:9 TVs.

In theory 16:9 DVDs could be pan-and-scanned also (I think some of the pay
movie channels tend to do this), in which case it really would be full
screen, while cutting off less of the picture at left and right than a
pan-and-scan to 4:3.

The math makes sense. But I also tried Halo 2 on the X Box and even though
the TV display says it's 4:3 the display is wide screen. I'm just trying
to figure it out.

Yes Halo 2 supports 16:9. Speaking of Xbox games there are over 40 that
support 720p and a few that support 1080i. Many 16:9 480p games. You can
find out which support what at www.hdtvarcade.com

Jim Jogenson wrote:
I'm new to widescreen but I have a Pioneer DVD player I have set to an
internal setting of 16X9. I just bought a Sony Grand Wega 50 in. Rear
Projection 3LCD HDTV. When I play Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith (1:2.35
anamorphic) it doesn't fill the screen (black bands top and bottom). Even
though it says specially mastered for 16X9 TVs. Am I doing something wrong
or is this how it's supposed to look. Other Widescreen movies fill the
screen (Finding Nemo for example).



16x9 = 1.78

Nemo was created at 1.78 which is a perfect match. It fills the 16x9
screen. Other films that are 1.85 are pretty close to 1.78. Only a
slight bit of difference and still fills most of the 16x9 screen.

Sith being 2.35 will obviously not perfectly fit a 16x9 screen, hence
the letterboxing.