I have the AX-200 and a 16:9 screen and wondered if anyone else has gotten rid of the black bars using zoom or stretch or any other option on the PJ. What would be the best way to do this? I don't want to spend money on a new anomorphic lens. Also, why are there no black bars at the movie theater?

I have the AX-200 and a 16:9 screen and wondered if anyone else has gotten rid of the black bars using zoom or stretch or any other option on the PJ. What would be the best way to do this? I don't want to spend money on a new anomorphic lens. Also, why are there no black bars at the movie theater?

Movie theaters usually use a constant height screen, so the "black bars" would be on the side of the picture for aspect ratios below 2.40:1 -- black curtains can be drawn wider or narrower as needed so you do not notice the bars. If you use a pull down screen, as I do, you can usually pull it down "less far" and position the image up or down as needed so that the bottom of the image aligns with the bottom of the screen. With my AX-200 and 16:9 high contrast gray screen I watch 'scope movies this way. In a dark HT the black bar at the top of the screen is nearly as dark as the screens built-in black border. If you zoom or stretch to get rid of the black bars you will have a distorted or incomplete image.

Ed,

Unless you have an anamorphic lens and a proper screen, you cannot get rid of the black bars on a traditional movie in theatre-spec 2.35:1 mode. You can however try to buy movies that are formatted in "widescreen" 16:9 and if your screen is a 16:9 sized screen, no black bars will be shown.

You could technically use your projector's zoom to get rid of the black bars, but you'd also lose a lot of picture on each side of your image, almost making it like a cropped 4:3 format picture.

Basically unless you want to spend 20k on a motorized anamorphic lens system (which I'm going to assume you'd rather not do) then you're stuck with the bars when you're watching 2.35:1 film stock on a 16:9 screen.

On a semi-related topic, for kicks I recently auditioned a Sim2 C3X DLP projector with the motorized anamorphic lens system that was paired to a 2.35:1 screen that used motorized curtains on the side that were triggered when the lens was used.

It was topped off by a top-of-the-line Meridian Digital 5.1 sysem...

All I have to say is, it was a religious experience. A 2.35:1 setup compared to 16:9 in a home theatre environment is something quite spectacular to behold.

Ed:
Lots of people have done the poor mans version of scope movies you suggest without buying a lens. If you have a 2.35 screen and watch your 16:9 with black bars at the sides then you can zoom out when doing scope movies to fill the width of the screen and eliminate having the black bars at the top and bottom.

Projector throw length is more important to get right then because you have to set it at a location that allows most of the zoom on the one end. Also when zooming depending on your drop height if ceiling mounted the image may zoom in height more one way than the other and that would require adjusting the projectors image up and down slightly if you have zoom control and image shift thru the remote its quite easy.

I’m helping out now putting a projector in a house that the owner wants totally stealth. (no screen) The whole wall will be painted to be the screen and we are using a 4:3 projector and using the zoom 3 times to widen the 16:9 from the 4:3 and also to widen the scope image.

You can Zoom but you will lose a portion of the film on the sides that you would see in the natural aspect ratio. The Zoom if it looks ok to you is fine to watch. It will not be the orginal intended format for the film.

Mask the tops and bottoms some how. Be creative i'm sure you will find a solution either way. :)

Since so many widescreen projection screens are based on the TV HD 16:9 many film aspect ratios will not fill that screen.

There are like five or so different film widescreen aspect ratios used starting in the 50s so I don't think you can get rid of top/bottom non image screen areas of different heigth when playing different movies.

Maybe it's because our Da-lite screen is a gray high contrast type cause the "bars" just don't bother us a lot and trying to zoom adjust them away just skews the image of the program you are viewing.

We enjoy watching 16:9 HD tv stuff but don't mind the varying bars above and below the image of films produced in their original wider aspect ratio - like CinemaScope or Todd AO.
goodluck

I have the AX-200 and a 16:9 screen and wondered if anyone else has gotten rid of the black bars using zoom or stretch or any other option on the PJ. What would be the best way to do this? I don't want to spend money on a new anomorphic lens. Also, why are there no black bars at the movie theater?

You can do this if you have a 2.35:1 screen and let the blackbars spill over the screen onto a velvet boarder.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am trying to watch to a widescreen movie (not cinema scope) on a 16:9 screen. I just wasn't expecting to have that big of bars on the screen. I did try the zoom and while it does cover the whole screen it does distort the picture a little. I just haven't figured out why on some of the special features on a widescreen movie it covers the whole screen but the movie itself doesn't.:confused:

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am trying to watch to a widescreen movie (not cinema scope) on a 16:9 screen. I just wasn't expecting to have that big of bars on the screen. screen movie it covers the whole screen but the movie itself doesn't.:confused:

Are you talking about 1.78 & 1.85 AR movies? 1.78 shouldn't have any bars. 1.85 should have very small bars, however, if you have any overscan they probably won't be visible at all.:confused:

OK maybe I need to ask this in a very simple form as I am so simple minded. If I go to the movie rental place and get a movie that says "widescreen" is that 16:9? I thought it would have to say cinemascope to be 2:35 to 1. Also, if it says full screen doesn't that mean 4:3?

OK maybe I need to ask this in a very simple form as I am so simple minded. If I go to the movie rental place and get a movie that says "widescreen" is that 16:9? I thought it would have to say cinemascope to be 2:35 to 1. Also, if it says full screen doesn't that mean 4:3?

Widescreen just means it is wider than 4:3 typically. The two usual ratios are 1.85 and 2.35, though there are others as well.

What movie are you watching? Something like Star Wars or the LOTR trilogy are 2.35 and you will get black bars. Saving Private Ryan is 1.85 and you won't (or they will be very small if you do as 1.85 is still a bit wider than 16:9 or 1.78:1

I know that some of the blockbusters are 2:35 like LOTR and I would expect bars. Seems like every movie I get from the rental store has bars. We watched "The Game Plan" last night and it had bars. It says widescreen on the package but doesn't say the ratio is. I would assume that it is 1.78 but I guess it is 2:35.

I know that some of the blockbusters are 2:35 like LOTR and I would expect bars. Seems like every movie I get from the rental store has bars. We watched "The Game Plan" last night and it had bars. It says widescreen on the package but doesn't say the ratio is. I would assume that it is 1.78 but I guess it is 2:35.

My guess is 90% of Hollywood movies produced in the last 10 years are 2.35.

In am currently upgrading my projector, and leaning towards using a 2.35 screen, and using the zoom so the black bars are on the sides for 16x9 movies. The advantage of such a constant height approach is that a 2.35 movie will look bigger than a 16x9, whereas using a constant width approach gives me the opposite.

The problems I am discovering are that I need lots of throw distance (which I don't have), and I also need motorized zoom, focus, and direction adjustments on the remote.

I know that some of the blockbusters are 2:35 like LOTR and I would expect bars. Seems like every movie I get from the rental store has bars. We watched "The Game Plan" last night and it had bars. It says widescreen on the package but doesn't say the ratio is. I would assume that it is 1.78 but I guess it is 2:35.

"The Game Plan" is 2.35:1 - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0492956/technical

Some DVDs will list the aspect ratio on the packaging, but not all do. IMDB is a good place to check, look for the "technical specifications" on the left hand side of the movie details page.

Thanks. Learn something everyday here on the forum!!!