I moved from HD-DVD to Blu-ray via a PS3.

With the HD-DVD player, any 16:9 movie would entirely and precisely fill my screen. I am using a Z2000 1080 lines of resolution projector. The screen was masked to the exact projector's 1080 output, so everything was precisely filled.

Now, with the PS3, everything fills up nicely as expected.. when I put a BR disc in, the main menu of movies (16:9) entirely fill the screen. BUT when I start playing the move (16:9) it leaves a few pixels above and below black... so, two black bars above and below, only about 2% of the screen. (No, I am NOT talking about huge black bars you'd expect from 2.35:1 content!)

Is this normal? It never happened with my DVD player or my HD-DVD player!

screenshot?

Now, with the PS3, everything fills up nicely as expected.. when I put a BR disc in, the main menu of movies (16:9) entirely fill the screen. BUT when I start playing the move (16:9) it leaves a few pixels above and below black... so, two black bars above and below, only about 2% of the screen. (No, I am NOT talking about huge black bars you'd expect from 2.35:1 content!)
It happens to me on a select few movies: I gave up trying to screw with my TV in terms of centering the image and adjusting pixel hight vertically and horizontally. I made it work, but I thought something seemed off. So unless I get it calibrated, I was worried I would overall distort the images, not only for the PS3, but all other inputs. I Found that if I messed with my TV's overscan I can get rid of it, but that just takes away more of the picture than I need. I think it all comes down to how your TV is set up in terms if pixel height and how the PS3 interacts with it. I've personally never asked on AVS about this problem as I felt it was either a problem with my TV or the lack of overscan put on some BR movies.

It is suppose to do that. Very few movies are actually in 16:9 aspect ratio. Thankfully your projector doesn't overscan at all and neither does the PS3. Which movie was it?

If you have further issues try asking in the Blu-ray players section of the forum

You realize there are various aspect ratios like 1.81 and and 1.85 that would leave small black bars on your screen?

LOL I can't believe after this long people think this is an issue.

LOL I can't believe after this long people think this is an issue.

Obviously it is to him. If I were to experience something when switching to something new that I didnt expect I'd ask about it as well.

Obviously it is to him. If I were to experience something when switching to something new that I didnt expect I'd ask about it as well.

I agree. It never hurts to ask. But in the open forum, there could always be someone having a bad day who comes off snarky<- is that a word? (not pointing any fingers at all to any previous posts, just agreeing with whom I quoted)

snarky<- is that a word?
Yup (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/snarky). :)

Well, for the record, I am NOT referring to the obvious black bars you'd have on a 16:9 screen, when watching 2.35:1 content.

What I see is a MUCH thinner black line above/below the movie. It is really only about 1 inch high, on my 106" diag screen. But its strange that it ONLY happens with the movie itself. The main menu of the BR disc fills the entire screen perfectly. I think this is happening for every single movie I watch on BR.

With my HD-DVD player, it only ever shows those lines on 2-3 movies. I figured it was becuase the movies were not true 1:77, but rather 1:81 or whatever...

I guess the HDVD player was in fact cropping somehow to fill my screen, using internal overscan...? Otherwise, I have no idea.

LOL I can't believe after this long people think this is an issue.

Could it be that you're wathing 2.40:1 or 2.70:1 content instead of 2.35:1? 2.40:1 is about a common of aspect ratio as 2.35:1 is. Just something to keep in mind.

-Brad

A 1.85:1 movie would show very small black bars on a non-overscanned 1.78:1 display. That movie would also still have a normal 1.78:1 menu, completely filling the screen when the menu is up. This is what you are experiencing. There really are very few 1.78:1 movies, but most displays overscan enough to make the bars from 1.85:1 go away. That is pretty much why they overscan so much, so that the manufactures don't get calls all day long about how people's widescreen movies don't fill their widescreen displays. :)

As for this being new? I'm pretty sure we've all had DVD players for about a decade now. I don't think a quarter of the lifetime of the average person on this board could in any way ever be considered "new".

OK guys, thanks for the responses. I would then assume that SOME movies would fill my display, just like the main menu does. I haven't found ONE yet! I watch 2-3 movies per week. On the HD-DVD player, it was most commonly filling my screen perfectly.

I'll keep an eye on this.

Pop in a TV show disc. HD broadcast shows are almost universally 1.78:1.

OK guys, thanks for the responses. I would then assume that SOME movies would fill my display, just like the main menu does. I haven't found ONE yet! I watch 2-3 movies per week. On the HD-DVD player, it was most commonly filling my screen perfectly.

I'll keep an eye on this.
There are movies that are 1.78:1? I thought other than the few 1.66:1 (Robocop in it's theatrical ratio, among a few others), it was almost all 1.85 and wider.

I'm sorry your HD-DVD player was cropping the sides of the films you were watching. I'd be mad, too. I don't watch many movies on HBO for that reason. (Ok, I really don't mind the slight crop on 1.85:1 movies very much, but 2.35 cropped to 1.85? savage)

"There are movies that are 1.78:1?"

Some lower budget stuff is 16:9, as are some random releases where they cropped 1.85:1 to 16:9. It's not at all common though.