Hi folks,

First time poster here (sniff sniff :)

I just ventured into the blu ray and plasma tv world.
I have a 50" panny th-50PZ80U; a Panasonic BD-60 BR player and a Sony STR-DA2400ES receiver.

I'm not sure if this is possible without screwing up the native resolution of the movie, but I'd like to see the BR movies full screen?

Right now, I have the black bars up and bottom of the movie.
I know I can choose 'zoom' as the tv's format, but of course, large pieces of the movie are gone.

I must be hugely misunderstanding why it can't be a full picture on the full screen? ie. what I see at the edges during a movie when it's letterboxed should be at the edge of the TV if full screen (if i'm writing that properly)?

I ask b/c when I watch HD tv shows, which are 1080i (right)?, they are full screen. Is it b/c the TV shows are not 2:35:1?

I'm a wee bit lost so any clarification would be great.

I ask b/c when I watch HD tv shows, which are 1080i (right)?, they are full screen. Is it b/c the TV shows are not 2:35:1?


Correct. Most HD TV shows are in 16:9 aspect ratio which is the same as your TV. Most movies are in something other than 16:9 (i.e. 2.35:1), so they will have black bars on the top and bottom. That's the way you want it. As you stated, you can zoom and lose the edges of the picture OR you can stretch the image to fill the screen (both depending upon your displays options) resulting in everything being tall and skinny.

Neither are recommended.

I must be hugely misunderstanding why it can't be a full picture on the full screen?See this article (http://www.cnet.com/aspect-ratio-guide/), especially page three.

thanks! at least I know I was on the right track :)

This isn't a Blu-Ray thing. Same thing on HD DVD and DVD. A 16x9 HDTV is a 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio. A 4:3 SDTV is a 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio. If you look on the back of your Disc Box, Most will tell you what aspect Ratio the Movie is in. It would be 2.40:1 or 2.45:1, or one of quite a few others. This is where you get the Black Bars on the Top and Bottom. At the Movie Theater, the Curtains are adjusted to the correct size needed. That's a little hard to do on a Fixed Screen size. You could do the same thing with a Front Projector Setup at home.

HD TV Programs are all going to be in 16x9 because that's the Standard for a HDTV. Some will still be shown in 4:3 format also and so you'll have the black bars on the left and right. You can ether Expand the picture to fill the screen up in which case you loose part of the picture, or you live with it. It doesn't bother me. I just got a larger HDTV to make up for it! When I'm watching the Movie, I'm not worrying about the Bars.