Hey guys...I just recently bought an oppo 970HD....I just wanted to know if there is anway of watching widscreen dvds on it so it takes up the entire screen of my hd tv. Fullscreen movies seem perfect as they fill the enitre screen but widsreen still has the black bars on top and bottom. Is the zoom button your only option?

Hey guys...I just recently bought an oppo 970HD....I just wanted to know if there is anway of watching widscreen dvds on it so it takes up the entire screen of my hd tv. Fullscreen movies seem perfect as they fill the enitre screen but widsreen still has the black bars on top and bottom. Is the zoom button your only option?

I'm guessing you have the player aspect ratio set to 4:3. Try "Wide/Auto".

Titles wider than 1.78:1 will always have black bars above and below. That's the nature of aspect ratios.

Fullscreen usually means 4:3. On your widescreen display there should be black bars on the right and left.

-Bill

You are right its just the nature of aspect ratios...but am I correct to say that new Hd DVDs and Blu ray movies fill the entire screen and are not put into widescreen mode? This is why I thought upscaling dvd players will allow widscreen dvds to fill screen. I guess I am wrong.

You are right its just the nature of aspect ratios...but am I correct to say that new Hd DVDs and Blu ray movies fill the entire screen and are not put into widescreen mode? This is why I thought upscaling dvd players will allow widscreen dvds to fill screen. I guess I am wrong.

There's no difference between standard DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray in this regard. Films come in different aspect ratios. Those that are near 1.78:1 will fill a 16:9 display. Anything else will have black bars either top/bottom, or left/right.

Some displays have aspect controls that either stretch the image or chop off parts to make it fit the screen. Obviously either method has drawbacks.

-Bill

Fullscreen movies seem perfect as they fill the enitre screen
Why would you want to do that? You should be watching 4:3 material ("full screen") with bars on the sides, not stretching or zooming them to fill the screen. As already posted, movies filmed in an aspect ratio wider than 16:9 will give you black bars on the top and bottom. That is the proper way to watch them. Stretching or zooming severely harms PQ.

I guess he's more concerned with getting rid of the black bars rather than PQ.

While I don't share that sentiment, I figure "whatever floats your boat." :p