Hello,

I have two LG plasmas and have a quick question. I have two older dvd players, one connected through component and the other composite. Why are my DVD's playing with black bars on the top and bottom? Did I not buy a 16:9 tv to avoid this?

I will be getting a PS3 soon and will connect it through HDMI. Will this help?

Are the DVD's playing with black bars because they are 4:3 dvd's? If so, why can't the TV stretch them to fit like it can regular cable?

And finally, is two hours of black lines on the top and bottom going to cause any kind of long term damage (i.e. "burn in")?

Thanks

your 16:9 display is approximately 1.78:1. widescreen movies on dvd can be differing degrees of "widescreen"... 1.85, 2.0, 2.35, 2.4, 2.6 to 1, etc. all of these will show varying degrees of "letterbox" unless you zoom the display. provide a few titles and i'd be happy to look up the aspect ratios for you.
hth.

aspect ratio. look for the dvds with the 1:78/1 ratio that is the same as 16:9.

the dvd with the aspect ratio like 1:85 and 2:35 etc, are the ones giving you the black bars on top and bottom. most display have a stretch or fill function but it may not look correct as it may give you more noise/grain/poorer pq.

make sure the dvd player you are using has output of 16:9 and the progessive output enabled in the menu that might help some if they are not enabled now.

the ps3 should look fine with the hdmi input but if the bluray or dvd is still 1:85 or 2:35 aspect your gonna have the black bars then too just the way the film was shot and expected to be shown.

So basically all "widescreen" dvds are not the same aspect ratio......now I get it!

My dvd player is old, and not even progressive scan, so that doesn't help me any.

What about long term effects of black bars?

Thanks

So basically all "widescreen" dvds are not the same aspect ratio......now I get it!

My dvd player is old, and not even progressive scan, so that doesn't help me any.

What about long term effects of black bars?

Thanks

You should be fine as long as you switch aspect ratios fairly often. Just try to watch some source that fills the screen to offset the hours that you used with black bars. No big deal really. I only use my Tv to watch movies and TV shows on DVD and I have no ill effects besides some random Image retention which always goes away within a few minutes of watching a "fullscreen" source.