How to get connect DVD players to HDTV for movies with anamorphic format?

Question

The picture from the DVD does not fill up the whole screen on my Widescreen Plasma that support 16:9 aspect ratios.

Answer 1

There are basically three types of widescreen aspect ratios for DVDs. The first is anamorphic which is 2.35:1 and there will be black bars on the top and bottom of these movies. The second one is 1.85:1 and there will also be black bars on these movies, however they will not take up as much space as anamorphic. The third one is 1.78:1 and this format will fill 16:9 TVs.



You can't really get around this, just check the back of the DVD before you buy it to see what the aspect ratio is.

Answer 2

The disc determines the screen size, not the connection. so you can go with component, hdmi, etc.



Be advised that even though a DVD is 'widescreen' it rarely equals 16:9. It is usually a variant that better reproduces the original film. So you will still get letterboxing on a 16:9 set. Just not as bad as a 4:3 set. You can get rid of it by zooming the TV image, but this adds its own distortion.