BluRay Player Will Not Play Full Screen

[Ron K]

I just bought a Panasonic BD80 BluRay player that is hooked up to my Sony 40" LCD HD TV with an HDMI cable. For whatever reason NOTHING will play full screen as there are black bars at both top and bottom of the picture, like it was "letterboxed." I have tried all the various format settings that the menu offers as to screen format size and that does not solve the problem. I have another DVD player, not a BluRay hooked to the other HDMI input and that will play all the DVDs full screen that the other will not. I tried calling Panasonic and they could not seem to help, hopefully someone here can.

 

[casey_souder]

Most movies on blu-ray are presented in the original aspect ratio as the theatrical version, usually 2.35:1 or 2.4:1, while HDTVs have a ratio of 1.78:1 (16:9). So you still have black bars when watching movies. If you hate the bars you can usually zoom in on the tv, cropping the edges. That is usually with the picture aspect settings where you would find 4:3, 16:9, etc.

 

[Ron K]

Most movies on blu-ray are presented in the original aspect ratio as the theatrical version, usually 2.35:1 or 2.4:1, while HDTVs have a ratio of 1.78:1 (16:9). So you still have black bars when watching movies. If you hate the bars you can usually zoom in on the tv, cropping the edges. That is usually with the picture aspect settings where you would find 4:3, 16:9, etc.

OK, I can understand that, but why then does it also play a regular DVD move and TV shows that I have downloaded and converted to divix in the same manner, which on my old DVD player fill up the entire screen.

 

[casey_souder]

Can you list your tv model? Could you list the current settings for your tv (settings are independent of inputs, so list settings for both hdmi inputs), blu-ray player, and dvd player? Could you possibly post a pic of what is going on, maybe one of play back thru your dvd player and one thru your blu-ray player? That way I can make sure I am understanding your problem correctly? I should be able to figure it out with some more info.

 

[Ron K]

My TV is a Sony Bravia KDL-40V2500 My screen mode is set on the remote to normal. Of course if I go to "zoom" the picture will fill the screen, but will be cut off and quality is lost. In looking at the Sony manual I am now not sure if my target inputs are set for all inputs or current (individual) inputs. Since I have never used the second HDMI input until now, for the BluRay, I suppose it is possible that input needs to be reset(changed). I am going to try and reverse the HDMI inputs for the BluRay and other DVD player and see first if the problem is reversed. Do you think that is worth trying? My other DVD player is a Phillips DVP3960. Sorry I can't include a pix, but I can describe it this way. Think of an old analog aspect ratio TV showing a wide screen film letterboxed which would have black bars above and below, but not on the sides. This is how all DVDs playback on the BluRay, be they BluRay or not. Again if I take a standard DVD or a downloaded CD that was burned to divix it usues the full screen in the Philips, but plays back "letterboxed" on the BluRay.

 

[jam53226]

I just bought a Panasonic BD80 BluRay player that is hooked up to my Sony 40" LCD HD TV with an HDMI cable. For whatever reason NOTHING will play full screen as there are black bars at both top and bottom of the picture, like it was "letterboxed." I have tried all the various format settings that the menu offers as to screen format size and that does not solve the problem. I have another DVD player, not a BluRay hooked to the other HDMI input and that will play all the DVDs full screen that the other will not. I tried calling Panasonic and they could not seem to help, hopefully someone here can.

Most movies on blu-ray are presented in the original aspect ratio as the theatrical version, usually 2.35:1 or 2.4:1, while HDTVs have a ratio of 1.78:1 (16:9). So you still have black bars when watching movies. If you hate the bars you can usually zoom in on the tv, cropping the edges. That is usually with the picture aspect settings where you would find 4:3, 16:9, etc.

OK, I can understand that, but why then does it also play a regular DVD move and TV shows that I have downloaded and converted to divix in the same manner, which on my old DVD player fill up the entire screen.

Ron on the tv remote press the wide button and scroll to stretch