Page 1 of Windowboxing (Talking non-anamorphic like it's the year 2000)

Oh man, how cool it is to have a question about DVDs! This takes me right back. Where's Westy? :D

By chance I've recently come across a couple of non-anamorphic DVDs in my collection (Commando and Brewster's Millions). When I try to play them back on my Samsung Blu-ray player, they play "windowboxed" (black bars on every side of the image). I am certain my all of my old DVD players scanned these appropriately and used as much of the available screen while keeping the aspect ratio. As it stands, I have to change my Blu-ray player settings to 4:3 to make the image the appropriate size on the screen. I don't think I'm missing any video information that way.

Is this a normal thing, where non-anamorphic DVDs won't play back properly on Blu-ray players and/or HDTVs? 

Thanks!

This item was edited on Thursday, 3rd May 2018, 11:31

I always had to zoom in non-anamorphic DVDs. I assume you're talking about 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 letterbox DVDs. Even on my old CRT widescreen set with Sony DVD player, I had to switch the TV to zoom mode to get the full picture.

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hmnn, not seen that, the CRT we use in the dining room has a button for several settings to remove black bars at top of bottom, but not sides.

not sure if the plasma in the living room does, i'll have a play when I get home, and if I get chance I'll try somehting in the PC, PS3, PS4 and bd player to see if it's the same for each!

some of the old tv series, kids cartoons will be 3:4 I'm sure.

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Yes, 1.85:1.

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Brian Elliott is a British journalist, covering soccer, MMA, and pro wrestling. He has written for the likes of the Associated Press, the Canadian Press, and Sports Illustrated. He is currently the editor at http://www.FightingSpiritMagazine.co.uk

Non-anamorphic/16:9 enhanced DVDs will need to be enlarged to fill the entire screen. In my experience most TVs have a mode (usually labelled 'cinema' or 'zoom') that stretches the image both horizontally and vertically to preserve the aspect ratio. I used to use it for the original release of The Thing, the original theatrical editions of Star Wars, all VHS tapes back in the day etc...







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