Widescreen LCD monitor question

[redshifter]

recently i bought a 19" widescreen (roughly 16:9) lcd monitor and a new video card with dvi. the image is really nice, and i like the extra desktop space.

however, when i watch widescreen movies, the picture is windowboxed, or like this:

the movie is about the right aspect ratio for the monitor, but is shrunk in the center.

i have a viewsonic va1912wb monitor, a radeon 9600 pro atlantis card, and use nero showtime.

what i want is the film to at least fill the screen as much as possible without having to zoom, or distort the aspect ratio. any ideas? thx.

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by redshifter recently i bought a 19" widescreen (roughly 16:9) lcd monitor and a new video card with dvi. the image is really nice, and i like the extra desktop space. however, when i watch widescreen movies, the picture is windowboxed, or like this: the movie is about the right aspect ratio for the monitor, but is shrunk in the center. i have a viewsonic va1912wb monitor, a radeon 9600 pro atlantis card, and use nero showtime. what i want is the film to at least fill the screen as much as possible without having to zoom, or distort the aspect ratio. any ideas? thx.

I have a dell 2005fpw. I just put my programs to either my aspect ratio, or windvd to pan & scan. Also check your monitor settings for what the aspect setting is set to (i.e. 1:1 or aspect, etc) and nero showtime if it has a setting, in the case you don't want to zoom or distort your aspect ratio.

But any way, even with pan & scan dvd's look rather good.

 

[HD-5000]

Some movies are "wider" than widescreen. I would say most DVD's i own show big bars on the top and bottom. It's normal. You can stretch your movies and keep your aspect ratio if you stretch the picture so it fills the left and right.

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HD-5000 Some movies are "wider" than widescreen. I would say most DVD's i own show big bars on the top and bottom. It's normal. You can stretch your movies and keep your aspect ratio if you stretch the picture so it fills the left and right.

i know all about aspect ratios of cinemascope, vistavision, cinerama, 4:3, pal, etc. i know they are all different ratios.

if you look at my nice mspaint graphic, you'll understand hat i want:

what i have:

what i want:

i don't know how to make it more clear. thx.

 

[JahJahBinks]

make it full screen?

 

[FalconP]

I too have recently got a 19" wide-screen (the old 13" CRT had decided to call it quits) and was baffled by the same problem at first. Some tinkering with the configuration in PowerDVD (CLPV smart stretch) did the trick. I suppose there is a similar stretch function in Nero Showtime.

 

[CousCous]

try it with some other player like videolan. could be just nero.

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JahJahBinks make it full screen?

it is full screen.

nero apparently does not have a stretch mode, and i'd rather not use a stretch mode as it degrades the picture (multiplying pixels).

i've tried vlc and didn't like it. too buggy.

 

[vibin247]

It's probably because your monitor has a native aspect ratio of 16:10, which is what most widescreen monitors have, so you'll see black bars or squeezing on the sides, while the top and bottom are normal. Have you tried using WinDVD? It might not be the best player out there, but it might work best for you.

 

[HD-5000]

Its boxed like that because its properly showing the amount of pixels of the DVD video. What is the max res of your monitor? I have a Dell 2007WFP and it has 1680 by 1050. The typical res of DVD-video is 720 by 480.

You will lose quality by filling out your screen. Can't avoid it.

 

[c0mfortably_numb]

I have a Viewsonic VA1912W 19" widescreen 1440x900 Resolution...My screen is the same. It's normal to have bars if your screen is a different native resolution then what the DVD was produced with. If you want to fill the screen it would have to be done in the software, and there will be a loss of video quality, no way around it.

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HD-5000 Its boxed like that because its properly showing the amount of pixels of the DVD video. What is the max res of your monitor? I have a Dell 2007WFP and it has 1680 by 1050. The typical res of DVD-video is 720 by 480. You will lose quality by filling out your screen. Can't avoid it.

1440 x 900. i thought it might be that. thanks, i learned something here.

 

[Arainach]

When in doubt, ask around at http://www.widescreengamingforum.com - those guys know more about monitors (in every respect, not just gaming) than anyone I've ran across.

 

[roadtonowhere08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by redshifter 1440 x 900. i thought it might be that. thanks, i learned something here.

Use a combination of ffdshow and dscaler to enlarge the image to fit any resolution you want (as long as you have the horsepower). If you use a lanczos resize method, you will have minimal degradation. There is a lot of help you can get at avsforum if you need any help, or I can try to help you as well. I use it for all videos. Works great.

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadtonowhere08 Use a combination of ffdshow and dscaler to enlarge the image to fit any resolution you want (as long as you have the horsepower). If you use a lanczos resize method, you will have minimal degradation. There is a lot of help you can get at avsforum if you need any help, or I can try to help you as well. I use it for all videos. Works great.

cool, i'll check those out tonight.