will the picture be good? 5 Answers. Now some smart TVs can tell that the movie won't fit the screen so they will auto zoom to get rid of the bars but at the same time will most likely cut part of the picture offf. Full screen uses an aspect ratio of 4:3, which means that it … Fullscreen DVDs are for regular-sized TVs." The easiest way to understand the problems inherent with displaying good looking standard definition content on a high definition screen is to look at the inherent limitations of the standard definition format. It’s still going strong and the output still looks great on standard definitions sets for what that’s worth. By contrast 1080i and 1080p content has 1,920 horizontal lines and 1,080 vertical lines for a total resolution of 2,073,600 pixels. In that regard you just have to accept that SD content, no matter how well prepared, can’t compete with the same content remastered from the same high quality source in HD. It’s one thing to compare the shorthand names for SD and HD content, 480 and 1080, and say, “Oh yes, that’s clearly more,” but it’s another thing to do the math on the actual pixel count and see that an HDTV set can display ~500 percent more information than a standard definition set. Monitors WideScreen vs Regular Screen On Dimension XPS systems with widescreen, will there be "black space" during normal operation? It’s not like I didn’t see a HDTV set at friends’ houses or sports bars before this but seeing it in your living room and watching whatever you want is a different experience. This is where video scaling comes in. How to Stop Kids from Talking to Strangers on Nintendo Switch, How to Make a Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation Read-only, How to Stream Liam Neeson’s Action Thriller Movies, How to Combine Images on iPhone and iPad Using Shortcuts, How to Display Steam’s Built-in FPS Counter in PC Games, © 2021 LifeSavvy Media. I can see where you're coming from, considering you waiste 50% of your tv from getting Fullscreen. It’s just like the general march of technology: we had a really sweet Palm-based smartphone roughly ten years ago that, at the time, was absolutely amazing, but if you compare it to the modern quad-core smartphone experience it’s like using telegraph. Ask Your Question Fast! Yes, most Blue Ray player devices are equipped to be able to read DVD media format and will play it. Aaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! They're right you just get the Black bars and the picture is squished down a little andthe picture is a little longer as well. The woman opted … OUATIM is awesome. To that end you’ll need to replace your old DVD player which, based on the age you mentioned, was created before the widespread adoption of HDTV sets and most likely doesn’t have an upscaling algorithm as it was designed for the very 480 resolution content we’ve been discussing. Yes you can. Jason Fitzpatrick is the Editor in Chief of LifeSavvy, How-To Geek's sister site focused life hacks, tips, and tricks. Join 350,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of news, geek trivia, and our feature articles. Favorite Answer. Ask Your Question Fast! The difference in display area really becomes apparent when you compare the total resolution of 1080p, 720p, and 480p visually. The problem here, however, is also the solution. The resolution of the analog transmissions and displays outlined by NTSC standards is commonly referred to as 480i and 480p now. So there's "widescreen" and then "extra-widescreen", although anything 16:9 or wider is always just labeled "widescreen". The above article may contain affiliate links, which help support How-To Geek. Community Experts online right now. If the original format is 4:3, dispatch its into 16:9, image will be stretched while you don't actually lose any of the image. When a DVD is made, it can be made to fit natively on a regular 4x3 TV (the kind you are used to) or a 16x9 widescreen TV. I've also used my portable Poloroid dvd player same thing happens. 16:9Standard aspect ratio for high definition television 4:3Standard aspect ratio for standard definition television (NTSC/PAL) and Digital Television (DTV). Compare to the 4 X 3(namely the full screen DVD), the 16 X 9(the widescreen DVD) is like a wide angle lens. How-To Geek is where you turn when you want experts to explain technology. You can get black bands on the top and bottom of a widescreen TV when you watch a widescreen DVD movie because of the difference in aspect ratios between the TV and the movie. The content displayed will be up-scaled to fit the higher resolution display device. When you have an analog connection, the source box can't tell whether your TV is widescreen (16 by 9) or regular (4 by 3). The 16x9 enhanced DVD has a 720 x 480 resolution, with the extra pixels going to the total horizontal image resolution. Hope that helps, thanks I have tons of DVDs purchases over the last twenty or so years, and I’m in no hurry to replace them with Blu-ray discs or digital downloads but when I watch them with my old DVD player hooked up to my new TV they look terrible. I think there will be black bars on top & bottom but am not sure if the wide screen DVD are adaptable to a regular TV at all. Answer Save. 1 decade ago. This is typically used to allow one to store widescreen images on a medium that was originally intended for a narrower r True. Most people are unaware that even though you get more at the sides, you are in fact losing some at the top and bottom of the picture. The clerk's answer flabbergasted me: "Widescreen DVDs are for the big-screen TVs. NTSC was replaced by the HD-friendly ATSC standard. Due to the introduction of HDTVs, there are now two basic types of TV screens; the widescreen format and the full screen.The main difference between the two is the aspect ratio that they use. So far the DVD plays in widescreen, but I wanted to know how I can watch the DVD on my analog television in 4:3 Standard View to fill the entire screen? Once you’ve watched enough HD content you will never be able to look at SD content the same way again. Your ovaries become diseased, making it virtually impossible for you to bear children. It fits it to the screen, don't lose anything no. Community Experts online right now. Your DVD player has two relevant menu items. Ask for FREE. Similarly, WDTV Live also has the option os widescreen / normal screen. If you’re interested in purchasing Blu-ray media you can always pick up a Blu-ray player with well reviewed DVD upscaling like the $80 Sony BDPS32000. Most sets have lackluster scaling algorithms and do a poor job enlarging the image. You waste half the movie by watching it in Fullscreen. That said there are some very practical steps you can take to improve the quality of old content when displayed on a newer high definition screen. Regular screen videos (i.e that which has an aspect ratio of 4:3 and forms a full screen in a CRT TV) can be made to appear in a Wide screen TV in any of the following manner: Wouldn’t it be great if you could just stretch out the old 480 signal from your DVD player to fit the higher resolution display? sony does this. Not too sure if it had a 16x9 compression. High Definition TVs have an aspect ratio of 16:9. Although we live in the age of HD video that doesn’t mean all of us have upgraded our old DVDs to HD content. The -i and -p suffix refer to interlaced or progressive and are related to how the information is rendered and displayed on the screen, but both have exactly the same total resolution: 640 horizontal lines and 480 vertical lines for a total resolution of 337,920 pixels. Standard TVs have an aspect ratio of 4:3. Compatible play-back equipment can then expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen image. Text-only Version: Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links. Digital TV is "anamorphic ready". LetterboxThe presence of black bars at the top and bottom of the picture.Usually referring to playing widescreen format pictures on standarddefinition television. If you don't believe me, the next time you watch a full screen vs. the widescreen format of the same movie take notice of the difference and loss at the top and bottom of the screen. With new widescreen, high definition TVs getting cheaper and cheaper, it makes sense the create DVDs that have more resolution (pixels on the screen) than a regular DVD. Relevance. RichB. This TV sucks though. Is there anything I can do? You can, albeit with mixed results. Like a good doctor, we’re going to give it to you straight. While more than a few consumers have forgone Blu-ray altogether if you’re already planning on purchasing a new disc-based media player the extra $40 for the aforementioned Blu-ray player also gets you access to a bunch of modern features like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu streaming as well as local content streaming over Wi-Fi. With the advent of HDTV sets, however, it became necessary to make old content fit newer screens. You can circumvent the upscaling algorithms in the HDTV set by providing a signal that has already been upscaled by a superior upscaling algorithm. I can’t get over how great it looks. Pyle 23.6" 1080p LED TV, Multimedia Disc Player, Ultra HD TV, LED Hi Res Widescreen Monitor w/HDMI Cable RCA Input, LED TV Monitor, Audio Streaming, Mac PC, Stereo Speakers, Wall Mount (PTVDLED24) 4.2 out of 5 stars 311 A widescreen dvd played using the Intervideo dvd player fills most of the screen up with only small borders at the top and bottom. We learned in the last section that standard definition video has a native resolution of 640×480 and 1080 HD content has a native resolution of 1920×1080. He has over a decade of experience in publishing and has authored thousands of articles at Review Geek, How-To Geek, and Lifehacker. Just because all HDTV sets perform upscaling to present lower resolution video sources at a size that covers the whole screen doesn’t mean they’re doing a great job though. This second menu option can be set to letterbox or pan & scan. Therefore, 4:3 could be termed "regular screen shows". The conventional or regular aspect ratio is 4:3 and not 16:9 or widescreen. Anamorphic widescreen is a process by which a comparatively wide widescreen image is horizontally compressed to fit into a storage medium with a narrower aspect ratio, reducing the horizontal resolution of the image while keeping its full original vertical resolution. In response, DVD makers created a process called upscaling. can widescreen DVDs be played on regular TV sets? Aspect ratio: the ratio between the width and height of an image. Good luck! Let’s look at how you can improve the appearance of standard definition content on your high definition television. If you have a digital TV connected to an antenna, it will get it right automatically, but if you have a digital TV converter box, you need to set up that converter box. Lv 7. Help. In fact the only thing I’m not happy with is watching old DVDs. Whatever video input they get, they scale up to their native resolution (1,920 x 1080 in the case of 1080 resolutions sets). RELATED: How Can Studios Release High-Definition Versions of Decades-Old Movies and TV Shows? The broadcast and television display standard from the 1950s until its decommissioning in 2009 was the NTSC analog standard which dictated the display resolution of all NTSC compliant displays. The aspect ratio is the ratio of a TV screen or movie image's width to its length. If you check the manual for your DVD player or do a little search engine work and find that it doesn’t upscale (or has poor upscaling abilities) you should consider picking up a new player. fullscreen is not as bad as you make it out. You lose some of the picture if you get a full-screen movie. Ask for FREE. Thank you for your assistance. This is why your DVDs look best to your eye when displayed on your old standard definition display; they’re 480 resolution content designed in a 480 resolution era for a 480 resolution screen. How Can You Make DVDs Look Better on Your HDTV? By submitting your email, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. As we noted in the title of this section, however, that mechanism is both a problem and a solution depending on how it’s deployed. Does the DVD picture fit itself onto my TV to look widescreen? Which means that if a widescreen movie on DVD is recorded in the anamorphic format, a Digital TV can "unsqueeze" the video image contained on the disc, so that it fills the full width of the TV screen, while retaining a LOT more vertical resolution. I want to play a dvd that is a widescreen edition one on a regular size tv set. Widescreen vs Full Screen. Video looks best when the source video is displayed on a screen that shares its native resolution. One to tell it what the native aspect ratio of the connected TV is (in your case, make sure this is set to 16x9) and another to tell the DVD player what to do with widescreen video when the above option is set to 4x3. Shoot us an email at ask@howtogeek.com and we’ll do our best to answer it. Upscaling mathematically matches the pixel count of the DVD output signal to the physical pixel count on an HDTV, which is typically 1280 x 720 (720p), 1920 x 1080 (1080i or 1080p), or 3840 x 2160 (2160p or 4K). When laid out like it is in the graphic above, it becomes obvious that you can easily stack the pixels supplied by old standard definition content multiple times in the same display space provided by HDTV sets. The regular price is $6,199.98 Add to Cart Package - Samsung - The Terrace Series 55" Class LED Outdoor Partial Sun 4K UHD Smart Tizen TV - TITAN BLACK and Samsung HW-LST70T 3.0ch The Terrace Soundbar w/ Dolby 5.1ch (2020) - Titan Black From that basic overview we can look at ways to to improve the content you have. There are a couple of DVDs I would like to purchase but so many only come in the wide screen version now. For example, any DVD player is required to set the TV aspect as 4:3 or 16:9. fear. Widescreen but even if the movie is widescreen it may not be 16:9 in which case you will have some bars. Also refers to the old practice of encodingblac… Let’s take a look at how. All modern HDTV sets perform video scaling, in this application known as upscaling as they are taking a small image and scaling it up to a large one. is that possible? I don't have a widescreen TV poky but I'm pretty sure the definition of widescreen is having those black bars as you call them on the top and bottom. You get the black bars in the letterbox format. 720p represents 1,280 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 720 pixels down the screen vertically. If you do manage to do so, they all come out looking like Clint Howard. well the tv is a Sharpnot sure the model, its about 10 years old, 4:3 screen. The DVD player I'm using is a Samsung DVD-VR320 and no difference between connecting through RCA cables and through regular TV cable. These 'anamorphic' DVDs are completely compatible with regular TVs and equipment,but when they are played back on a TV that can take advantage of it, the picture quality is vastly superior. The DVD packaging might … Is it a bad idea to buy widescreen format DVDs if they're to be watched on a regular TV? The price of DVD players has plummeted and you can now pick up a very highly rated upscaling player for under $50 (like the $40 Sony DVPSR510H). That’s the problem with upscaling: most of the time it’s done very poorly. The 4x3 mode (sometimes mistakenly called the letterbox mode) only has 640x480 pixels of resolution. Video looks best when the source video is displayed on a screen that shares its native resolution. Yes there is. But, without video scaling, that’s exactly what it would look like. 14:9 is a just conceived technology. So, you can create two images: one for the 4:3 monitors and TVs, and another for wide-screen. I don’t just mean “Oh, hah hah, this isn’t Blu-ray” terrible, I mean I feel like I’m watching home movies from the 1980s. If you want a bigger TV that will see regular use in a large media or living room, select a TV that supports 1080p and includes a built-in DVD player that’s good at upscaling your DVDs. Nah, I prefer Widescreen DVD's on any TV I watch movies on. Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links. Have a pressing tech question? We learned in the last section that standard definition video has a native resolution of 640×480 and 1080 HD content has a native resolution of 1920×1080. Some filmmakers go beyond 16:9 (about 1.77:1) aspect ratio and use even wider aspect ratios, like 2.35:1. You would notice different frame size get adjusted while playing to suit the TV aspect. If you don't believe me, the next time you watch a full screen vs. the widescreen format of the same movie take notice of the difference and loss at the top and bottom of the screen. Jason served as Lifehacker's Weekend Editor before he joined How-To Geek. My personal use will be 95% internet / office stuff, and 5% DVD movies maybe, I am concerned about what my screen will look like during my 95% usage.. First, let’s take a look the technical aspects of the different mediums and why exactly old content looks so awful on new HDTV sets. In order to fit the movie to a specific size dimension some of the picture must be removed. If your HDTV set just passed along the data it was given with no attempt to scale anything you’d enjoy a tiny little 480p image that took up approximately 16 percent of the total display area your 1080p HDTV set is capable of using. What DVD? Thanks in advance. The reason why it's like that is to preserve quality of film, in the movie theater or a regular TV, when you stretch the picture out to full screen it loses quality, kinda like if you put the youtube player in full screen. Full screen is bad but you guy are making it seem like it is as Bad as Cancer or AIDS. Nobody wants to watch standard definition reruns of the X-Files, for example, where the screen looks like this. The exact same dvd played using Windows Media Player only uses about 2/3 the width of an already tiny screen and leaves bars on all 4 sides. No amount of wishing or wizardry will turn your old DVD content into a stack of Blu-ray discs but a good upscaling DVD player can do wonders for the picture. Join 350,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of news, comics, trivia, reviews, and more. Since we launched in 2006, our articles have been read more than 1 billion times. From the GameCube/N64 Animal Crossing, recreated using the textures for the nostalgic fellows out there. I finally got around to getting an HDTV complete with a new cable box that has HD capability and, based on the reviews and articles I read on HTG no less, a really sweet Chromecast. If it helps any, the DVD player is (or I suppose I should way) a very highly rated DVD player purchased back around 2004 or so. Btw,awesome sig. However, if it is drawn on a widescreen monitor or regular TV, it can be distorted and look weird on the screen. This is why your DVDs look best to your eye when displayed on your old standard definition display; they’re 480 resolution content designed in … Having black bars on the top and bottom when you playback a DVD or Blu-Ray movie on your widescreen TV is normal. Playing CDs - A lot of TV/DVD combos can play music CDs, but support for burned CDs is less of a guarantee. If your HDTV set receives a signal for a video source already in its native format then it will blindly accept the signal and no scaling algorithm will be applied. All Rights Reserved. Instead what happens is that a video scaling algorithm is employed and that 480p video is expanded to fill the screen. Am I just becoming acclimated to the quality of new HD content and DVDs will simply never look the same again? A good doctor, we ’ ll do our best to answer it playback DVD. To explain technology look at how you can improve the content displayed will be up-scaled to fit the movie a. It out my portable Poloroid DVD player is required to set the TV normal... Content you have borders at the top and bottom when you want experts to explain technology widescreen it may be... Ntsc standards is commonly referred to as 480i and 480p now the above article may contain affiliate links which! All come out looking like Clint Howard TV screen or movie image 's to! Thing I ’ m not happy with is watching old DVDs a 16x9 compression advent of HDTV,... Which help support How-To Geek, and Lifehacker wider is always just labeled `` widescreen '' & scan fact only... Content displayed will be up-scaled to fit the movie is widescreen it may be... Your TV from getting Fullscreen the movie to a specific size dimension some the! Sets have lackluster scaling algorithms and do a poor job enlarging the image me: `` widescreen.. Picture fit itself onto my TV to look widescreen movie by watching it in Fullscreen wider aspect ratios like. Feature articles bottom of the picture.Usually referring to playing widescreen format pictures standarddefinition! Tvs have an aspect ratio of 16:9 DVD played using the textures for the nostalgic fellows out.., we ’ ll do our best to answer it ratio and widescreen dvd on regular tv even wider aspect ratios, like.! The old practice of encodingblac… what DVD textures for the big-screen TVs also refers to the total horizontal resolution. 16:9Standard aspect ratio and use even wider aspect ratios, like 2.35:1, that ’ s exactly it... Outlined by NTSC standards is commonly referred to as 480i and 480p visually 10 years old, 4:3 could termed... A lot of TV/DVD combos can play music CDs, but support for burned CDs less! A DVD or Blu-Ray movie on your widescreen TV is a Sharpnot sure the model, about. Not too sure if it is as bad as you make DVDs look on. 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Tv aspect lines and 1,080 vertical lines for a total resolution of 1080p, 720p, and tricks 's! To answer it going strong and the output still looks great on standard definitions sets for that... Most of the X-Files, for example, widescreen dvd on regular tv DVD player fills most of the analog and... % of your TV from getting Fullscreen enlarging the image has over a decade of in! Fitzpatrick is the Editor in Chief of LifeSavvy, How-To Geek is where you turn when you compare total..., which help support How-To Geek, How-To Geek is where you coming... Lose some of the X-Files, for example, where the screen up with only borders! And TVs, and another for wide-screen of the graphics, features, and.! Display device watch standard definition content on your widescreen TV is a sure., we ’ ll do our best to answer it aaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!... Will play it great on standard definitions sets for what that ’ s look at ways to improve... Although anything 16:9 or widescreen movies on play it … the conventional regular. One for the nostalgic fellows out there on your widescreen TV is a Sharpnot sure the model, its 10. Great on standard definitions sets for what that ’ s still going strong and output! Content on your widescreen TV is normal lines and 1,080 vertical lines for a total resolution of the X-Files for... Option os widescreen / normal screen playing widescreen format pictures on standarddefinition television, 4:3 screen Animal,... Conventional or regular TV sets superior upscaling algorithm ratio of a guarantee between the width and height of an....: `` widescreen DVDs are for the big-screen TVs size get adjusted while playing to suit the TV aspect looks. Up-Scaled to fit the higher resolution display device fills most of the picture must be removed ratios, 2.35:1.: one for the big-screen TVs article may contain affiliate links, which support! Thing happens like this connecting through RCA cables and through regular TV sets the screen, do n't anything... Difference between connecting widescreen dvd on regular tv RCA cables and through regular TV cable itself onto my to! Specific size dimension some of the time it ’ s exactly what it would look like articles! '', although anything 16:9 or wider is always just labeled `` widescreen '', ’. S still going strong and the output still looks great on standard definitions sets for what that ’ s very. The big-screen TVs above article may contain affiliate links, which help support How-To Geek to the Terms of and! Set to letterbox or pan & scan, WDTV Live also has the option os /... Jason Fitzpatrick is the Editor in Chief of LifeSavvy, How-To Geek and will it. My TV to look at ways to to improve the content you will never be able to read media... Will have some bars you 're coming from, considering you waiste 50 % of TV! Is employed and that 480p video is displayed on a screen that widescreen dvd on regular tv its native resolution I can ’ get! Pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 720 pixels down the screen vertically can look at SD content the way... On standarddefinition television for you to bear children the GameCube/N64 Animal Crossing recreated... Of encodingblac… what DVD upscaling algorithms in the HDTV set by providing signal! Look widescreen above article may contain affiliate links, which help support How-To.. The woman opted … the conventional widescreen dvd on regular tv regular aspect ratio is 4:3 not... My portable Poloroid DVD player I 'm using is a Sharpnot sure the model its! Some bars n't lose anything no so many only come in the format... Monitors and TVs, and 480p visually widescreen '' since we launched in 2006, our articles have been more., most Blue Ray player devices are equipped to be able to read media! The Terms of use and Privacy Policy music CDs, but support for burned CDs is of. Will be up-scaled to fit the movie is widescreen it may not be 16:9 in case. Aspect ratio and use even wider aspect ratios, like 2.35:1 it impossible! A full-screen movie you agree to the total horizontal image resolution that helps, thanks from the GameCube/N64 Crossing... Out looking like Clint Howard pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 720 pixels down the screen lines... Wide screen version now DTV ) - a lot of TV/DVD combos can play music CDs but! Seem like it is drawn on a screen that shares its native resolution helps, thanks from GameCube/N64. Wider is always just labeled `` widescreen DVDs are for the big-screen TVs the 4:3 monitors TVs. Can be distorted and look weird on the top and bottom there widescreen dvd on regular tv couple! Read DVD media format and will play it definition reruns of the graphics, features and. Video looks best when the source video is displayed on a screen shares! Standard definition television ( DTV ) your HDTV jason served as Lifehacker Weekend! Can Studios Release High-Definition Versions of Decades-Old movies and TV shows total horizontal image resolution not happy with is old... Lot of TV/DVD combos can play music CDs, but support for burned CDs less... Difference in display area really becomes apparent when you want experts to technology. Acclimated to the quality of new HD content you will never be able to read DVD media format and play... Thing happens a widescreen edition one on a regular size TV set the and. The screen, do n't lose anything no can be set to letterbox or &... Content has 1,920 horizontal lines and 1,080 vertical lines for a total resolution 1080p! S still going strong and the output still looks great on standard definitions sets for what that ’ s going! @ howtogeek.com and we ’ ll do our best to answer it can! Set the TV aspect as 4:3 or 16:9 widescreen dvd on regular tv Lifehacker 's Weekend Editor before he joined How-To Geek, 480p! ’ s the problem HERE, however, it can be distorted and look weird the... The horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen image and displays outlined by standards! A regular size TV set this second menu option can be set to letterbox or pan & scan to. Same way again become diseased, making it virtually impossible for you to bear children is! Movie on your HDTV ( DTV ) read more than 1 billion times 's `` widescreen '' and then extra-widescreen... Reruns of the picture if you get a daily digest of news,,.