Well this may seem like a dumb question but I am lost. I upgrade my old square tube TV to a 50 in Panasonic plasma 720p and I still have black bars top and bottom on widescreen dvd's so I get an Oppo Player, set it to 720p, connect to HK 645 through HDMI then to TV with HDMI, excitedly pop in a widescreen DVD and the damn black bars are still there (although the picture is amazingly better than it was with my old Panasonic DVD). I thought the upconversion to 720p by the Oppo would resolve this?? I can zoom the Oppo with no noticeable picture degradation, is that the only way to get rid of the bars?
Thanks

HDTV is 16:9 (1.85 aspect ratio). Movies are frequently at 2.35:1. Check at the back of the DVD. The aspect ratio is written there.

Depening on the aspect ratio the movie or DVD was filmed in, you will get black bars. If you watch a regular HD programming from NBC, FOX, ABC, etc you should be seeing full 16x9 aspect ratio (no Black Bars).

20th Century Fox is know for shooting movies with wide aspect ratio. Movies like StarWars, or Raders of the Lost Ark.

this link might help

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/home/wsfaq.html

Ok, I get it, Thank you very much!! I thought I had something hooked up wrong but my HD TV stations are full screen and some of my DVD's are too. Luckily the Oppo has a zoom setting that works well to get rid of the bars. Thanks again
Mike

You're welcome.

The zoom on the Oppo will get rid of the bars, but becareful, you might loose picture quality and some informaton on each side of the screen such as faces being cut off, as you are no longer watching the film in the original form.

I myself dont' mind the black bars as they aren't nearly as bad on a 16:9 screen as they are on a 4:3.

Enjoy!

Paul

They arent a "burn in " issue are they?

I believe burn-in is only and issue for pixels that are iluminated with the same colour for long periods of time. As black is the opposite of light (dark) or not iluminated, I don't think you have to worry about black bar burn-in. At least I have never heard of this before.

Paul

Thanks Paul

Black bars won't burn in but the viewed area will if the DVD is left on, leaving nice black bars on the top and bottom, although the newer Plasmas are said to be burn-in resistant as they now wobble the picture slightly between the pixels.