Subtitles on widescreen movies

DeafBug

DeafBug

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It is just me or am I missing something?

I got several DVD movies from Redbox and the last one I watched was 2012. I did notice some sort of a pattern and I kinda hate it.

If you get a widescreen DVD movie, there are two kinds depending on how the manufacture does it. First is where the DVD player will recognize (or you select it between Full Screen and Widescreen option if available) and will display it full across the widescreen TV with no black borders on the sides. The second is where it shows the movie in a widescreen format but it has a black border on the top and bottom as if it was showing on a 4:3 TV.

With the second option, I normally change my HDTV to Zoom in so the black border is gone and I got widescreen completely. (I know that there may be a little cropping or black borders on the top and bottom depending on the widescreen version.) But the difference is that if it has CC and the CC is displayed normal. If it is subtitled, the subtitles are burned in.

With the subtitles burned in, I can't zoom in. I have to watch the widescreen format movie on a widescreen TV with black borders all around. The only good thing about it is that the subtitle is not covering the images at all. So is CC.

I would prefer if all movies show CC so that I can do what I want with the screen format. Or have the subtitles "float" on the screen like ordinary closed captions does.
 
A lot of DVDs released in the first few years aren't in anamorphic widescreen, so they will be shown in 4:3.

If it's anamorphic, then the subtitles will be shown properly on the widescreen TV.
 
I will disagree with you. Even the latest movies that advertise in widescreen on the box such as 2012 are still in old school format.
 
DeafBug said:
I will disagree with you. Even the latest movies that advertise in widescreen on the box such as 2012 are still in old school format.
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Then you're not playing it right. The movie is in anamorphic widescreen. 2.40:1 to be exact.
 
All widescreen HDTV aspect ratios are 16 by 9 (1.78:1). It's very common that many movies including "2012" aspect ratios are 2.40:1. Therefore you will always see black bars at top and bottom assuming you don't use zoom in your TV or DVD/Blu-ray player.

Some movies are 1.85:1 and widescreen HDTVs purposely overscans the image so you won't see black bars at top or bottom of screen even though movies aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is a little different than standard widscreen HDTV of 16 by 9 (1.78:1).

Personally, I prefer all movies aspect ratio to be 1.85:1 because I hate black bars anywhere on TV screen. Also, I don't like to use zoom because it creates ugly artifacts on the screen. In other words, I prefer 1:1 ratio mapping.

Peter
 
peternagy said:
Personally, I prefer all movies aspect ratio to be 1.85:1 because I hate black bars anywhere on TV screen. Also, I don't like to use zoom because it creates ugly artifacts on the screen. In other words, I prefer 1:1 ratio mapping.
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I don't mind the different aspect ratios among all DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, I've been watching movies in widescreen for years.

Zooming is definitely out of question for me.
 
widescreen film rocks.

bye bye 4:3, I never seen it again.
 
It turns out to be the DVD player. It may not recognize the movie for anamorphic widescreen format. The player is only a few months old as we got it on Black Friday last year.

I have another DVD player in the bedroom with the HDTV. After playing around with both DVD players and HDTV. I would say that it is the DVD player. When I play a movie with subtitles only (last movie was "Have you heard about the Morgans?") in the bedroom, the movie was in widescreen with black bars on top with subtitles. But when put it in the other DVD player, it doesn't stretch it full across and when I do zoom in it cuts off the bottom line of the two lines in subtitles.

If the movie shows closed captions, I can zoom in and the captions are fine. So the DVD player is at faults, I did check the settings in the player and insure that it is set to Widescreen TV format. But it doesn't to crap with movies.

Thanks for your tips and suggestions.
 
evil_queen_lisa said:
could also be his tv ratio. Not all widescreen tvs are 4:3
Click to expand...

You are probably thinking of the LCD TVs in SD format when the TV is a flat screen but not in widescreen format. Those TVs are being hard to find now. 5 years ago, they were seen in stores. Today, you don't.
 
Please remember that "subtitles" are graphic overlays. The subtitles do not exist as text , they are simply pictures of words that are overlaid on the signal/picture. .. These are selected via the dvd menu or subtitle button on your dvd remote. zooming will almost ALWAYS screw up with how subtitles are displayed.

"captions" are sent over the VBI ( the 'blacker then black' sync pulse between frames ) Captions are interpreted and displayed by your display device ( TV in most cases , are separated decoders even produced anymore ?? ). so they will always be displayed inside the screen.

The movies that display a "choose which format" are usually anamorphic and are actually stored on the dvd in a format which the DVD player can adjust to the TV screen .. in order to have this work properly you need to be sure that the dvd player is configured properly.

when you see "wide-screen" or "full-screen" displayed on the packaging for the dvd , it usually means that the disc is not anamorphic and will only display the single format. playing a fullscreen disc on a 16:9 will show black on the sides .. and playing a wide screen on a 4:3 will show black bars above and below.

not all dvd players are created equal. Also there are quite a few of the 'cheap' dvd players that can not legally be called a "DVD" player , due to the fact that DVD is an industry standard.Also there is a licensing fee that must be paid to the patent holder or something so in order to avoid the extra expense they call it a media player or something and do not support the more advanced dvd features .. But I digress

The issue is all in your dvd player.. most players will have a local menu ( not the movies menu ) that is accessed via your remote ( likely by pressing the menu button with no dvd in the drive). In this menu should be a setting for output type or display. This needs to be set properly for the screen the dvd player is attached to.

In HD systems using hdmi connections to the tv ( and some when using competent ( three cables for video not just one yellow ) ) the dvd player can automatically detect the aspect ratio of the screen. If this is not the case , then the dvd player must be told what type of screen it is connected to.

If you have any movies that are "thx certified" chances are they will have a test sequence to calibrate your tv properly. This includes an aspect ratio check.

THX Optimizer Overview THX.com has more information about it ..

-chris
 
Just as an FYI - most DVD and some Blu-Ray players have some form of "caption setup" sub-menu that will allow you to modify how the closed captions are displayed on the tv screen - the captions menu should be accessible in basically the same way that you'd make on-screen adjustments to other programming functions such as timer, clock, screensaver/sleep mode, recording functions (if applicable)etc.
 
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