The Energon Pub

I'm not sure what aspect ratio they used on the DVD but its horrible really. I have a 27 inch full screen TV, and I think it MIGHT use a 3rd of the screen to show the movie. Its an HD capable TV, and in 16:9 mode it gives me a nice 25 inch screen. probably only loose about an inch or 2 of screen on the top and bottom in 16:9. Whatever one they did the transformers DVD in, the black bars are like 6 inches!

I bought the DVD on its launch date and I'm starting to realize more and more that the DVD is total crap. Horrible aspect ratio, no good special features, and an overpriced $29.99 price tag. Hell the HD-DVD version is the same price and has all the same features! I really hope they do a better DVD evenutally.

I know when I get my next TV which will be a widescreen TV the bars won't be as bad, but I almost guarentee that even on a widescreen TV you still have bars with this crappy ratio.

Cormaster628 wrote:I'm not sure what aspect ratio they used on the DVD but its horrible really. I have a 27 inch full screen TV, and I think it MIGHT use a 3rd of the screen to show the movie. Its an HD capable TV, and in 16:9 mode it gives me a nice 25 inch screen. probably only loose about an inch or 2 of screen on the top and bottom in 16:9. Whatever one they did the transformers DVD in, the black bars are like 6 inches!

I bought the DVD on its launch date and I'm starting to realize more and more that the DVD is total crap. Horrible aspect ratio, no good special features, and an overpriced $29.99 price tag. Hell the HD-DVD version is the same price and has all the same features! I really hope they do a better DVD evenutally.

I know when I get my next TV which will be a widescreen TV the bars won't be as bad, but I almost guarentee that even on a widescreen TV you still have bars with this crappy ratio.

You bought the wide screen edition of the dvd, correct ?

If you're playing a wide screen movie on a 27" regular screen tv then it's going to be mashed in like that.

Wide screen formated movies are simply meant for wide screen tv's, I have a Samsung 50" 1080 DLP tv so when you get your new tv try watching it again on that and see how big an improvement it is.

They didn't even make a fullscreen version of the film, did they?

yes but when I watch other widescreen DVD's, or TV in HD, like I said the bars are not that bad. in 16:9 aspect ratio my TV is 25 inches measured diagonally. The bars are 2 inches at best. All my DVD's are in widescreen and Transformers is by far the worst one. The actual vertical viewing area is like 3 inches or so.

Cormaster628 wrote:yes but when I watch other widescreen DVD's, or TV in HD, like I said the bars are not that bad. in 16:9 aspect ratio my TV is 25 inches measured diagonally. The bars are 2 inches at best. All my DVD's are in widescreen and Transformers is by far the worst one. The actual vertical viewing area is like 3 inches or so.

LOL the transformers would look like the Heroes Of Cybertron line of figures on your screen!

I'm sure when you get a new tv and I recommend at least a 50" DLP 1080i or 1080p which is what I have that will solve your problems BUT...Samsung now has a 73" that I'm thinking about getting over the summer, I love the 50" and it's made a dramatic way of how I view tv shows and dvd's but the 73" is even more impressive...anything beyond that is simply way too big even for me. Good luck to you.

I've acctually got 2 TV's picked out. Samsung LED engine 50 inch DLP, and Sony 3LCD 46 inch projection TV. Both are 1080p sets. I've been researching for a while, as I want to get the best picture for the least price. I love flat panels but to really get a nice one you gotta spend at least $1600. The Samsung DLP is $1299, the Sony 3LCD is $1050. I'm waiting on our so called "economy stimulus package" check to come, then I'm going to buy one. My wife said I could use our $1200 to get a TV so thats what I'm doing.

Cormaster628 wrote:I'm not sure what aspect ratio they used on the DVD but its horrible really. I have a 27 inch full screen TV, and I think it MIGHT use a 3rd of the screen to show the movie. Its an HD capable TV, and in 16:9 mode it gives me a nice 25 inch screen. probably only loose about an inch or 2 of screen on the top and bottom in 16:9. Whatever one they did the transformers DVD in, the black bars are like 6 inches!

I bought the DVD on its launch date and I'm starting to realize more and more that the DVD is total crap. Horrible aspect ratio, no good special features, and an overpriced $29.99 price tag. Hell the HD-DVD version is the same price and has all the same features! I really hope they do a better DVD evenutally.

I know when I get my next TV which will be a widescreen TV the bars won't be as bad, but I almost guarentee that even on a widescreen TV you still have bars with this crappy ratio.

The aspect ratio for the DVD (and HD-DVD) is 2.35:1 not 16:9 and is the reason you see larger black bars above and below the picture on your TV than you would with a movie that is encoded in 16:9.

On my 52" Sharp Aquos the HD-DVD version of the movie looks fantastic in 1080p. You are also correct, you will have black bars above and below the picture on any TV because the movie is encoded in 2.35:1.

The aspect ratio really isn't bad but it is meant to be watched on a much larger (and wider) TV.

Cormaster628 wrote:I've acctually got 2 TV's picked out. Samsung LED engine 50 inch DLP, and Sony 3LCD 46 inch projection TV. Both are 1080p sets. I've been researching for a while, as I want to get the best picture for the least price. I love flat panels but to really get a nice one you gotta spend at least $1600. The Samsung DLP is $1299, the Sony 3LCD is $1050. I'm waiting on our so called "economy stimulus package" check to come, then I'm going to buy one. My wife said I could use our $1200 to get a TV so thats what I'm doing.

The thing is man, you get what you pay for.

Depending on what you want to get out of your TV there are a number of things to watch for including refresh rate, contrast ratio and resolution.

You can also find some good deals out there, recently Circuit City has been having a deal - 36 months at 0% interest.

When I went hunting I made sure I found a TV that would do 1080p, had a low refresh rate and a high contrast ratio. I also made sure I had enough HDMI and Component inputs for all of my devices.

Also keep in mind that most devices will not display (HD-DVD or Blu-ray) or upscale DVD to 1080p unless it's connected via HDMI - at least not video on original media - games are fine.

Well, if you're not using HDMI for your Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player in the first place, you deserve to be smacked with a trout.

Iron-Man wrote:Well, if you're not using HDMI for your Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player in the first place, you deserve to be smacked with a trout.

hahahahaha

Iron-Man wrote:Well, if you're not using HDMI for your Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player in the first place, you deserve to be smacked with a trout.

You would be suprised how many people don't do that.

Just like people who pay for HD channels on cable but use a composite cable instead of component.

JTKranix wrote:

Iron-Man wrote:Well, if you're not using HDMI for your Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player in the first place, you deserve to be smacked with a trout.

You would be suprised how many people don't do that.

Just like people who pay for HD channels on cable but use a composite cable instead of component.

Doesn't help that the cheapasses at Sony and Samsung package in a handy dandy composite cable WITH the Blu-Ray player. Wouldn't you pack in at least component so people wouldn't instantly think everything looks like crap?

Iron-Man wrote:

JTKranix wrote:

Iron-Man wrote:Well, if you're not using HDMI for your Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player in the first place, you deserve to be smacked with a trout.

You would be suprised how many people don't do that.

Just like people who pay for HD channels on cable but use a composite cable instead of component.

Doesn't help that the cheapasses at Sony and Samsung package in a handy dandy composite cable WITH the Blu-Ray player. Wouldn't you pack in at least component so people wouldn't instantly think everything looks like crap?

I can understand it to a point, not everyone has a TV with HDMI but pretty much everyone has a TV with at least one composite input.

However, you really have no business buying a Blu-ray player if your TV doesn't at least have Component inputs.

HDMI cables are so incredibly cheap now, I bought a HDMI cable from buy.com a month or so ago for less than $10 for my Dad. There really is no excuse for them to not package a composite/component combo cable and a HDMI cable. Their cost per cable would have to be under $1.

Video/Audio cables have pretty much the same mark up as Ethernet. You can buy Ethernet cables for pennies but if you go into any retail store they are $10+.