Rosen Entertainment Systems AC3003 owner manual What can I do about Black Bars ?

Rosen A8 Owner’s Manual

WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT BLACK BARS ?

WHY ARE THE BLACK BARS STILL THERE SOMETIMES?

Motion picture film and cameras, and later television screens, were originally designed around a screen size that was almost square - it was one-third wider than it was high (another way to say this is that it had a width-to-height ratio, or aspect ratio, of 4:3. This ratio, 4:3, can also be expressed as 1.66:1.)

When widescreen movies using technologies like Cinemascope and Panavision became popular, new aspect ratios were used

for them - 1.78:1, 2.35:1, and even 2.55:1. When high-definition television was developed, a screen shape of 16:9, or 1.85:1, was selected as the best compromise for viewing widescreen movie images.

When you watch widescreen movies on a standard 4:3 television, there are “black bars” on the top and bottom of the screen. This is often called a “letterbox” image. The alternative is called “pan-and-scan”, where the edges of the image are “cropped” off.

This system uses a widescreen 16:9, or 1.85:1 display - the same aspect ratio as high- definition televisions. This means that when viewing widescreen DVD’s, these black bars are either non-existent, or greatly minimized.

4:3

1.66:1

16:9

1.85:1

Letterbox

Widescreen

There are three possible reasons for black bars to appear on the top and bottom of the system’s display:

1)You are watching a widescreen movie with an aspect ratio greater than 1.85:1.

Check the disc jewel box to determine the DVD’s aspect ratio - if you see “2.3:1”, ” 2.33:1”, or ”2.35:1”, this applies to you.

2)The internal DVD player has been set for a 4:3 display instead of the built-in 16:9 wide display. See DVD Setup, Page 23, to correct this.

3)The “widescreen” DVD movie you are viewing is not “anamorphic” or “enhanced for widescreen televisions”. These films, often older DVD conversions, are not recommended for viewing on widescreen displays, since they will not flll a wide screen - instead, you often end up with a “picture frame’ effect. You can usually determine if your DVD was produced for optimum compatibility with widescreen televisions by looking for the word “anamorphic” or the phrase “enhanced for widescreen televisions” on the box.

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