Bluray owners. Full screen or Zoom?

[techs]

I have been experimenting with my new bluray player and 52 inch lcd between Full screen (with the bars on top and bottom) and Zoom.
I think I like the zoom better. There's something about having all that wasted space that eats at me. I have to move like half the distance to the tv just to get the effect of the FX.
So I watched Taking of Pelham 123 in zoom and it was awesome.

So how do you watch your Blurays?

 

[CubanlB]

There's just something about clipping parts of a film that just eats at me.

Full screen, always.

But, to each their own, that's why zoom is there!

 

[sivart]

There's just something about clipping parts of a film that just eats at me.

Original Aspect Ratio always and forever...the main reason I don't watch movies on network TV.

Since I consider movie making an art form, I want to see it how the artist intended me to see it. Would it make sense to buy an expensive painting and trim it to make it fit your frame at home? No, of course not.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Full screen. I'm constantly wondering if I'm missing anything when I use zoom.

 

[ManBearPig]

image quality is so much better and so is viewing area with full screen.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I use zoom on my very limited selection of non-anamorphic DVDs that have black bars on all sides if I don't use zoom.

Of course no zoom for everything else.

In the future, I may end up setting up a 2.35:1 CIH setup and then would end up using zoom with one of the new projectors designed to do this (rather than with an external lens), but that sort of zoom is a different animal than what you're talking about.

 

[prism]

Blu-Ray movies with full-screen as opposed to widescreen? Wuh?...

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Blu-Ray movies with full-screen as opposed to widescreen? Wuh?...

I'm assuming he meant watch them in the "normal" view (including black bars) = fullscreen vs. zooming in and lopping off the left and right bits of a 2.35:1 (or anything wider than 16x9) of the film = zoom.

 

[prism]

I'm assuming he meant watch them in the "normal" view (including black bars) = fullscreen vs. zooming in and lopping off the left and right bits of a 2.35:1 (or anything wider than 16x9) of the film = zoom.

Aahhh....in that case, zoom = dirty madness!!!

 

[Apex]

Watch it as intended.

 

[erwos]

Watch it as intended.

Original aspect ratio FTW!

 

[JackBurton]

Original aspect ratio FTW!

Yep.

 

[sdifox]

Are we just going to keep coming back to aspect ratio for eternity????

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Always fullscreen. To me that's a collateral benefit of having a large (in my case, 50") TV - even with the black bars I still have a nice large image.

 

[Blayze]

The only thing I zoom are some non-anamorphic DVDs I still have.

At first I was annoyed with 4:3 material on my HDTV and tried the stretch options. Couldn't find anything that looked good, and eventually got used to the black bars on the side.

 

[cliftonite]

Oar

 

[newnameman]

Original aspect ratio FTW!

This.

 

[Mike]

Full FTW

 

[techwanabe]

Depends. I do sometimes zoom. I find DVD's which are formated for Tube TV's (4:3) to be annoying to watch on a 16:9 TV. It feels like having blinders on the sides. For movies I watch original aspect about half the time and zoom for the other half. Its easier to watch full aspect on my 46-inch LCD vs my old 27-inch tube (I always zoomed my DVD player for that TV because the picture was unacceptabley small).

 

[kalrith]

OAR > *

There is no other option.

 

[Alamat]

Yup...OAR all the way. Been like that since I got my first DVD player in '98. A $300 Toshiba..imagine that!

 

[sdifox]

Yup...OAR all the way. Been like that since I got my first DVD player in '98. A $300 Toshiba..imagine that!

Mine was a 700 dollar Pioneer DV-505

 

[DaveJ]

I think I like the zoom better. There's something about having all that wasted space that eats at me. I have to move like half the distance to the tv just to get the effect of the FX.
So I watched Taking of Pelham 123 in zoom and it was awesome.

So how do you watch your Blurays?

Buy a bigger damn TV or move the couch if it's an issue. OAR all the way.

 

[Koing]

OAR

Koing

 

[KeithP]

OAR all the way. If I am going to take the time to watch a movie, I would prefer to see the entire movie.

I have yet to see any player (BD or DVD) that doesn't hurt image quality with zoom enabled.

With my first 16:9 TV, I actually made mattes to put over the unused areas of the display, depending on aspect ratio. It might seem odd but it does help with the viewing experience. I haven't been doing that for awhile but I was thinking I might try it again.

For those that are zooming, you might try making some mattes instead.

-KeithP