Subject:	Yellow Submarine DVD
Posted by:	brioma33 on 2/26/10 10:07 AM
I have a 42 inch TV and when I play my copy of Yellow Submarine, the picture only plays at 33 inches. This is the only disc that I have ever played that has done this, Beatles or other wise. My disc is the 1999 wide screen DVD and I'm not sure why this happens. The picture is watchable and does have good sound, but I was curious if anybody else experiences this. It seems that maybe it's the disc because I've never had any other movie play on a small picture like that. I tried to adjust the the picture with the TV controls and I can't get a full screen width picture that way either. Brian
[Posted by youngf on 3/3/10 11:59 AM] Are you saying that there are bars on the side as well as top and bottom? My copy plays with bars at top and bottom, but full width. I have a 37" Sharp Aquos. My player upconverts to 1080i and I use an HDMI cable. I leave my DVD zoom feature at x1 or theatrical mode. I can zoom to full screen (x 1.33), but some side information is lost. You also did not mention how your DVD player is connected or if you are using progressive scan or upconversion, or if it is set to 4:3 or 16:9. Check your DVD menu.
[Posted by youngf on 3/3/10 12:25 AM] OK, after doing a bit of research, I think I know what's going on here. I decided to get out my old DVD player and connect it with a good old S-Video cable to my TV, and low and behold there were side bars top and bottom. Then I thought, when did this DVD come out, 1999? Most people didn't have 16:9 widescreen TV's back then. The widescreen version was designed for 4:3 aspect ratio, thus the top and bottom side bars. If you were to view the DVD on a regular old tube TV, you would get the full width effect, but with top and bottom bars. Also, because of all this fiddling around, I discovered my TV automatically switches to side stretch mode with HDMI hookup, which is noticeable on older DVD's, so I may have to keep the old one in service!
[Posted by brioma33 on 3/3/10 2:10 PM] I do use the HDMI hook up but I get the side and top bars. Maybe they need to make a newer version of this DVD
[Posted by youngf on 3/3/10 5:34 PM] Exactly. The DVD is in what was called the "letterbox" format. It was the only way to get the true widescreen aspect ratio on to a conventional 4:3 screen. It could definitely be rectified with a new version. The Dolby digital sound sure is great, though!