I have a Samsung HLP5063 TV and a Denon DVM-1815 dvd player. I have the dvd player set to 16:9 widescreen like it says to do if it is connected to a widescreen tv. When I play a dvd and set the tv to "wide" the picture looks stretched with black bars top and bottom of the screen.If I change the TV to 4:3 the picture looks as it should, except there are bars on the sides and bars on top and bottom.....a rectangle inside a rectangle, if you will. The store I bought the tv from has a wall of tv's that usually are showing a dvd, and the screen is always full. I asked the guy why that doesn't happen on our set. They don't look stretched, unless I'm not looking close enough. He tells me if my dvd player is set to widescreen(and it is)a 1:85:1 dvd it will fill the screen, and that a 2:35:1 dvd will have black bars top and bottom. I tried both, and neither fill the screen, but what bothers me most is that even with the bars on the top and bottom, the picture only looks right when the tv is set to 4:3, and then there are bars on the sides also. This doesn't seem right, but this whole widescreen tv thing is brand new to us. Please help! And, thanks in advance.
I don't have any hands on experience with the Denon player, but is there an "auto" aspect ratio option? Or perhaps have you tried changing that option to something else? Do you possibly have another DVD player you could hook up fast to see if the same thing occurs?
I'm answering you with a lot of questions, I know, but it's basic troubleshooting that you'll need to do to try to find the source of the problem.
No, there is no "auto" aspect ratio. It says specifically to set it to 16:9 widescreen if it is connected to a widescreen tv. I do have an old dvd player up in the attic I could dig out and try.Now That I think about it, the dvd that was 2.35:1 went all the way across the screen with bars top and bottom, but looked fine with the tv set to "wide" and looked compressed when set on 4:3, which is how it should be. But the 1.85:1 dvd looked stretched with the tv set to "wide" and normal when set to 4:3. Doesn't seem right.