XP - Home

I recently Installed Power DVD V4.0 and it works well

I watched a DVD off a Computer Magazine and it played well on the Computer in Full Screen

I've just watched the Harry Potter movie on DVD - hired - and it will only play on the Computer in a 'Letter-Box'

Is this 'normal' ?

Is there some diffrence between DVD's which are made to watch on a Computer and those which are made to watch on the TV with an ordinary DVD Player ?

Thanks

Most DVD movies are letter boxed as they are transfered from film in their orginal aspect ratio with nothing missing.

Thanks celtic_druid

Do you mean that if I had bought it from a shop it would have played in a larger screen ?

I don't want to buy DVD's if I can only see through a 'slit' !

Thought maybe it was some Settings I had to look at in the Software

If it is filmed on film then it is widescreen. If you want to view it fullscreen then you/they have to cut the sides off... It's called pan and scan.

You are not viewing it through a slit, if you were watching it fullscreen then you would be viewing it through a slit with the sides missing.

Some movies are released as 4:3 or fullscreen versions, also some have both the widescreen 16:9 and the 4:3 version.

Thanks - it's becoming clearer now!

Just to help clarify the issue even more, here is a sample that was taken from the episode 2 dvd to show the difference between widescreen and fullscreen.

http://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/feature/20020925/index_69240.html

As you can see watching fullscreen is just a bad idea. You loose so much picture it makes no sense to get it.

Yep, for a 2.35:1 movie you would loose almost half the picture. Not all widescreen movies are 2.35:1 though.

Thanks rishard and celtic

I get the picture now!

IF you really want to watch full screen, though, right click the movie screen, and select one of the Pan & scan Modes that Power DVD offers.

Templar

I'm not that bothered about Full Screen -- it was just that it was a surprise to see the thin Widescreen when the only previous DVD I'd watched had been Full Screen

Just wanted to make sure that what I was seeing was 'normal'

I understand what's happening now

I'll 'experiment' sometime with what you suggest

Thanks