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The first thing I do when I get a new DVD or BD player is go through all the settings. On DVD players, you can usually get to the settings by having no disc in the tray and pressing the menu button, which is usually a different button on the remote than title menu button.

DVD players are easy because you usually just set if the output should be 4:3 or 16:9. Then it will know how to properly display anamorphic widescreen DVDs. BD players can be a pain in the ass. They assume widescreen, which is a pain in the ass for 4:3 content. I'm not sure why it seems like the default is always to stretch 4:3 to 16:9. Do most people really prefer this? In my opinion, this shouldn't even be an option! But yeah, every BD player I've come across calls this setting something slightly different, so it isn't always clear what option to set. I usually have to do a little trial an error.

My last main DVD player (late model) would always stretch 4:3 to 16:9. There was a button on the remote that would cycle stretching options. I would set it to proper 4:3, but it wouldn't remember this setting after shutting the player off. It was all around a shitty DVD player (loud, took long to load, etc). I replaced this player last month with a used (circa 2007) 5-disc DVD changer with HDMI output. They just don't make DVD players like they used to.

Even worse, I looked at the back of the DVDs and they don't seem to have a "letterboxed" label on them , they all say widescreen, letterboxed or not.

Ziggy587 wrote:
What I mean is from the time DVD was first released to the time widescreen TVs hit the market. A lot of releases were letterbox during this time. .

Thats about 10 years time, first DVDs were around 1997 and widescreen tvs were not the norm until around 2006 which by then Blurays were a thing. I know they existed but I wouldn't imagine going to someone's house in 2004 and find a widescreen tv. Anyone here had widescreen tv prior to 2006?

Ziggy587 wrote:My last main DVD player (late model) would always stretch 4:3 to 16:9. There was a button on the remote that would cycle stretching options. I would set it to proper 4:3, but it wouldn't remember this setting after shutting the player off. It was all around a shitty DVD player (loud, took long to load, etc). I replaced this player last month with a used (circa 2007) 5-disc DVD changer with HDMI output. They just don't make DVD players like they used to.

I never understood why BD players were slow, if anything shouldn't they be faster? Are the newer ones today faster?

I am too scared to buy anything with optical media used, I have fears of failing drives since the PSX days. Not sure how much these things can handle. I looked the site you bought from, thought I buy the suggest Panasonic BD player...nope! $500

Anapan wrote:Rip it to MP4 or MKV with Handbrake, load it onto a thumbdrive and play it using the PS4 Media Player. By default Handbrake will crop black borders and deinterlace to progressive.

This is a great tip, but I like to watch the DVD itself, kind of like the difference between playing retro games on original hardware or emulation. Otherwise I would have bought the digital copy in the first place. I also find films on disc have more vibrant picture and digital copies more dull(those compressions must be coming from somewhere), then again maybe I am wrong I am just eye balling it. I watched a Evolution on DVD and although its SD I was impressed with the picture quality.

Will keep in mind for the future once optical media players start disappearing.

Jagosaurus wrote:I've had 2 DVDs over the years (10 Things I Hate About You & Boondock Saints) that would show up this way on certain players. I'd have to zoom in on the TV settings. In other players, they'd be displayed in proper widescreen. It's like the media & the playback device weren't shaking hands correctly. Odd. Try a different player.

If no go, it's as Ziggy said. I had several VHS tapes in that hard coded letterbox widescreen.

I will try another player. My Samsung TV has Zoom option but really it only moves the picture up or down or stretches it downwards. Maybe if I use composite it actually zooms, maybe HDMI is defaulted to 16:9.

I read the title to this thread, and I visualize a DVD movie on a table at a group home, surrounded by boarders.

After watching some DVDs on my PS3, the Netflix stream looks like bootlegged VHS tapes. I guess you can't complain too much for $10 unlimited usage a month.

Either that or something really wrong with my setup(or super with my PS3 DVD upscaling).