screen res.

hello......I have an inspiron 8500 and have had it for about 2 years and am pretty happy with it.......i have one question thats been bugging me for a while.....i watch full screen stuff on my computer all the time....way more then wide screen stuff.......and the problem is that when i watch full screen stuff, the picture is in the middle of the screen and theres two huge thick black borders on the sides that have always bothered me.....is there any way i can make it so my full screen stuff will cover the screen on 1920 x 1200 resolution?.....thanx

 

Hmm....not sure if this is right but here goes.

Most tv's are 4:3 (1.33333...), the resolution on your screen is 1900x1200 (so 19:12 = 1.583333333...). Your screen is wider than the standard resolution of the square dvd's. Therefore, there will be black bars. THere is however some option in your dvd viewing program that should allow you to "stretch" the picture to fit the entire screen. That degrades quality though, so I guess you should just learn to accept it. It's pretty weird with all this resolution stuff imo. My widescreen laptop plays widescreen movies with bars on the side (without "stretching") Good luck.

 

ok, so the only way to do it would be to lower the resolution, eh?

also.....is it like this on all widescreen laptops?.....i mean, would it be like that on a 15.4 widescreen with a normal resolution at 1280 x 800?

 

It's the same for all machines, the aspect ratios are different than those used for movies, etc.

 

oh......so even a 15.4 widescreen computer with a 1280 x 800 resolution would look the same playing as a full screen movie on a 1920 x 1200 resolution?

 

Yes sir...

 

but then......why do full screen movies actually fill the screen when i set my computer at 1280 x 800, but dont fill the screen for other widescreen 15.4 computers set at 1280 x 800?........*scratches head*

im sorry to bother....im just a bit confused.........so let me get this straight, it doesnt matter what the resolution is, the fact is that if its any kind of wide-screen laptop, watching full screen stuff will give you two big black borders on the side of any laptop and the only way to get full screen (or close to full screen) is to buy a non-widescreen laptop?

 

u can't put a round peg in a square hole

if you are watching a 4:3 encoded video (think TV or Pan/Scan), then it will only fill the screen on a 4:3 notebook LCD, otherwise you get black bars. if you are watching a 16:9/10 encoded video, it will fill only fill the screen on a widescreen notebook LCD, otherwide you get black bars.

it's no different than renting a widescreen DVD from Blockbustser and watching it on your old school 4:3 TV. you will get black bars.

 

ok cool, i get that.....

what tripped me out is that, on my computer, if i changed the resolution down to 1024 x 768, then full screen movies/shows will actually cover the screen......so i assumed that if they covered the screen on mine, then on another widescreen laptop, it would too.............

 

well..actually...Cyberlink PowerDVD is one of the only programs that i know that lets you "smartly stretch" a 4:3 movie to fit full screen on a widescreen display

 

eh, sadly, most of the stuff i view isnt on dvd.....i usually use VLC

one more question....heh.......if I get a new widescreen laptop, with the normal resolution of 1280 x 800, will the black borders on the side (when watching a fullscreen movie/show) be smaller then they are the my laptop with 1920 x 1200?..........

 

*bump*.....