Letterbox or Fullscreen DVD for a 16:9 Tv?
 

I just upgraded my tv to a widescreen and upon filling out my Xmas list, I dont know what type of dvds to ask for? I have some letterbox dvds and they are still letterboxed on the new tv. Is that normal? What would a fullscreen dvd do? Are newer dvds accommodative of wide tvs?

Nono, don't do fullscreen discs. But there are some questions that need answering:

1) What model of TV?
2) What is it's resolution?
3) What model DVD player?
4) What is the "widescreen" nature of the disc? if it's typical 16:9, it can fill the screen. A lot of new widescreen is 2.5:1 (the new widescreen) with is letterboxed even on widescreen sets. This is doubly typical of HD-DVDs.

There are stretching features as well. But the end result is mostly an issue of what your TV expects the resolution of the signal to be and what resolution the DVD is sending, along with the widescreen aspect ratio of the movie itself. A standard DVD on a high-def TV (1080p let's say) will NOT automatically stretch on most sets. You need to set stretch or zoom to make it expand, unless you are using an HD-DVD player that will upscale. This is because the DVD only puts out 480p signal.

Widescreen forever.

There are different types of widescreen aspect ratios. The way they display on the screen natively depends on how the director shot his movie. So you will still see letterboxing on some movies you get. Full screen movie without stretching it through the tv will just sit 4:3 in the middle of your tv. Just like watching unstretched tv that isn't HD.

Thanks for the info fellas. Im sticking with the letterbox. Happy new year.