There are black bars on the sides of the picture its like the opposite of wide screen movies

This is normal for an older TV, if your TV remote has a button for 4:3, or Wide Screen, try pressing those- it will enlarge the picture to full screen.

It appears that you need to select the picture size to full or HD.

The grey bars signal that the source image is originally in 4:3 format - if you are using a box of some kind get in its menu and change the format from there to 16:9. The black bars appear when a 16:9 image is sent to a 4:3 format in Letterbox mode - leave it like that or the Pan and Scan mode will chop the sides.

business 10000: Buying T-CON/ caps for the TV that just bought a couple days ago?

Are you talking about black bars on the left and right side og the pictures? Try using 'FORMAT', 'ASPECT', or 'ZOOM' on the remote to fill up the screen.

Are you playing wide-screen movies on a 4x3=1.33:1 (standard=SD) TV? DVD output by default is SD. Even 16x9=1.78:1 (HD) movies with have top and bottom bars. Many "wide-screen" DVDs are squeezed horizontally so that you have to stretch them. Many theatrical releases are up to 2.7:1 or so. Side bars indicate you have the DVD output set for 4x3 and your TV is HD-like. There are usually controls for the screen format on HD TVs--no controls on SD TV. Hey, early movies were 1:1--take them side bars. More on aspect ratio (AR) in Wiki, I bet. With letterbox of SD you can get "pillar box" with black on all 4 side. Get a better source and/or choose a different AR. -Ken

Originally when 16:9 TVs were produced movies were being shot in 16:9 so that you had a full screen. Now they are being shot in 14:9 as it gives you a more cinematic experience. This is due to the fact that colours look more vibrant when they are placed against a colourless/lightless surface (such as a black panel) as for the bars on the side of the screen LuciferStarr is correct; it depends on the format in which the video was originally produced. For example most older television shows are still shown in 4:3 but newer shows and movies are produced in the widescreen format.

Hi!

Found some relevant info on how to adjust your video settings... You might want to give it a try!

Thanks! =)

4.12 PC Input Picture Adjustment
The Picture Adjust menu operates in the same
way for the PC Input as for the DTV / TV input in
section 4.2 for Backlight, Contrast, Brightness and
Color Temperature.
4.12.1 Auto Adjust
When the MENU button is pressed, the On Screen
Display (OSD) appears on the PICTURE ADJUST
page. Press the button to highlight the Auto
Adjust selection.
Press the button for the LCD HDTV to adjust to
the PC signal timing automatically.
4.12.2 H-SIZE
Press the button to highlight the H-Size selection.
Press the button to start adjusting the horizontal size of the picture. Use the or button to adjust
the horizontal size.
4.12.3 Horizontal Shift
Press the button to highlight the Horizontal Shift selection.
Press the button to start adjusting the horizontal position of the picture. Use the or button to
adjust the horizontal position.
4.12.4 Vertical Shift
Press the button to highlight the Vertical Shift selection.
Press the button to start adjusting the vertical position of the picture. Use the or button to adjust
the vertical position.
4.12.5 Fine Tune
Press the button to highlight the Fine Tune selection.
Press the button to start tuning the to the PC signal. Use the or button to adjust the tuning

4.14.1 Understanding Viewing Features
Your LCD HDTV features four viewing modes and Picture-In-Picture (PIP)/Picture-by-Picture (POP) mode.
You can switch viewing modes using the remote control.
4.14.2 Viewing Modes
Normal Mode
The original 4:3 aspect ratio (1.33:1 source) is preserved, so black bars are
added to the left and right of the display image. Standard TV broadcasts are
displayed with a 4:3 Aspect Ratio. Movies in 4:3 Aspect Ratio may be referred
to as pan-and-scan or full frame. These movies were originally filmed in 16:9
(widescreen), and then modified to fit a traditional TV screen (4:3).
Wide Mode
When watching a standard broadcast or full-frame movie in this mode,
the display image is stretched proportionately to fill the TV screen.
When watching a widescreen (1.78:1 source) program or movie, the
display image fills the TV screen. If you are watching a widescreen
(1.85:1 or 2.35:1 source) program or movie, there will still be black
bars at the top and bottom.
Zoom Mode
When watching a widescreen (1.78:1, 1.85:1, or 2.35:1 source)
program or movie, the display image is zoomed proportionally to fill the
width of the screen. The top and bottom are cut off to remove most of
the source material’s black bars. This mode is good for programs or
movies with sub-titles.
Panoramic Mode
When watching a standard broadcast or full frame movie in this mode,
the 4:3 Aspect Ratio (1.33:1 source) display image is stretched
horizontally on the left and right sides to fill the TV screen. The center
of the image is not stretched.

Note: Viewing modes are saved based on input. For example, you lasted watched a DVD in widescreen
mode and then watched TV in standard mode. When you switch back to DVD input, the viewing mode
will return to widescreen.

Hi icmjrtdr,

Having black bars displayed when watching a Blu-Ray disc is a common occurrence, even with a widescreen television.

You may have heard or seen aspect ratios of 4:3 or 16:9. 4:3 is the ratio of a traditional television that is nearly square. 16:9 is the ratio of most widescreen televisions currently marketed. The reason that even with a 16:9 television Blu-Ray discs are displaying black bars is that many of these discs contain footage that has not been reformatted for television. The screen in a movie theater is even wider than 16:9, and rather than trim the ends, most Blu-Ray discs maintain the entire picture.

Depending on the options available in your particular television, you may be able to find a zoom setting that trims the ends and removes the black bars. It is up to you if you would rather see black bars with the entire picture or lose a small amount of the picture on each side for a full-screen experience.

Hope this helps,
Jason,
Go Ahead. Use Us.

Hi pooing stone,

You may sometimes find that even with a television referred to as “widescreen,” widescreen movies still have letterboxing.

This is likely because the movie you are playing is still in the ratio used at a theater. While most televisions are 4:3 for the more square-type or 16:9 for widescreen, a theater screen is much wider still. Unless the movie has been reformatted specifically to 16:9 for your television, you will either see letterboxing or lose portions of the picture by zooming in.

If a movie is available in several ratios, I suggest thinking of all the options before buying. Although purchasing a movie reformatted to 16:9 will prevent the black bars, purchasing it without any reformatting of the size will prevent you losing part of the picture.

FYI: It is very common with Blu-Ray Discs that widescreen means original size, not 16:9.

Thank you,
Jason,
Go Ahead. Use Us.

For Models: CC4352, CC4362, CC4393. Your camcorder has a wide format recording mode that lets you make recordings compatible with the 16x9 format. When 16x9 is activated, the camcorder records black bars at the top and bottom of the picture to produce the wide-screen (movie) effect. This is also known as "letterbox" recording. Do not use this mode unless you have a compatible 16x9 TV. When played on a regular TV, black bars appear on the screen. If the 16x9 feature is activated on your camcorder and you want to turn it off, press REC/PAUSE to pause recording, and repeatedly press DIGITAL EFFECTS until no digital effects display appears.