Is there a program...?

[George]

Couldnt find anything on this before but i didnt really know what to search for..

I have a lot of widescreen movies ive ripped from my dvds to put on my cowon, but obviously it wont use the whole screen because of the black at the top. To take full advantage of the A2's widescreen, is there a program that i can easily remove the black from the top and bottom of the video?

Hope that made sense [rolleyes]

[Kasey]

You can do this with the A2 with the Pick&Pan feature, no need to convert. While watching the movie, use the B button to go to the settings and look for the feature.

For widescreen movies, I usually go 120%, makes pretty good use of the screen.

[George]

ah alright thats nice and simple thanks

[Nattawat]

Next time when you rip the movie, try another program that have "cropping" feature, that will take care of the black at the top/bottom.

I use FairUse Wizard for DVD ripping, and found it great ;)

[doniago]

Silly point maybe, but in many cases aren't the black bars still _supposed_ to be there? Yes the A2 has a widescreen, but that doesn't mean it's the proper ratio for all movies.

Now if it's a movie that shouldn't have black bars at all, that's something else...

[MaxSt]

Silly point maybe, but in many cases aren't the black bars still _supposed_ to be there?

Not if you crop aggressively... :)

[MCSmarties]

I think there is confusion over two different issues:

A. A movie with an anamorphic widescreen or "Cinescope" aspect ratio (2.35:1 to 2.55:1) that is correctly cropped.

B. A movie in standard widescreen (1.78:1, "16:9") that is recorded from a standard (1.33:1, "4:3" or "full screen") source and improperly cropped.

In case A, the A2 will show the movie on a black background and obviously feature *horizontal* black bars on the top and bottom
since the *height* of the screen is larger than the movie. However, the movie will make full use of the *width* of the screen.
This is normal (and I believe is the case that Doniago was referring to).
You can use the pan&scan function to zoom in on the middle but you will lose the information on the sides (not recommended)

In case B, the movie will appear with black bars on the top and bottom AND on the sides (hence wasting a lot of screen space)
This is because the A2 considers the file to be in standard 1.33:1 format and will thus try to fit the *height* of the movie (including the black bars) on the screen.
This is a case of a bad crop. The pan&scan function fixes this by zooming in until the *width* of the movie matches the screen.
It's however not a desirable situation and that's where MaxSt's advice to "crop aggressively" should be heeded.

Hope this clarified the situation a bit...