How do I watch a movie in itunes on my mac without 2 big black bars ?

PaulMBPEngland · Oct 1, 2008

I rented a movie on itunes and watched it on my imac (20inch)
I put it into full screen mode but the movie (iam legend) was still spoiled by 2 large black borders at the top and at the bottom of the screen

Tallest Skil · Oct 1, 2008

It's either because the screen is 16:10 and the movie is 16:9 or the movie is 2.39:1 and the screen is 16:10.

Either way, you can't really do anything about it unless you crop it in iMovie or Final Cut Studio.

PaulMBPEngland · Oct 1, 2008

Tallest Skil said:
It's either because the screen is 16:10 and the movie is 16:9 or the movie is 2.39:1 and the screen is 16:10.

Either way, you can't really do anything about it.

Shame because it really does make it a lot smaller

ukitali · Oct 1, 2008

What's the big deal with the black bars? You're seeing the movie in the original aspect ratio as the filmmaker intended. Until they start making TVs/screens with a 1:1.85 and a 1:2.35 aspect ration there will always be black bars.

Consultant · Oct 1, 2008

if you want to zoom in to fill the screen (but then you won't see the edges of the film), you can ctrl-scroll up to zoom in, and ctrl-scroll down to zoom out.

cawesjmu · Oct 1, 2008

if you move the mouse around, so the progress bar/play/rewind bar shows up, isn't there a little box in the bottom right of that bar. It looks like it has arrows pointing at the corners... doesn't that make it fill the screen? It cuts off the sides like Consultants suggestion, but it's a little easier and automatically fills to the correct height. (or is that just in Quicktime?)

Tom B. · Oct 1, 2008

I think cropping the edges off would spoil the film much more than having black bars at the top and bottom. I think you should just get used to it because it's definitely much better to see the whole film as it was intended.

PaulMBPEngland · Oct 1, 2008

Consultant said:
if you want to zoom in to fill the screen (but then you won't see the edges of the film), you can ctrl-scroll up to zoom in, and ctrl-scroll down to zoom out.

Tried that and it doesn't seem to work

Tom B. · Oct 1, 2008

If you really must watch your movies cropped, just drag them to the desktop and open them with QuickTime. Then enter fullscreen mode, and click on "fit to screen". Success!

I tested this with I Am Legend that I bought from the iTunes Store, however there is a chance that it will not let you with a rented movie due to extra security features.

gan6660 · Oct 1, 2008

no black bars in any movie download, dvd, hd-dvd or blu ray on my Sony FW

PaulMBPEngland · Oct 2, 2008

Tom B. said:
If you really must watch your movies cropped, just drag them to the desktop and open them with QuickTime. Then enter fullscreen mode, and click on "fit to screen". Success!

I tested this with I Am Legend that I bought from the iTunes Store, however there is a chance that it will not let you with a rented movie due to extra security features.

Just tried that and you are right, the extra security features in the rented movie stop it from playing in quicktime.

hexonxonx · Oct 2, 2008

Fit to screen can also make some movies look bad. People can appear extra fat as if stretched.

Sdashiki · Oct 2, 2008

People who say "why do I have black bars...I dont want them" are actually saying the opposite of their intended solution.

When you are bothered by seeing something as it was intended, and instead have the, what I refer to as Windows logic, idea that everything must always be taking up the entire screen.

Even when it causes the stuff you are watching to be horribly distorted or cut off.

How many people have gone to someones home and watched their TV to see theyre watching a regular TV show on an HDTV with it stretched to fit? And then you say "but everyone is fat" and they say "I dont notice".

Sigh.

PaulMBPEngland · Oct 2, 2008

Sdashiki said:
People who say "why do I have black bars...I dont want them" are actually saying the opposite of their intended solution.

When you are bothered by seeing something as it was intended, and instead have the, what I refer to as Windows logic, idea that everything must always be taking up the entire screen.

Even when it causes the stuff you are watching to be horribly distorted or cut off.

How many people have gone to someones home and watched their TV to see theyre watching a regular TV show on an HDTV with it stretched to fit? And then you say "but everyone is fat" and they say "I dont notice".

Sigh.

I want to see it on all of the screen

"windows logic" as you call it is nonsense , I just want to watch the movie on my large imac screen thats why I had a large screen

Sigh

amiga · Oct 2, 2008

PaulMBPEngland said:
I want to see it on all of the screen

"windows logic" as you call it is nonsense , I just want to watch the movie on my large imac screen thats why I had a large screen

Sigh

This way you are watching the full movie in full screen (at the highest quality from the download), seeing the original composition of the frame and the things contained with in it... theres not more image hidden under the black bars, cropping it is fitting a square peg in a round hole. Embrace the bars!

James L · Oct 2, 2008

PaulMBPEngland said:
I want to see it on all of the screen

"windows logic" as you call it is nonsense , I just want to watch the movie on my large imac screen thats why I had a large screen

Sigh

But by making it fit on the full screen you have to chop away part of the footage.... why not watch the whole movie?

Sdashiki · Oct 2, 2008

PaulMBPEngland said:
I want to see it on all of the screen

"windows logic" as you call it is nonsense , I just want to watch the movie on my large imac screen thats why I had a large screen

Sigh

no, you're watching the movie DISTORTED.

If you're alright with that, great. But you really shouldnt be.

The iMac format is widescreen.

By your logic, I should watch every TV show (non HD, non widescreen) forcibly in widescreen, to the detriment of the image onscreen?

No thanks.

i0Nic · Oct 2, 2008

To thread starter: So what you are saying is you would rather have either the sides of the movie cut off so the picture becomes more square and fills the screen, or distort the actual picture by stretching it out to fill the screen?

Just watch it in it's intended aspect ratio. I can't imagine either of those two above scenarios would better than having 'black bars'.

sushi · Oct 2, 2008

Personally, I would much rather see a movie in it's original aspect ratio than to have it cut off on the sides to make it "fit" the monitor such as the iMac. Or in the worst case, stretched to fit. Arg.

Many times the cut off portion contains images that contribute to the film that you loose with the pan and scan method.

hexonxonx · Oct 2, 2008

Lets hope he does understand that he will be viewing the movie with the sides cut off if it fills the screen.

He can see for himself by taking a TV show and opening it up in Quicktime then using the fill screen button. As it zooms in, you can clearly see the how much of each side goes of the edges of the screen. Maybe he won't care.

Galley · Oct 2, 2008

Recommended reading on aspect ratios

PaulMBPEngland · Oct 2, 2008

I just think that if you have a widescreen display then you should be able to view the movie full screen. I am not doubting the quality is better with the bars but I was asking "how to view full screen ", "not whats best?"

tammy418 · Oct 2, 2008

PaulMBPEngland said:
I just think that if you have a widescreen display then you should be able to view the movie full screen. I am not doubting the quality is better with the bars but I was asking "how to view full screen ", "not whats best?"

That is your problem right there, you are trying to watch a widescreen movie on a widscreen display in fullscreen. That is why everyone is telling you that what you want do makes no sense. iTunes is simply playing the way it is supposed to be played, widescreen so that the viewer doe not lose bits of the movie.

To awswer your first question, iTunes does not seem to have a way to removed the bars.

kolax · Oct 2, 2008

PaulMBPEngland said:
Tried that and it doesn't seem to work

Go to System Preferences --> Keyboard & Mouse and click on the Mouse tab. I don't have a mouse connected to my MacBook Pro, but look for something alon the lines of 'Zoom while holding'.

MattA · Oct 2, 2008

People who want to watch widescreen movies in 'full screen' are at fault for DVD having full screen releases. I really wish that crap would go away.

The black bars are NOT an aberration. The are unused space. They are black for low contrast. That is all. If you don't like it, go buy a square monitor, and watch fullscreen DVDs.

This is leading to a lot of problems with HD content on Cable/satellite. HBO/Cinemax/etc are all showing 2.35:1 aspect movies at 1.78:1 in order to appease the 'I want my screen filled' crowd. Ugh.

I'm so sick of this fullscreen/widescreen argument, I could just puke.

http://www.widescreen.org/

How do I watch a movie in itunes on my mac without 2 big black bars ?

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