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How do I watch Netflix full screen without black bars. Macbook pro?

R

Richey Villa

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2011
14
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I am watching films from Netflix with my Macbook pro using Safari browser. But when I watch a film in full screen mode it has a black bar at the top and the bottom of the screen. How do I change the aspect ratio to get the picture to fit the full screen? Whenever I've watched films with VLC player I just change the aspect ratio but with Netflix I can't find the option for that. Help appreciated :)
 
Richey Villa said:
I am watching films from Netflix with my Macbook pro using Safari browser. But when I watch a film in full screen mode it has a black bar at the top and the bottom of the screen. How do I change the aspect ratio to get the picture to fit the full screen? Whenever I've watched films with VLC player I just change the aspect ratio but with Netflix I can't find the option for that. Help appreciated :)
Click to expand...

Can't change the aspect ratio in Netflix unfortunately.
 
You can't.
Netflix uses Silverlight plugin, not a player.

Netflix movies are generally displayed in 16:9 format (or sometimes 4:3). The MacBook has 16:10 screen.
 
You could try using the Zoom features in System Preferences > Accessibility. Not a great solution but it'll do the trick, I believe.
 
Thanks for the answers guys. Thats really poor if you can't change the aspect ratio to fit your screen fully. Not impressed with that. Don't think I'll be keeping it after the trial.
 
The only way for netflix to change the aspect ratio of a movie would be to crop off part of the picture to fit the aspect ratio of the screen. Movies and TV shows generally are not made in 16:10.
 
Richey Villa said:
Thanks for the answers guys. Thats really poor if you can't change the aspect ratio to fit your screen fully. Not impressed with that. Don't think I'll be keeping it after the trial.
Click to expand...

Just so you're clear, this isn't a Netflix problem. Netflix doesn't film the movies, they don't define the aspect ratio.

That's like blaming your grocery store for Coke tasting like crap (Sorry Coke lovers! :D).
 
Richey Villa said:
Thanks for the answers guys. Thats really poor if you can't change the aspect ratio to fit your screen fully. Not impressed with that. Don't think I'll be keeping it after the trial.
Click to expand...

It would just cut off the edges of the picture if you matched it anyway. Try watching a widescreen movie on an iPad haha! So many black bars going on.
 
It amazes me that there are still individuals that don't understand why the black bars are there. It's not for fun. Its because the movie was shot and created with an aspect ratio that isn't always the same the screen it is being played on.

If you want to get the entire picture onto that screen, it results in black bars. The alternative is to zoom in (losing the sides of your movie completely) or stretch the picture top and bottom which just distorts it what you are looking at.

Am I crazy for thinking people are crazy for wanting to do this?

Just to be clear, this isn't an attack on the OP, its just my mind being boggled.
 
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You might as well return your Mac. Watching movies on Macs is a good experience, but only the 11-inch Air has a 16:9 ratio. It's a trade-off for being able to actually get work done on your laptop. Who even notices the black bars most of the time anyway?
 
PDFierro said:
You might as well return your Mac. Watching movies on Macs is a good experience, but only the 11-inch Air has a 16:9 ratio. It's a trade-off for being able to actually get work done on your laptop. Who even notices the black bars most of the time anyway?
Click to expand...

ATD - 16:9
iMac 21.5" and 27" - 16:9

They're not laptops, just pointing out that there are Macs and Apple displays besides the one in the 11" MBA that are 16:9. :D (I use an ATD connected to my MBP 99% of the time)
 
Yahooligan said:
Just so you're clear, this isn't a Netflix problem. Netflix doesn't film the movies, they don't define the aspect ratio.

That's like blaming your grocery store for Coke tasting like crap (Sorry Coke lovers! :D).
Click to expand...

I disagree.

It's Netflix's problem that they don't offer an option to either slightly zoom in and crop both sides, or stretch the image vertically to make it 1/16 taller. Most video playback software and HDTVs will allow you to do exactly that if you don't like black bars.

Whether you prefer having black bars, a distorted ratio or cropped sides is a very personnal preference, and Netflix should at least give you the option.

The only "fix" I can think of is, if you want to have a vertically stretched image, set your computer's resolution to the 16:9 equivalent of its native 16:10 resolution. For example, if you have a 13" MBP with 1280x800 resolution, set it to 1280x720 instead.
 
pgiguere1 said:
I disagree.

It's Netflix's problem that they don't offer an option to either slightly zoom in and crop both sides, or stretch the image vertically to make it 1/16 taller. Most video playback software and HDTVs will allow you to do exactly that if you don't like black bars.

Whether you prefer having black bars, a distorted ratio or cropped sides is a very personnal preference, and Netflix should at least give you the option.

The only "fix" I can think of is, if you want to have a vertically stretched image, set your computer's resolution to the 16:9 equivalent of its native 16:10 resolution. For example, if you have a 13" MBP with 1280x800 resolution, set it to 1280x720 instead.
Click to expand...

Can you name one STREAMING video service that allows you to change aspect ratio or zoom/crop? I can't. Comparing streaming video services to standalone software and hardware is apples and oranges.

YouTube? Nope.
Netflix? Nope (Obviously)
Hulu? Not that I can find
Amazon? Hah, can't even play HD Amazon Prime videos via browser.

So I don't see how it's a "Netflix" problem. I also find it rather silly to refuse to use a service because the aspect ratio of one's display is different than the video being watched. I could just as easy call this an Apple problem for not making all displays 16:9...but that would be silly.
 
pgiguere1 said:
I disagree.

It's Netflix's problem that they don't offer an option to either slightly zoom in and crop both sides, or stretch the image vertically to make it 1/16 taller. Most video playback software and HDTVs will allow you to do exactly that if you don't like black bars.

Whether you prefer having black bars, a distorted ratio or cropped sides is a very personnal preference, and Netflix should at least give you the option.

The only "fix" I can think of is, if you want to have a vertically stretched image, set your computer's resolution to the 16:9 equivalent of its native 16:10 resolution. For example, if you have a 13" MBP with 1280x800 resolution, set it to 1280x720 instead.
Click to expand...

You'd rather watch a stretched video than have black bars? Ooook.
 
Yahooligan said:
Can you name one STREAMING video service that allows you to change aspect ratio or zoom/crop? I can't. Comparing streaming video services to standalone software and hardware is apples and oranges.

YouTube? Nope.
Netflix? Nope (Obviously)
Hulu? Not that I can find
Amazon? Hah, can't even play HD Amazon Prime videos via browser.

So I don't see how it's a "Netflix" problem. I also find it rather silly to refuse to use a service because the aspect ratio of one's display is different than the video being watched. I could just as easy call this an Apple problem for not making all displays 16:9...but that would be silly.
Click to expand...

Competing service not offering it either doesn't mean it's not something Netflix should improve, and doesn't prove it's technically impossible to do either. I don't know much about Silverlight and exactly why Netflix uses it, but with a HTML5 video, it can be done through CSS:

Code: 
@video.addEventListener("loadedmetadata", (event) =>
   actualRatio = @video.videoWidth/@video.videoHeight
   targetRatio = $(@video).width()/$(@video).height()
   adjustmentRatio = targetRatio/actualRatio
   $(@video).css("-webkit-transform","scaleX(#{adjustmentRatio})",
                 "-moz-transform","scaleX(#{adjustmentRatio})",
                 "-o-transform","scaleX(#{adjustmentRatio})",
                 "-ms-transform","scaleX(#{adjustmentRatio})",
                 "transform","scaleX(#{adjustmentRatio})")
)

And that's just one of the many things you can do with HTML5 videos. This, this and this are a lot more impressive than simple vertical scaling.

It seems Silverlight could change its ratio dynamically as well by changing the Stretch value of a MediaElement to "Fill" or "UniformToFill" rather than "Uniform".

Competitors not doing it is not an excuse. Sometimes one can be the one that leads rather than one that follows.

outphase said:
You'd rather watch a stretched video than have black bars? Ooook.
Click to expand...
Did you attemps to read my mind or something? Because I never said that.
 
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pgiguere1 said:
Competing service not offering it either doesn't mean it's not something Netflix should improve, and doesn't prove it's technically impossible to do either.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I wasn't implying that it was impossible. I was simply pointing out that Netflix shouldn't be singled out when other services don't do it, either.

I suspect if enough people complained or requested this feature then they might put some effort into it and have an "edge" over their competitors. However, there are probably so few people that have a problem with the aspect ratio that it would be a waste of their time to offer it.

By offering this option you then open the door for other complaints and "problems", such as users accidentally changing the aspect ratio and complaining about poor video quality because they don't realize what they did.

Seems much easier to just stick with the 16:9 format and avoid such headaches.
 
Last edited:
ScholarsInk said:
... meaning cut off the sides of the image? What exactly is the benefit of that?
Click to expand...
Subjective matter. Some people have a problem with the bars and are willing to deal with cropping, etc.

Augustine864 said:
Am I crazy for thinking people are crazy for wanting to do this?
Click to expand...
Well, you're crazy if you expect everyone to share your preference for not wanting to do that. I don't want to but people are people and preferences vary. Does it adversely affect you in some way?
 
Augustine864 said:
It amazes me that there are still individuals that don't understand why the black bars are there. It's not for fun. Its because the movie was shot and created with an aspect ratio that isn't always the same the screen it is being played on.

If you want to get the entire picture onto that screen, it results in black bars. The alternative is to zoom in (losing the sides of your movie completely) or stretch the picture top and bottom which just distorts it what you are looking at.

Am I crazy for thinking people are crazy for wanting to do this?

Just to be clear, this isn't an attack on the OP, its just my mind being boggled.
Click to expand...

I'm glad someone said this
 
takeshi74 said:
Subjective matter. Some people have a problem with the bars and are willing to deal with cropping, etc.


Well, you're crazy if you expect everyone to share your preference for not wanting to do that. I don't want to but people are people and preferences vary. Does it adversely affect you in some way?
Click to expand...


No, it doesn't adversely affect me but I didn't say that it did. It simply perplexes me and surprises me that anyone would want to watch a movie in a manner in which it was not meant to be seen and in a manner in which it was not shot by the director. The images is as much a part of how the story is being told on screen as anything else.

Simply surprises me when they still want to do it after they come to learn why the bars are there in the first place.

They can do as they please, they're just wrong. :D
 
its the industry's fault for deciding every screen should have a 16:9 ratio, because its cheaper to made.
pissing a whole bunch of professionals who wanted more vertical screen estate.

i'm glad that mac still offering screens with 16:10 ratio.
 
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