16:9 Full Screen not totally full

Hi, when playing DVD files (16:9), in full screen (wide), there's still side
and top/boittom bars, thus the image isn't totally full screen displaed. With
4:3 images I get only side bars, which is OK.

I've tried removing full screen options, and messing with zoom video, but no
result.

 

Is this on a wide screen laptop? What video card?

 

Unfortunately some DVDs while they do have 16:9 video in them, also have
them 'letterboxed' which means they look fine on a 4:3 TV but have black
borders ON ALL FOUR SIDES on a widescreen computer or TV. If instead the DVD
had been made in what is called an 'anamorphic' format then it would be
displayed properly on both 4:3 and 16:9 displays.

If you are using Microsoft Media Center then it does have a zoom option
which will let it display properly on a 16:9 screen. Most widescreen TVs
also have a similar zoom capability (e.g. Sony Bravia).

Note: the Microsoft Media Center zoom feature is not the same as zooming the
entire screen in normal Microsoft Windows use (which is aimed more at those
with eye-sight problems) and the Media Center zoom is intended specifically
for this issue.

There is one other issue which may confuse some people. While widescreen TVs
have an aspect ratio of 16:9 which means when you play a 16:9 DVD or TV
recording it will exactly fill the screen, most if not all widescreen
computer displays are actually 16:10 (meaning they are slightly taller than
an equivalent TV), this means that you will and should have a small black
border top and bottom on the computer display when playing the same 16:9
video.