Play letterbox movie full screen

[wallie]

I have an external HDD with a couple of movies on which I would like to play on my TV.
They are what I think are called Letterbox with black bands at top and bottom.
Is there any way I can play them as full screen?
If I right click them one of the options is full screen, but selecting that does not change it much.

Thanks
wallie

[jdc2000]

The aspect ratio of a widescreen movie is different from the old 4:3 ratio used for low-def TV, so there is really no way to get all of the image to show. Have you ever seen the Ben Hur chariot race panned and scanned? You can't tell what is happening at all in that format.

Possibly useful link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letterbox

[Shinma]

Control/issue of the aspect ratio handled by the video playback software used.

[Dude111]

I hate letterbox with a passion!! (Im surprised they havent started putting spam ads in those bars)

[SpywareDr]

On many devices there is an option to stretch the picture to fill the screen vertically. Of course you then can't see the rightmost and leftmost parts of the picture because they were just pushed out beyond the edges the screen.

The problem is you're trying to view a really wide rectangular shaped picture through an almost square hole.

[und3rtak3r]

I hate letterbox with a passion!! (Im surprised they havent started putting spam ads in those bars)

LOL

Considering that "Letterbox" is not just a Computer/set top converter/ media interface setting... it can also be a TV setting... be it a 4:3 or 16:9 format TV..
Originally TV's did the conversion by padding in extra scan lines giving top and bottom when the input media is 16:9 on a 4:3 tv/monitor those that didn't would just stretch vertically ie you had 2 options:
1/ Vertical letterbox
2/ Stretch
Also when input a 4:3 media on a 16:9 TV/monitor there are two options:
1/ horizontal letter box
2/ stretch
Many older sets only gave you option 2

Realise also... some clips are created as letterbox mode possibly due to limitations in the production software.. or by design of the editor..

[falcon2000]

But his movie is already letterboxed which, to me, mean the original movie was in wide screen format. The video / broadcast version is letterboxed so NOT to crop out the width of the picture on a 4:3 TV set. So if he has a 16:9 TV and depends the aspect ratio of the original movie, it may not be too bad to strecth it full screen.

If I right click them one of the options is full screen

Right click? You mean on the computer? I thought you are watching it on a TV set, no?