Playing DVDs on my computer on my HDTV

Dak

So I'm using my new HDTV for a monitor and it's so unbearably kickass, it's hard to describe. One problem I'm having though, is that whenever I play DVDs in my DVD drive, the movie won't fill the entire screen, even when I make WMP go into full screen mode.

So I'm guessing the problem is that my desktop resolution is 19--x1080 but the DVD resolution is 720x480 or whatever, but there must be a way for me to max it to fill the screen. Is there an app, are there some WMP options I haven't messed around with?

What do I do?

Daedalus

Try using something that isn't WMP, which is bloated crap anyway. Give VLC a try. http://www.videolan.org/

edit: The problem probably isn't with WMP, mind you, but with PowerDVD or whatever DVD codec you're using. In either case, though, VLC has its own codecs (all of which are open-source) and interface. It's certainly worth a shot.

edit the second: Um, you're not talking about letterboxing, are you? Because ain't nothing you can do about that.

fforde

Yeah your problem is definitely that you are using Windows Media Player. I have never used VLC so I can't comment (although I have heard good things) but I would recommend Media Player Classic hands down. Has a built in DVD Decoder as well.

And again I don't know about VLC, but if you are having issues with letterboxing, you can easily work around that with Media Player Classic. There are several presets you can choose by rightclicking on the video and looking under video frame, but if that is not flexible enough, the 9 and 1 keys on the number pad will zoom in and out so you can custom adjust the picture just how you want it.

Cycophant

I would also suggest Media Player Classic. I've used VLC and it also works well, but at least for my uses, I find MPC works much better for viewing HD movies and content compared to VLC.

Either one will be a much better solution than WMP, however.

fightinfilipino

Dak wrote: »

So I'm using my new HDTV for a monitor and it's so unbearably kickass, it's hard to describe. One problem I'm having though, is that whenever I play DVDs in my DVD drive, the movie won't fill the entire screen, even when I make WMP go into full screen mode.

So I'm guessing the problem is that my desktop resolution is 19--x1080 but the DVD resolution is 720x480 or whatever, but there must be a way for me to max it to fill the screen. Is there an app, are there some WMP options I haven't messed around with?

What do I do?

haha holy crap!: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=19098

i'm actually interested in doing this setup, too. what HDTV did you buy, and how did you set up your connection from your computer to the TV?

fforde

fightinfilipino wrote: »

Dak wrote: »

So I'm using my new HDTV for a monitor and it's so unbearably kickass, it's hard to describe. One problem I'm having though, is that whenever I play DVDs in my DVD drive, the movie won't fill the entire screen, even when I make WMP go into full screen mode.

So I'm guessing the problem is that my desktop resolution is 19--x1080 but the DVD resolution is 720x480 or whatever, but there must be a way for me to max it to fill the screen. Is there an app, are there some WMP options I haven't messed around with?

What do I do?

haha holy crap!: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=19098

i'm actually interested in doing this setup, too. what HDTV did you buy, and how did you set up your connection from your computer to the TV?

You can get a DVI to HDMI cable for very cheap. Also some HDTVs have VGA plugs on the back as well.

fightinfilipino

i had been going through Samsung's website reading up on their LCD HDTVs, and had read that their TVs will not accept a video signal from a computer through the HDMI input. so this isn't true for all HDTVs? i would also rather use a DVI-to-HDMI cable instead of the VGA connection, if possible...

Daedalus

fightinfilipino wrote: »

i had been going through Samsung's website reading up on their LCD HDTVs, and had read that their TVs will not accept a video signal from a computer through the HDMI input. so this isn't true for all HDTVs? i would also rather use a DVI-to-HDMI cable instead of the VGA connection, if possible...

An HDMI signal is an HDMI signal. What they really meant was "if it doesn't look right, don't bother calling customer support, because we won't help you."

JWFokker

Use Media Player Classic (not at all related to Windows Media Player), install FFDShow and if you have the horsepower, run a 4-tap Lanczos supersampling filter on it. I prefer even multiples of the source resolution, but some people prefer to use whatever their display resolution is. Either way it's way the hell better than most commercial upscaling DVD players. Also, set deinterlacing to Blend. Linear looks best as far as software deinterlacing goes, but it's pretty CPU intensive and you probably won't be able to do both Linear deinterlacing and supersampling at the same time. Then again, you might have an overclocked C2D, in which case you may very well have the horsepower to do it.