Black bars - Image squashed

[retrogamer76]

When I make MKVs of certain DVDs I get black bars on my widescreen TV when viewing the MKV through my Xbox One Media Player. These movies (The Dead Zone, Eyes Wide Shut, 2001) are supposed to be 1.85/1 and the movie image should fill the entire screen. I'm unsure what to do to fix this problem. I tried using MKVMergeGUI to change the ratio to 1.85 to 1 but it doesn't do anything. I tried something called mkvextract to extract the MPEG2 and make it 16:9, but no file is ever created.

[Woodstock]

DVDs would be encoded with those bars present in the image. You can run the files through a program like Handbrake that would (by default) REMOVE the bars, then your TV would be free to size the image as appropriate.

Your TV probably is set to stretch images to fit, but most would detect the bars and remove them from its calculations.

[retrogamer76]

DVDs would be encoded with those bars present in the image. You can run the files through a program like Handbrake that would (by default) REMOVE the bars, then your TV would be free to size the image as appropriate.

Your TV probably is set to stretch images to fit, but most would detect the bars and remove them from its calculations.

My TV is set to FULL, so everything is seen with my Xbox One. I could set it to NORMAL, 16:9, but that messes up some apps like Twitch that need the full resolution. I get the same squashed problem no matter what I choose and none of my TV picture size options can fix this black bar/image squashed problem from anamorphic DVDs. Please advise on how to fix.

[Woodstock]

I'd process the file with Handbrake (handbrake.fr is where you go to download it). It will strip the black bars, which MAY get your TV to properly handle the anamorphic image.

Now, there is a possibility they did the DVD with bars that aren't really black; I've seen old video that used designs in the "bar" area, which will make it difficult or impossible for the TV to figure out what it should do. Handbrake would useful for dealing with that by using a manual crop to remove the bars.

[Smithcraft]

Your display is not 1.85, it's 1.78. That means that you will get black bars on the top and the bottom of the screen for anything with an aspect ratio greater than 1.78. You will get black bars on the sides of the screen for anything with an aspect ratio less than 1.78.

Also, 2001 is not 1.85, it's 2.21.

SC