There are many great things about Blu-rays, but one of the best is the simplification of aspect ratios. You really can’t screw it up. It’s so much nicer now to go into a Best Buy and seeing that every display is showing a film in its proper ratio.

Have a question about DVD’s, Blu-rays or anything regarding home theaters? Send in your questions to:dvddoctor@joblo.com

Hey DVDDoc,

I finally jumped the Blu-Ray bandwagon! And through your recommendations I was able to confidently buy a PS3 as my player. And is my HDTV getting itself a workout! Thanks so much for the great suggestions. I couldn't have made the decision without your help. Keep up the great work!

But once again I need assistance... as the Dark Knight looks beautiful in HD there is a question of the playback of this disc. As the movie begins the TV displays it in full screen. Full screen meaning in 16:9 but no black bars at the top and bottom. However after the bank robbery sequence is done, it switches to the black bar format. This happens quite frequently throughout the movie. I didn't notice it all that much until the the tunnel chase sequence where it jumps from full to black bars. Got a little bit annoying. Is there a reason for this? Is it because parts of the movie was shot in IMAX? Plus is there a way to not to have this happen? Possibly a setting in the PS3, blu-ray disc or TV. And lastly is there a way for all discs to play in the full screen (not black bars) image as it makes things look so much nicer. Thanks again... and keep up the great work!Andy

Well, it sounds like you’re getting a little confused on aspect ratios. First, the ratio change you experienced is normal, and intentional per Chris Nolan. Yes, certain scenes were shot in Imax and therefore they were shown in their Imax form of 1.78:1. Other scenes were shot normally and were shown in their normal form of 2.40:1. No, there is no way to change this during playback.

I thought the aspect ratio change was kinda cool.

And no, there is no way to show a film without black bars all the time. I guess you could play around with your screen display and zoom features, but you’d be distorting the picture so much, it would be detrimental to the movie watching experience. Your TV is set up to display 1.78:1 or similar widescreen images that cover the entire screen. Some movies are shot in a larger aspect ratio (2.40:1) and those will have the black bars at the top and bottom. It should be noted that there are many different aspect ratios and it all depends on what kind of camera the director used and when the movie was made, etc. The aspect ratio is always displayed on the back of the DVD/Blu-ray.

I have a question about how the prices of DVD's are decided? For example why is an 18 episode set of The Sopranos about 70 dollars where as a 22 episode set of a show like Chuck is only 40 dollars? - Jeremy

Priced high because people will pay it.

Shows (and everything, really) are priced to a point where the studio feels they will sell enough to make a profit. HBO shows sell really well, even though they’re double the price of a regular TV show. If the third season of Scrubs was $70, most people wouldn’t buy it, even though it has 24 episodes on it. But if you price it at $20, you’ll sell a lot of sets.