How To Put the Monitor Settings For a Widescreen

Introduction

PC owners purchase systems with wide monitors so that they can watch movies in the same fashion as going to a local theater. Consumers don't have to worry about making sure widescreen is in effect when going to the movies, because other staff and employees at the facility are responsible for making sure the movie shows on the projection screen in the widescreen format.

At home, the PC owner has to work a little harder to make sure that the movies and other videos show in the widescreen format. Many people are unaware that a video footage has to be produced in the widescreen format, before it ever reaches the shelves where consumers then purchase the DVD. The same goes for downloading movies from the Internet. the original video has to be shot in the widescreen format.

Playing this video on your computer monitor so that is appears long and flattened, in the widescreen format, has almost nothing to do with settings inside your monitor. Instead, you should follow a few steps to get the desired widescreen affect to appear on your monitor.

Step 1

Read the outside of the original case that holds the DVD disc. If you don't have the packaging, temporarily remove the disc from the optical DVD disc drive in your computer. Look at the labeling so that you can visually confirm that the video on the disc was produced in the widescreen format. You may either see the word "Widescreen" or the a logo that resembles a TV with a longer than usual length from left to right.

If you cannot locate and confirm that the video on the disc is in the widescreen format, that does not mean it is incapable of playback in this fashion. Put the DVD disc back into the computer and move on to the next step.

Step 2

Open the movie playback application on your computer. For example, if you use the Microsoft Windows operating system then you might have access to one of the following programs: Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center. Alternatively, you might have installed a third-party application. It is your choice.

Step 3

Open the video or movie, and beginning playing the footage in your media player application. For example, when you open the DVD disc on a PC you are brought to the main menu. Hit "Play."

Step 4

Pause the video in the application. Right-click on top of the paused video to reveal a menu of options. Select "Widescreen" from the menu. Wait for the video to transition from the standard format to the widescreen format on your monitor.

Step 5

Hit "Play" again. Proceed with watching your video on the monitor in the widescreen format.

Tips

Look in the owner's manual for your monitor to find out how to convert to widescreen for everything that you see on the display. Be warned that it is harder to read text documents in this mode.

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