Has anyone else had this problem with their Lord of the Rings DVD?

Let me preface this post by saying that I can often be very anal-retentive when it comes to a/v stuff. This is partly due to my nature and partly due to the fact that I sell a/v stuff and have to look at TV's all day at work.

That being said...

I popped my new LOTR's widescreen DVD in for the first time a few hours ago. However, I noticed a problem. It seemed that in the letterboxed area, both above and below the viewable are, the blackness was almost split into two different hues ( a true black and something a bit more gray). Originally, I got very worried because I thought that I may have burn-in. It seemed like the "gray" area was in what would be the extra viewable area that a 1.85:1 DVD (or 16:9) would provide over a 2.35:1 DVD (like LOTR or any Hollywood movie). However, I noticed that the effect would be prounounced during some instances of the movie and other times it would be non-existant. I concluded that I wasn't burn in when a) I saw the credits and I could see the effect flickering in and out and b) I popped in another 2.35:1 DVD and I saw nothing that even resembled burn-in.

So, I ask of you, who, if anyone, had the same problem. Did the people who transfer the DVD make it a 1:85 signal that was letterboxed to like like a true 2.35:1 signal? Or did I just get a shoddy, defective DVD as the result of mass production?

I have never noticed this problem with my LOTR DVD. The letterboxed area on mine is definitely just black.

im pretty picky about A/V stuff too and i didnt notice anything like that at all

if one of your friends has the dvd or if you can rent it id check out another copy of it on your tv to figure out if its your copy or not

I'm gonna see if I can rent it this weekend and I'll check if I see it on my wega. Other thing is it may be your player too... never can tell.

This other 2.35 DVD, was it anamorphic as well? A lot of times when a disc is anamophic, it will have player generated bars for the 1.77:1 ratio that a 16:9 TV has, so those are not a signal, and therefore much darker, and if your TV is set brighter than those bars, then you will see the difference. I used to have this problem as well, but when I had adjusted the brightness on my TV, problem solved. Just a thought, I know you are anal about AV and might have thought of this already, but this is how I solved the problem for me... it was not for LotR though, it was for 2.35 DVDs when I got DVD back in the day.

I checked it out and didn't notice any gray at all.

btw, check your PMs Amerlop.

You know, I never noticed that before, and it isnt like that on dvd, but thats a scary thought. all these Widescreen versions with the black fill in, is that going to cause burn in on my screen if enough of them have the same proportions?

My brother in laws' disc has the two different hues. It's not too noticeable.

No wonder Kia's giving them away FOR FREE when you test drive a car...