Since 2002, many leading electronic companies have begun to develop and release widescreen LCD displays for desktop and notebook PCs. The introduction of these new widescreen monitors has given PC users a whole new and exciting way to experience entertainment. Similar to the impact widescreen TVs made, the introduction of these new monitors allow anyone to watch movies in widescreen mode on their computer, just like in the movie theater.

However, before you can fully enjoy the benefits of a new widescreen monitor, there are some issues to clear up regarding different display (aspect) ratios of conventional and widescreen displays. If you watch a widescreen movie (in widescreen mode) on a regular 4:3 display, black bars will be placed on the top and bottom of the screen. On a widescreen monitor you will not have this problem, and will be able to enjoy the film in full screen view. However, most standard (4:3) movies will be stretched to fit the screen, which causes the movie picture to be distorted. This is a problem that even the best display device cannot overcome. Yet, with the release of PowerDVD 5, and the introduction of CLPV, a solution to the problem is now here!

What is CLPV?

CyberLink Pano Vision (CLPV™) is a new technology that delivers non-linear stretching of 4:3 movies played on widescreen display devices (or widescreen films on 4:3 displays) to reduce the distortion, seen in traditional linear stretching, and to give a more natural look! A special cropping technique (called Smart Stretch) further improves the display of the picture. Thus, you can now view any movie you want in the correct aspect ratio for your display device, even if the original movie doesn't support it.

4:3 Film			Widescreen Film
Widescreen Display			4:3 Display
Without CLPV™	With CLPV™		Without CLPV™	With CLPV™

CLPV uses a non-linear stretching technique to provide the optimum fit for movies that do not have the same aspect ratio as the display device. After a movie is processed by CLPV, the center portion of the video image will be kept in it's original aspect ratio, whereas the left and right sides of the video image will be slightly stretched. As you can see in the images above, the difference compared to standard linear stretching is quite dramatic!

How to activate CLPV in PowerDVD 5?

CLPV is a sophisticated technology that recalculates the entire picture ratio in order to generate the optimal fit for your display device. This can require a bit more computer processing power, so we recommend that if you plan to use CLPV, you should have a PC with a CPU of 700MHz or higher. To activate CLPV, simply right click on the movie picture to bring up the Express Menu, and then select either "Fit to screen" or Smart stretch". Smart stretch will crop the edges of the picture a bit to improve the overall look.

So, whether you have a widescreen or a traditional 4:3 display device, you can see that PowerDVD 5's all new CLPV technology can help to give you the perfect way to view any movie, no matter what the aspect ratio. Try it today and see for yourself! If you don't have PowerDVD 5, click here to get the trial version, or click here to order the full version copy.