[8.9" Kindle Fire HD Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Tronar:
Ok. Time for an update. I think I am a step closer to a solution.

First I tried the app "Resolution Changer Lite" as recommended by stunts513. In theory it looked great. I was able to select a resolution 1920x1080 and as a result the kindle had a black bar at the bottom and only used 1920x1080 of the 1920x1200 pixels on its display.

So full of expectation I connected the Kindle with my TV. Unfortunately the TV still displayed black bars to the right and left but in addition now also a black bar top and bottom. So while it indeed reduced the displayed area, somehow the Kindle seems to still send the 16:10 information throught the HDMI port, making my TV scale down the picture. I tried all kinds of settings and resolutions to no avail.

As a next step I bought the full version of "Resolution Changer", because it was talking about an additional HDMI feature. Again full of expectation I started the app. Instead of selecting one out of several preset resolutions (like 1920x1080 or 1280x720) the app allows you enter any values for Width and Height. I again tried 1920x1080 with the exact same result as in the lite version.

But the full app has a second tab called "HDMI" and I did the same thing there. Unfortunately again to no avail. After some testing and reading of the description I came to the verified conclusion that all this additional feature does is DETECT if somebody connects a HDMI cable to the port of the Android device and then AUTOMATICALLY changes the screen resolution to the values chosen. So instead of having to invoke the app manually every time you in theory just set the wanted values on the 2nd tab and any time you plug in your TV your android device switches to the defined resolution.

Unfortunately there is no value to edit to stop the Kindle from sending out a 16:10 information to the TV or the app maybe doesn't even change anything that is sent to the HDMI port, but only influences the built-in screen.

But then unexpectedly Amazon's Customer Service sent me a message! They basically confirmed that if you connect your Kindle to a TV through HDMI it sends out it's 16:10 resolution and thus makes your TV scale down the picture.

BUT when you switch to the NATIVE INTERNAL VIDEO APP, the signal sent to the HDMI port automatically switches to 1920x1080 and a 16:9 ratio information. So as a result the native amazon services like "instant video" or other streams will be displayed without any bars. They claimed to even had it tested on a LG Full HD Plasma.

THIS EXPLAINS WHY MOST PEOPLE DON'T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS and thus you can't find much about in the forums.

I have to say I was sceptical, but since I had only used VLC so far to play back the movies, I now used the original video player. And to my surprise the black bars left and right went away and I had a full screen picture!!!

That's why I am saying, I am one step further! :rolleyes:

Unfortunately this only helps me partly. For starters VLC plays a lot more formats than the native video player app. In addition I like to watch the movies with subtitles since I am not a native english speaker. VLC plays them automatically if the .srt-file is named the same as the movie itself, but of course the native video player doesn't. I don't even know it is capable of that.

Anyhow the big questions I have now:

1. does somebody know how to make the regular android Video Player display subtitles for example in the format .srt?

2. is there an option in the Android version of VLC (I don't think so, since it is still BETA) to configure the HDMI output?

3. Now that we know, that the regular Video Player can influence the format sent to the HDMI port, is there an app to set the HDMI output permanently to 1920x1080 and more important 16:9 ?

Again any help appreciated...