Wow, kind of a dealbreaker there. Too bad, VLC had some advantages over KMP but nothing THAT significant as to sacrifice displaying subs below the video. Right away, you have this setup option when opening KMP for the first time:
http://img842.imageshack.us/f/kmp1.jpg/
btw, in reading some of the older posts, there was this one user (possible vlc programmer?) who went on and on about how this feature would only be needed in 4x3 displays, and that those displays were not being manufactured anymore. This, I'm sure, is absolutely true, except I don't have 4x3 anything. My monitor is 16:9 and my TV is 16:10 and there are STILL black bars for many widescreen movies. It all depends on aspect ratio, of course.
A good example of almost no black bars is shown in Back to the Future, recent blu-ray edition. The aspect ratio here is 1:85:
http://img199.imageshack.us/f/subswith185ratio.jpg/
A good example of very evident black bars is shown in Serenity, also blu-ray. The aspect ratio here is 2:35:
http://img138.imageshack.us/f/subswith235ratio.jpg/
I hope this proves that black bars are NOT going away because of 16:9 or 16:10 displays. Any movie shot in 2:35 aspect ratio (true anamorphic, as the filmmakers like to say) is NOT going to fit perfectly on any HD display and therefore the ability to display subs in black bars will ALWAYS be an important feature.
I do hope vlc programmers finally implement this. If KMPlayer can do it so easily, why not vlc...?