RE: Widescreen problems....is it me?

["edgesmarthomes" <nick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Films are made in a number of aspect ratios, some of which are retained
when transferred to a domestic medium (DVD) and some of which are
adjusted. Either way, the two most common aspect ratios on DVDs are
1.85:1 and 2.35 :1. Given that your 16:9 TV is 1.77:1, neither of these
fits absolutely perfectly but with masking on the TV 1.85:1 is as good
as the same.

Therefore, if you watch anything with a wider ratio, it's wider than
your TV screen and will therefore require bars top and bottom. There is
no way you can retain the integrity of the original image and make it
fill the screen, they're just different shapes.

However, many TVs have modes which will allow you to stretch/crop the
image to make it fill more or less of the screen. For example, if you
zoom in on the image, it will get larger and the black bars will reduce,
but at the same time you will lose the edges of the picture off the
sides of the screen, providing the TV doesn't also stretch or squash the
image at the same time.

So it's really down to personal choice (and the modes available on your
TV) as to whether you want to watch a film in its original format or
adjust it to something you prefer.

If film directors all chose to shoot their work in 16:9 this wouldn't be
an issue, however most prefer the more theatrical and artistic palette
that the wider ratios allow.

Hope this helps.

Nick

Nick Tyson
The Edge
Tel 01473 288211
Fax 01473 288255
nick@xxxxxxx





-----Original Message-----
From: darren_karp2001 [mailto:darren@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 09 September 2004 10:20
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Widescreen problems....is it me?

Hi All,

Can someone take some time to explain to me what the difference is
between widescreen and fullscreen in the sense that some DVD's which
I play back via my MVP take up all (or almost all) of my 32" Panny WS
TV yet others have huge black bars top and bottom!

Is there a way of converting these movies displaying the letterbox so
that it covers more of the screen?

TIA