What's new

aspect ratio with projectors ? (1 Viewer)

f1nuts

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 4, 2007
Messages
63
Real Name
jason cottee
i re-vamped a spare room and set up the projector ( newbie ), widescreen james bond quantum of solice was used to mark out my screen.....


got the screen and room painted etc....excellent the picture was spot on the painted screen


watched a couple of movies, feeling good it all worked out amazingly for an amatuer !


threw in avatar....and the image is huge !..fits the sides perfect, but the top and bottom of image are way over the 16:9 screen i painted using the bond movie as template


so do i need to paint the largest aspect ratio as my screen to solve that..


then use some kind of blocking out for regular 16;9 ?


or ?......advice appreciated
 

Jason Charlton

Ambassador
Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 16, 2002
Messages
3,557
Location
Baltimore, MD
Real Name
Jason Charlton
Films come in different aspect ratios. Quantum of Solace was filmed at an aspect ratio of 2.4:1, which as you discovered is a "wider" aspect ratio than Avatar, which was filmed at 1.85:1. (For the purposes of this discussion, we'll say that's the case, although books have been written about Avatar and aspect ratios...).


If that weren't confusing enough, when put on disc media like DVD or Blu-Ray, each of these films is letterboxed at their native aspect ratios within a 16:9 encoded video stream on the disc.


In short - you're probably best off painting a screen at a true 16:9 aspect ratio - that is, the width should be 1.78 times the height (probably much closer to the area you saw when watching Avatar).


With a 16:9 screen:

- HD programing will fill the screen entirely.

- old standard-def content (4:3) will be "pillarboxed" with black bars on each side

- Most movies shot at 1.85:1 will fill the screen (or come REALLLLY close to filling the screen).

- Movies shot at wider aspect ratios (2.35:1, 2.4:1,etc.) will have black bars at the top and bottom.


There's lots of other minutia related to aspect ratios, and different ways to accommodate the variations (like CIH setups), but in the end, the fact remains - different movies have different aspect ratio and no solution will work for ALL movies.
 

f1nuts

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 4, 2007
Messages
63
Real Name
jason cottee
thanks jason for your informative info,


so i should try to match the height which i saw in avatar, that was the portion that overlapped the top and bottom of the 16;9 i have it sized at.


then come up with a creative way to screen off that portion when not needed, as most the movies i own seem to fit perfectly on the 16;9.


thankyou
 

cocol

Auditioning
Joined
Oct 13, 2010
Messages
9
Real Name
kate
Good infor.

Originally Posted by Jason Charlton

Films come in different aspect ratios. Quantum of Solace was filmed at an aspect ratio of 2.4:1, which as you discovered is a "wider" aspect ratio than Avatar, which was filmed at 1.85:1. (For the purposes of this discussion, we'll say that's the case, although books have been written about Avatar and aspect ratios...).


If that weren't confusing enough, when put on disc media like DVD or Blu-Ray, each of these films is letterboxed at their native aspect ratios within a 16:9 encoded video stream on the disc.


In short - you're probably best off painting a screen at a true 16:9 aspect ratio - that is, the width should be 1.78 times the height (probably much closer to the area you saw when watching Avatar).


With a 16:9 screen:

- HD programing will fill the screen entirely.

- old standard-def content (4:3) will be "pillarboxed" with black bars on each side

- Most movies shot at 1.85:1 will fill the screen (or come REALLLLY close to filling the screen).

- Movies shot at wider aspect ratios (2.35:1, 2.4:1,etc.) will have black bars at the top and bottom.


There's lots of other minutia related to aspect ratios, and different ways to accommodate the variations (like CIH setups), but in the end, the fact remains - different movies have different aspect ratio and no solution will work for ALL movies.
 

Mark-P

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2005
Messages
6,487
Location
Camas, WA
Real Name
Mark Probst
Your mistake was is in thinking that Quantum of Solace has a 16:9 aspect ratio. It doesn't. Avatar, however does.

Originally Posted by f1nuts

...but the top and bottom of image are way over the 16:9 screen i painted using the bond movie as template..
 

GeorgeAB

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 28, 2001
Messages
522
Location
Denver, CO
Real Name
G. Alan Brown
Originally Posted by f1nuts

thanks jason for your informative info,


so i should try to match the height which i saw in avatar, that was the portion that overlapped the top and bottom of the 16;9 i have it sized at.


then come up with a creative way to screen off that portion when not needed, as most the movies i own seem to fit perfectly on the 16;9.


thankyou
Just to clarify and simplify what Jason was trying to tell you, your painted screen area is NOT 16:9, which is 1.78:1 in aspect ratio, as used for HDTV broadcasts. You have painted a 2.40:1 screen on your wall, which is a CinemaScope aspect ratio.


'Quantum of Solace' was shot in 2.35:1 but formatted on the video release in 2.40:1 [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0830515/technical ] , [ http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Solace-Blu-ray-Daniel-Craig/dp/B001PPLIFU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1287176303&sr=1-1 ].


'Avatar' was shown in 3D cinemas in 1.78:1 aspect ratio, and in 2D cinemas cropped to 2.35:1 CinemaScope aspect ratio [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/technical ].


Here's a simple tutorial on movie and video aspect ratios: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_%28image%29 .


Best regards and beautiful pictures,

G. Alan Brown, President

CinemaQuest, Inc.

A Lion AV Consultants Affiliate


"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"
 

f1nuts

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 4, 2007
Messages
63
Real Name
jason cottee
i really appreciate everyones input, thankyou


screen re-sized to fit avatar perfectly...wow what a difference in size, was great to watch , and now i don't seem like such a fool to the kids !
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,791
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top