Question for Wide Screen Buffs (1 Viewer)

[agnerc]

Ok, question for all you wide screen buffs out there. I have been wondering why do we have wide screen? We are not gaining anymore screen size over 4:3 and even when I watch a wide screen movie I still have black on the top and bottom of the movie? So why have wide screen?

Also, if my tv is wide screen, why do I still have black bars on the top and bottom? I mean I can use wide zoom to get rid of it but I am changing the picture.

Chris

 

[Will_B]

Pay more attention to your widescreen television when watching DVDs and you'll notice that you only have bars on the top and bottom on certain feature films (films that say "2.35:1") on the back -- and not on others (films that say "1.85:1" on the back).

 

[agnerc]

So basically to verify something if I am watching a show and it does not have bars then it is safe to say it's 4:3 and so I need to change my tv to Full and if the show has bars then it's widescreen so I need to change the tv to normal or wide?

Chris

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Chris:

The aspect ratio of your 16:9 Widescreen display is 1.78:1.

So ... Assuming your DVD player is set up properly, you will see virtually no "black bars" for 1.85:1 Widescreen movies; and relatively small black bars for 2.35:1 Widescreen movies. On a 4:3 set you will see black bars for both of those kinds of Widescreen movies; and the 2.35:1 movies display very large back bars. A 4:3 set provides an aspect ratio of 1.33:1; that's the reason for the larger black bars.

If you're new to all of this, then you should make sure that your DVD player's display setting is set for "16:9 Widescreen" via its SETUP Menu in order to ensure that you're deriving the maximum benefit of DVD Widescreen transfers that are "enhanced for 16:9 displays".

 

[agnerc]

I think I must be missing the boat because I still really do not see a benefit in widescreen. Can anyone tell me why we have widescreen if we are seeing anymore image on the tv, it is basically the same as 4:3 but there are black lines on the top and bottom so in reality we are seeing less tv by going widescreen.

Chris

 

[Ed Moxley]

If you have the movie "The Interpreter", with Nicole Kidman, on dvd (or can borrow), in the extras, Sydney Pollock (Director), explains why you should watch the widescreen movies (16x9), instead of the Pan & Scan (4x3 Fullscreen) movies. He explains it very well, using samples of both. He shows how important stuff will be left out, in a fullscreen format. It only lasts about 5 minutes.

 

[Ed Moxley]

My post somehow jumped three posts up, between two older posts.
That's weird!


EDIT!
It did it again..........


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[todbnla]

A lil light reading on the subject, perhaps this will clear some things up for you...Reel Classics: Tech Talk: About Aspect Ratios

 

[mylan]

Its not "basically the same as widescreen"!! 4x3 is chopped up! You are seeing more if you are watching a DVD filmed in 1:78, 1:85 or 2:35 even if you see black bars on your tv.
A long time ago, movie houses thought that no one would go to the movies now since television came along so they, along with Hollywood, devised a way of filming that would revolutionize the way we saw film. This is where the term Panavision came about, lets make the movie experience different from what they see on tv. Lets make it wider. Films made in widescreen had to be formatted to fit a square 4x3 tv to be shown on network tv so editors had to blow up the image and cut the sides off so that it would fit, thus, we have the "this film has been formatted to your tv" messaage you see on tv and VHS tapes. The movie you see has been cut to fit the square screen.
If you compare a movie "formatted" versus a widescreen movie with black bars, you will see more side image with widescreen than with cropped. A good example would be the movie "Unforgiven" with Clint Eastwood, on the tv "cropped" version you see him speaking to a hooker and you see part of her face, on the widescreen version, you see him, all of her face, and a mountain range behind her. YOU ARE SEEING EXACTLY WHAT THE DIRECTOR INTENDED FOR YOU TO SEE, HOW THE MOVIE WAS FILMED!! In order to get that image to a 4x3 aspect ratio television set, they had to cut the sides off, do you understand??
Jesus Christ man, research this or you'll be lost with the coming of HDTV.

 

[Allan Jayne]

Movies come in several different shapes*. Only one shape will (can; can possibly) fit exactly and 16:9 (1.78:1) is a good compromise for the screen itself.

Yes you might be able to use zoom to get rid of "it" (black bars) but yes you are changing the picture because the side edges will go off the sides of the screen.

Video hints: Digital TV Shows On Your Old TV Set

*No movies were actually made in the form of a circle with slight trimming of the top and bottom as some very old TV sets are configured. But there was at least one (snapshot) camera made way back when that produced circular pictures.

 

[chuckg]

Imagine that you are looking at the Mona Lisa. Now, what if some joker puts a piece of cardboard in front of it, and only lets you see through a hole in the cardboard. You'd be ticked. Now, if the hole in the cardboard were bigger than the picture, there is no problem.

Widescreen gives you a larger piece of cardboard and a wider hole so that the whole picture will fit, with a little extra space at the top and bottom. A regular TV gives you way too much blank space at the top and bottom, or cuts off the sides.

 

[Joel Fontenot]

It's not a question of "widescreen" or "not widescreen", or about "gaining screen size".

It's a philosophy of watching movies - any movie - in it's original aspect ratio (OAR as we abbreviate it). That ratio may be 4x3 (1.33:1 or darn near it which matches the old TV ratio) for most movies before about 1953, 1.85:1 (darn near widescreen TV ratio of 1.75:1) or 2.35:1 (or 2.4:1 which is the Panavision scope shape of movies like "Star Wars").

The problem all these years has been that TV has been a fixed size of 4x3 and that doesn't fix with theatrical movies that are in a different shape without either cutting something off or backing out far enough to fit the whole width - and that leaves black space elsewhere (top and bottom). For us "widescreen buffs", all we wanted was to see the whole original picture, regardless of it's original shape. If the original shape was 1.33:1, then so be it and nothing needs to be done (example - "Wizard of Oz" - no letterboxing needed with the old TV shape). But if the original shape was 2.35:1, then letterbox that puppy so we see ("Star Wars" example) Chewy, Ben, Luke and Han in the cockpit of the Falcon all at one time as it was in the theater, instead of just Chewy and Ben or Luke and Han.

Widescreen TVs do add to the confusion a bit since it's now wider than the old standard def TV programing.

Even there - if it's OAR is 4x3, then pillarbox (side black bars) the image on a widescreen set (don't "stretch" which makes things distorted, or "zoom in" which cuts things off). But 2.35:1 scope movies will still letterbox the image, it just won't be as much black space as a regular TV would have.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Can someone tell me why we have air conditioning when the temperature is the same without it as it is with it?

Oh, wait. It isn't the same. Never mind...

 

[Brian D H]

Actually if you average the temperatures inside and outside it IS the same since the AC outputs heat outside your house.... (blah, blah, blah) (The rolleyes is for MY comment, not yours)

 

[Andy_Bu]

jesus, I have had a wide screen set since 1999 and some of these answers even made me scratch my head

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so go here and educate yourself, its much simpler than it originally sounds.


Widescreen Advocate > Advanced Widescreen/OAR Primer