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Vince Maskeeper · 03-10-2002, 09:44 AM

DVDs are widescreen (letterboxed), and widescreen is better!

Many first time DVD buyers notice that DVDs are mostly in the "widescreen" or "letterboxed format", which have balck bars at the top and bottom, and they wonder why.

Well, next time you go to your local movie theater, take a close look at the movie screen. You'll find that modern movie theater screens are actually a rectangular shape (they are much wider than they are tall).

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Modern movies are shot in such a way that the shape of the picture is a rectangle. While you watch a movie in the theater, take note of how WIDE the movie picture is.

Now, when you get home - take a look at your TV set. Your TV set (if it's a regular TV) is basically square shape. It's not that wide rectangle you saw in the theater, it is closer to a perfect square.

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Now- In order to make the rectangle movie picture you saw at the movie theater fit in your square tv, one of these two process is usually used:

1) The studio cuts off the sides of the rectangle picture and make it a square (obviously losing picture area from the original film). This is called PAN & SCAN, and it is probably what you're used to if you watch movies on VHS or on Cable TV. You might have seen the warning "THIS FILM HAS BEEN MODIFIED TO FIT YOUR SCREEN"-- they are letting you know they've cut off big pieces of the rectangle to make it square.

2) The image is zoomed out a little. This allows your set to fit the full width of the rectangle inside the square TV shape, but leaves unused areas at the top and bottom (letterboxing). You see black bars because you are seeing the full width of the rectangle, which leaves no picture for the top and bottom of your square shaped TV.

In order to truly create the THEATER in your home (which is the basic goal of Home Theater)-- it is important to present the film as it was originally intended. The only way to respect the film and present it as the director composed it, is to display it without cutting off parts of the picture. Thus, we have widescreen DVDs.

The proper way to show widscreen films without cutting off the sides of the picture, is letterboxing.

This respect for the original shape of the film is often referred to as OAR, which means presenting a film in its original aspect ratio.

In other words: OAR means presenting the film including the entire picture the director intended you to see. The Home Theater Forum is officially PRO-OAR.

Aspect Ratio is just the term for what shape the movie is in.

You can learn more about widescreen and the importance of letterboxing here (check out the first one for an excellent animated example):

http://www.ryanwright.com/ht/oar.shtml
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/home/wsfaq.html
http://www.widescreenadvocate.org/
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...reenorama.html
http://www.widescreen.org/
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/

-Vince

03-10-2002, 09:44 AM
Vince Maskeeper Member Join Date: Jan 1999 Local Time: 04:37 PM Local Date: 10-15-2008 Posts: 9,593	DVDs are widescreen (letterboxed), and widescreen is better! Many first time DVD buyers notice that DVDs are mostly in the "widescreen" or "letterboxed format", which have balck bars at the top and bottom, and they wonder why. Well, next time you go to your local movie theater, take a close look at the movie screen. You'll find that modern movie theater screens are actually a rectangular shape (they are much wider than they are tall). [c][/c] Modern movies are shot in such a way that the shape of the picture is a rectangle. While you watch a movie in the theater, take note of how WIDE the movie picture is. Now, when you get home - take a look at your TV set. Your TV set (if it's a regular TV) is basically square shape. It's not that wide rectangle you saw in the theater, it is closer to a perfect square. [c][/c] Now- In order to make the rectangle movie picture you saw at the movie theater fit in your square tv, one of these two process is usually used: 1) The studio cuts off the sides of the rectangle picture and make it a square (obviously losing picture area from the original film). This is called PAN & SCAN, and it is probably what you're used to if you watch movies on VHS or on Cable TV. You might have seen the warning "THIS FILM HAS BEEN MODIFIED TO FIT YOUR SCREEN"-- they are letting you know they've cut off big pieces of the rectangle to make it square. 2) The image is zoomed out a little. This allows your set to fit the full width of the rectangle inside the square TV shape, but leaves unused areas at the top and bottom (letterboxing). You see black bars because you are seeing the full width of the rectangle, which leaves no picture for the top and bottom of your square shaped TV. In order to truly create the THEATER in your home (which is the basic goal of Home Theater)-- it is important to present the film as it was originally intended. The only way to respect the film and present it as the director composed it, is to display it without cutting off parts of the picture. Thus, we have widescreen DVDs. The proper way to show widscreen films *without* cutting off the sides of the picture, is letterboxing. This respect for the original shape of the film is often referred to as OAR, which means presenting a film in its *original aspect ratio. In other words: OAR means presenting the film including the entire picture the director intended you to see. The Home Theater Forum is officially PRO-OAR. Aspect Ratio is just the term for what shape the movie is in. You can learn more about widescreen and the importance of letterboxing here (check out the first one for an excellent animated example*): http://www.ryanwright.com/ht/oar.shtml http://www.hometheaterforum.com/home/wsfaq.html http://www.widescreenadvocate.org/ http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...reenorama.html http://www.widescreen.org/ http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/ -Vince