[KyleRoussel]

Everytime I walk into an A/V section of a store, inevitably there's a DVD playing on a new widescreen tv.
My question is how come some movies, even though they're playing on a widescreen tv, still have the black bars at the top, and some DVDs fill the whole screen with no black bars. Both movies are the widescreen format, yet some have the bars, some don't. What's the deal with that? Is it the TV? The DVD? Where do you look to see what you're going to get?

[Jeff Gatie]

This question is covered here -


Link to Primer

[KyleRoussel]

Thanks!

I can't believe I couldn't figure that out for myself.
Ok, next question: Do 2.39:1 tv's exist? And if so, what would happen to the image of a 16:9 DVD on that type of tv?

[Michael Reuben]

Quote:

Do 2.39:1 tv's exist?

No. It's 4:3 or 16:9. To get other ARs from a CRT, you'd need a front projection unit with aspect ratio control.

M.

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

If you got a 2.39 TV ... what would you do with the 2.55:1 films or the 1.85:1 films or the 1.66:1 or 1.75:1 ... etc?

As long as the material does not match the aspect ratio of the display device ... you will always have bars ... either on top bottom or on the sides.

Regards

[KyleRoussel]

Well that's what I was wondering.
What happens to an image when the material is 2.35:1 and you display it on a 16:9 tv? Where do the bars show up, and is the image skewed at all?

[Michael Reuben]

Quote:

What happens to an image when the material is 2.35:1 and you display it on a 16:9 tv?

That question is directly answered in the link provided above:

Quote:

The same is true for Movies with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. These films are wider than your 16x9 set, so you will still need small bars of unused space at the top and bottom in order to properly present the width of the material.

So, the basic answer is: If the content is wider than your set (2.35:1 aspect films) you will have small bars at the top and bottom-- if it is narrower (like 4:3 normal TV programming)- you will have bars on the sides.

M.