anamorphic - still no wiser (1 Viewer)

[rssavvas]

Hi This is my first post.

I have read all the writing on anamorphic but still can't get my fave movies to show as full screen ie no bars.

When I play, for example, Star Wars (all episodes) I still get black bars top and bottom. My TV is an LG widescreen set at 16:9. My DVD player is a Pioneer set for 16:9 aspect.

When I play an anamorphic film eg the original Stargate movie, I still get black bars. When I play Citizen Cane I get full screen. Normal Free to Air TV is full screen.

Am I doing anything wrong or do I just have to live with the bars

Any help much appreciated
Cheers

Ross

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Your TV screen has an aspect ratio of 16:9, also expressed as 1.77:1. Nothing that isn't also exactly 1.77:1 is going to completely fill your screen. Most pre-HD TV shows and pre-1940s films (1.33:1 and 1.37:1) early ultrawide films (2.60:1, sometimes more) and contemporary "scope" films (2.35:1) cannot be displayed on your TV without either being distorted, zoomed (which will cut off part of the picture) or being letterboxed or pillarboxed to some degree. (Due to the overscan inherent in most TVs, 1.85:1 films - which include most comedies and more intimate dramas - generally will fill the screen and effectively display as 1.77:1.)

The Star Wars films all have an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 - which is wider than your set's 1.77:1. The only way to show the entire frame is to letterbox it. The only way these films can be made to "fill" a 1.77:1 screen is if they are zoomed and/or cropped, losing part of the picture at the edges, or if the image is panned and scanned.

A widescreen TV does not mean "no black bars". The 1.77:1 aspect ratio was chosen for HDTV and widescreen sets because it is a good compromise among all the aspect ratios out there. (1.33:1 sets have to letterbox everything from 1.66:1 up, and reduce 1.85:1 and wider films to a tiny strip in the middle of the screen. A 2.35:1 set would have to pillarbox - fill the empty part of the screen with "black columns" on the right and left sides - everything from 1.85:1 and down, reducing it all to a small rectangle in the middle of the screen.

At 1.77:1 you have a screen that can display a wide variety of material a very good resolution and with large enough screen images at a given screen size so that all of the are comfortably watchable.

Broadcast HDTV has a native resolution of 1.77:1, which is why it fills the entire screen. So, yes, for any resolution above 1.77:1 (maybe 1.85:1 depending on overscan), you're going to have to live with the black bars because they are necessary to preserve the original aspect ratio - which is the point of the exercise if what you want is a home theater. An HT is supposed to reproduce the theater experience at home. If you just want to fill the screen of your expensive TV, you're just watching television.

Citizen Kane should not be filling your screen. It if is, you are either crop/zooming it or you have it stretched out horizontally with everything looking tall and fat. It should be pillarboxed and occupy a 1.33:1 frame in the middle of your screen. Check your settings.

Regards,

Joe

 

[chuckg]

Have you been to a movie theater and noticed curtains that move in or out between the promos and the main film? The curtains are there to hide unused portions of the screen when, for example, the promos (trailers, dancing popcorn, whatever) are more square than the wider movie.

The black bars on your TV are there for the same reason. Enjoy!

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Note that you can always use the zoom mode on your TV in order to get rid of the bars. But if you really want to experience home theater and the art of film therein, you should stick to OAR (original aspect ratio).

To help you do this, you have to stop thinking of your TV as the end-all be-all of your experience and realize that it is simply a device on which to view films. True HT enthusiasts realize that the purpose of all the gadgets is not to allow us to brag about our electronics (although we all do that), they are just a means to an end - the "end" being viewing works of art in as close to optimum viewing conditions as possible. Stop concentrating on the electronics and start concentrating of the content and you will soon learn to embrace (or at least ignore) the black bars.

 

[Ric Easton]

Hey Joe,
Might be a time saver if you have that explanation copied to your own computer. I doubt this is the last time it'll be needed!