LOTR: still letterboxed on widescreen tv? (1 Viewer)

[AngeloNA]

As I understand it, LOTR and other movies were filmed with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, which is wider than the 1.78:1 AR that HDTV's must adhere to. So does this mean that when watching anamorphic dvd's with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on a widescreen tv, there will still be black bars on the top and bottom of the screen? If so, I imagine these bars will be smaller than on a 4:3 television, but the image will still be letterboxed, but to a lesser extent?

 

[nolesrule]

Correct. The black bars will only use about 24% of the screen area for 2.35 movies on a 16x9 screen rathern than 43% on a 4x3 screen.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Yep, you got it.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Yep.

Check the FAQ AND PRIMER, specifically a piece titled "If I buy a 16x9 TV, will I get rid of black bars forever?" written by some guy named vince...

-V

 

[Jack Briggs]

And written well, I might add. Please do consult this resource Vince compiled and edited as a service to our membership. Lotsa essential info in there.

 

[AngeloNA]

hahaha, you know, I figured that there would be some valuable tidbit in the primer regarding this issue, but I couldn't find it. If only I had searched instead for comments written by this mystersious "vince".