Originally posted by Reggie T
Just a quck question, Ken (or anyone who can answer): How do 16x9 TVs handle letterboxed, non-animorphic DVDs? Are you restricted to watch them in 4x3 mode or can you "zoom" into the picture to make it fit the entire 16x9 screen?
Thanks!
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By default, letterboxed, non-anamorphic DVDs will have black bars on the top and bottom, and grey bars on the sides on 16x9 screens. However, it is possible to zoom in on the picture until the grey bars on the sides are no longer visible, and some of the black bars (depending on the aspect ratio the movie was shot in) are visible at the top and bottom. By zooming in on the image, though, you'll loose some resolution, as you would zooming in on anything.
The reason I say that you'll still see some black bars, depending on aspect ratio, is that there are more than one widescreen aspect ratios used when filming but only one aspect ratio (16x9/1.78:1) used for widescreen TVs. And, depending on the aspect ratio, you'll see different amount of black bars. To better understand what I mean, please refer to the first two links below, they have screenshots of what I'm talking about.
Generally, you can say that there's two widescreen aspect ratios used when filming: 1.85:1, and 2.35:1, there are others but they're very uncommon. With 1.85:1, the black bars are hardly noticeable as there's only .07 difference in the ratio between it and the ratio of the widescreen set itself, while with 2:35:1 they are a little more noticeable, but not as bad as on a regular 4x3 TV.
For some screenshots and examples of what anamorphic and non-anamorphic transfers will look like on 4x3 and 16x9 TVs, you can refer to these links:
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/artic...hic185demo.html - 1.85:1
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/artic...hic235demo.html - 2.35:1
Please note:
The first set of images on each page displays what anamorphic vs. non-anamorphic would look like on a 4x3 set where the DVD player was set to display the image as it would on a 16x9 TV.
The second set of images shows you what anamorphic and non-anamorphic video looks like on a 4x3 set whe re the DVD player was set up to display the image on a 4x3 set.
The third set of images deals with what we've been discussing here, what anamorphic vs. non-anamorphic films look like on a 16x9 set.
The above links are part of an excellent article at thedigitalbits.com regarding widescreen and anamorphic transfers. It explains everything about these topics in understandable English, without too much technical jargon. I highly recommend it. To read the entire article, you can go to:
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/artic...phic/index.html
The article is divided into two sections, The Ultimate Guide to Anamorphic Widescreen, which deals with what anamorphic widescreen really is, and then there's Widescreen-o-rama, which deals with the concept of widescreen and the aforementioned aspect ratios.
The article(s) can be downloaded as a zipped Adobe Acrobat file by clicking here.
If you are even the least bit interested in movies on DVD and the art of film, I highly recommend reading that article. 
Ken Molen
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