DVD's....why the different widescreen sizes?
 

My tv is not a widescreen and some dvd's have only small bars at the top/bottom,some have huge bars.

Would someone care to explain?

different manufacturers go for different 'aspect ratios' (anamorphic and all that bollocks) - basically to get the full cinematic effect you end up with the wide bars at the top and bottom as this means none of the width is lost.

Or you go for the compromise which is a 'taller' image that loses some of the side details....

16:9 and cinema scope

whats normal tv 4.3?

yup 4:3

so is there anything i can do to make viewing the ultra widescreen ones more acceptable,can you alter settings in the dvd?

you could use a zoom function on the TV if it has one ? Would lose a bit at the sides too tho.......................

Get a bigger TV ? :D
Any excuse ;)

Cinema is shot with a different aspect ratio to TV - even 'widescreen' TV. The pictures are much wider, so to make this fit domestic TV without losing too much of the sides you have to effectively zoom the picture down. Result is is 'reveals' the black bands top and bottom.

You can zoom in on your DVD or often TV, but then...you lose the sides (someone could be talking off screen...). Annoying innit - but it fills the screen in the pix!

Most UK TV is now shot 16:9 so you shouldnt have black bands as this fits your widescreen Tv properly and fully.

D

I've had the odd DVD that gives me black bars top and bottom on a normal widescreen TV :eek:

Changing the screen mode either gives me tall thin people or chops too much off the sides. Bloody annoying.

My pioneer dvd player lets me select '4:3 pan & scan' ratio in setup when watching dvds on my 21" normal tv, don't miss that much off the sides and makes it slightly better :idea:

True 'Widescreen' films, 2.35:1 are encoded with slim black bars top and bottom because your TV is about 1.77:1.

When these films are displayed on a conventional 4:3 TV your DVD player adds further black bars to fill the gap. These can be seen by adjusting your brightness as the ones encoded with the picture will lighten with the picture.

Films shot originally in 1.85:1 aspect ratio tend to be 'optimised' for widescreen TVs so no black bars.

HTH

Simon

thanks,yes the ones that have the largest bars are 2.35:1.

films in 2.35 is the full width so you dont lose any picture to the left/right. 1.85 you will lose picture. most of these are edited with pan&scan so will show the 'main action' part of the picture. as well as the 35mm films you sometimes get films shot in 70mm, these are 2.77 i think

So 2.35:1 = 16:9? [annoying having two different methods innit!].

Nope, 2.35:1 is wider than 16:9 it works out at 21.15:9 just for reference

16:9 or anamorphic - its a dvd/tv format that creates the best fit for widescreens. depends on orginal format (2.35=film industry std) sometimes you get non-anamorphic which are not as good.

16:9 IS anamorphic when recorded (just like 'panavision'). Not sure where you get anything wider than 4:3 (or letterboxed 14:9) that wouldnt be anamorphic...???

2.35:1 is apparently the aspect ratio your eyes see in which is why films are shot in this way.

noubt wrong with black bars :)

There a two different principal widescreen formats; 2.35:1 & 1.85:1. If you listen to 'Aliens' SE commentary by James Cameron he talks about his decision to film it in 1.85:1 rather than 'Panavision/2.35:1'.

Simon

Yea my old man goes on about this, we got a 38" widescreen TV and quite a few DVD's give the black borders top and bottom and as mentioned you can change the aspect ratio but this normally distorts the pics in one way or another.

Exactly. The 35mm film frame is 4:3, so any other aspect ratio has to be compressed in the horizontal direction to fit on the frame, using an anamorphic lens. Obviously another anamorphic lens has to be used to play it back, too. So theoretically a widescreen film has better vertical resolution than horizontal :D