Widescreen : Othor Games

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:22 pm

Because movies are in a wider format than widescreen TVs.

I've checked and both the DVD version and the Blu-Ray version of the same movie do that. So, this is what I don't understand. Why make movies that don't fully fit on any TV? My thoughts are that either the shape of widescreen TVs aren't what they should be or that the ratio of widescreen movies aren't what they should be. Why do movies, more often than not, it seems, not fit any of TVs they were supposedly designed to be viewed on? Why do video games have a different ratio if one of the ratios is actually better for viewing?

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:56 am

Ohhhhh. 720p. That makes a lot more sense.

Now, my guess is that your Blu-Ray is 1080p. Which means, roughly 1920 horizontal pixels by 1080 vertical pixels. Your TV, however, only supports 1920 x 720, which means that it needs to fit 1080 pixels into 720 pixels - or so my theory goes. Likely the movie is hard-matted for 1.85:1 or thereabouts and since your TV is trying to fit 1080 pixels into 720 pixels (by deinterlacing) the black bars are made even worse.

But, again, as has been discussed, movies are not 16:9, so you'd be getting the black bars even if you had a 1080p TV. Unless you want to spend around 4k-5k on a 21:9 TV, there will always be black bars.

Doesn't matter if it's 1080p or 720p, it would look nearly identical anyways.

(I assume 1920x720 is a typo, as there is no such resolution :teehee:)

I've checked and both the DVD version and the Blu-Ray version of the same movie do that. So, this is what I don't understand. Why make movies that don't fully fit on any TV? My thoughts are that either the shape of widescreen TVs aren't what they should be or that the ratio of widescreen movies aren't what they should be. Why do movies, more often than not, it seems, not fit any of TVs they were supposedly designed to be viewed on? Why do video games have a different ratio if one of the ratios is actually better for viewing?

Because movies are made for cinema screens, not TVs. DVD, blu-ray, doesn't matter, it's all adapted from film.

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:47 am

I've checked and both the DVD version and the Blu-Ray version of the same movie do that. So, this is what I don't understand. Why make movies that don't fully fit on any TV? My thoughts are that either the shape of widescreen TVs aren't what they should be or that the ratio of widescreen movies aren't what they should be. Why do movies, more often than not, it seems, not fit any of TVs they were supposedly designed to be viewed on? Why do vider games have a different ratio if one of the ratios is actually better for viewing?

They do make movies that don't have matting / are formatted expressly for the TV - they just don't make a lot of them. Remember back in the day when movies said "this movie has been formatted to fit your television"? They just don't do it that much anymore, because it takes away from the full experience that you would get from watching a movie in the movie theater.

Movies were never "designed" to be viewed on a TV - they are designed to be viewed at a movie theater. Video games use 16:9 because it's less pixels, which means less processing power is required, which means it can run at a higher FPS, etc. Movies have, likewise, been around a lot longer than video games and have influenced the design of TVs to a much higher degree than videogames.

Doesn't matter if it's 1080p or 720p, it would look nearly identical anyways.

(I assume 1920x720 is a typo, as there is no such resolution :teehee:)

Oh, yeah. 1280x720. I'm just used to typing out my monitor resolution.

And yeah, my knowledge of TV stuff is limited. I care a whole lot more about the aural, since my eyesight svcks.

» Tue May 17, 2011 4:01 am

Doesn't matter if it's 1080p or 720p, it would look nearly identical anyways.

(I assume 1920x720 is a typo, as there is no such resolution :teehee:)

Because movies are made for cinema screens, not TVs. DVD, blu-ray, doesn't matter, it's all adapted from film.

Then why aren't TV screens and cinema screens following the same size ratios?

While on the matter of resolutions, why is it that, at some points (while using my PS3), the pop-up I mentioned claims 720p resolution is being used, but at other times, claims 1080p resolution is being used? I understand if different games may support different resolutions, but how can a TV advertised as 720p run 1080p resolutions? For example, while I'm roaming around my PS3's menu (Is it called an "XMB" or something similar?) or perhaps my newest game (Final Fantasy XIII), I'm being told that both are running at 1080p, but when I put in Oblivion or Assassin's Creed II, the pop-up claims they are running at 720. According to my Oblivion game case, the PS3 version of Oblivion does not support any resolutions greater than 720p, which is understandable, given the game's age, but Assassin's Creed II's case claims it does support 1080p, however it doesn't run at 1080p, according to the pop-up. Again, it's understandable that it wouldn't, due to my TV's supported resolution, but then I'm being told that one game and the main menu are running in 1080p and I just don't understand how a 720p TV could do that nor do I understand why other games that support 1080p resolution don't run at the same resolution as this one game if my TV can supposedly support it.

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:59 am

Then why aren't TV screens and cinema screens following the same size ratios?

While on the matter of resolutions, why is it that, at some points (while using my PS3), the pop-up I mentioned claims 720p resolution is being used, but at other times, claims 1080p resolution is being used? I understand if different games may support different resolutions, but how can a TV advertised as 720p run 1080p resolutions? For example, while I'm roaming around my PS3's menu (Is it called an "XMB" or something similar?) or perhaps my newest game (Final Fantasy XIII), I'm being told that both are running at 1080p, but when I put in Oblivion or Assassin's Creed II, the pop-up claims they are running at 720. According to my Oblivion game case, the PS3 version of Oblivion does not support any resolutions greater than 720p, which is understandable, given the game's age, but Assassin's Creed II's case claims it does support 1080p, however it doesn't run at 1080p, according to the pop-up. Again, it's understandable that it wouldn't, due to my TV's supported resolution, but then I'm being told that one game and the main menu are running in 1080p and I just don't understand how a 720p TV could do that nor do I understand why other games that support 1080p resolution don't run at the same resolution as this one game if my TV can supposedly support it.

Maybe it's set to 1080p but downscaling it to 720p. Or maybe you're confusing 1080p for 1080i (which 720p TVs can use). Dunno, I don't own a PS3.

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:26 am

Then why aren't TV screens and cinema screens following the same size ratios?

http://www.philips.co.uk/c/cinema-21-9/30849/cat/.