One thing that really ticks me off is widescreen. Why would any movie or show be widescreen when on DVD or Blu-Ray? What is the reasoning behind such a, in my opinion, pointless and stupid feature? Back before I had an HDTV, I was told it was for HDTV screens (due to them being wide screens), or something along those lines, but I've since obtained both an HDTV and a Blu-Ray player (my PS3), yet I still have those annoying bars on the top and bottom for both DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. I don't get it, What purpose does widescreen serve? Does anyone here like it? Is there something I'm doing wrong?

http://vimeo.com/6475329

I still think it's a stupid feature. It looks ridiculous on a wide screen television, especially.

So, basically your saying that you prefer to see movies in a recut form, which is inferior in quality and doesn't fit the human field of vision as well?

Also, note, Widescreen TVs have a zoom feature to cut out the letterbox on widescreen films.

No. I hate that second part more than the first. What I don't really understand is what the problem is with just shooting the film in a way so that it fully fits on televisions.

I like widescreen because you get to see more on the screen then what fullscreen offers.

Not all televisions have the same aspect ratio, so it can't fit all TVs. I think.

So you're in favor of widescreen then? I mean, last time I dropped into Best Buy, they only had wide screen TVs...

Also, if you knew much about choreograph, you'd understand wide screen. It's easy to put two things beside one another. When you start putting them behind each other, you have to deal with levels which look unnatural and are more expensive. I used to work in a theater that's stage was really deep and narrow. It svcked. Basically every play required large complex sets. Without going into a lot of detail it's just a lot easier to get more things on the screen with wide screen than full.



Most of them are pretty close to 16:9 (widescreen) or 4:3/

Think he means Film. since some have different aspect ratio.

It seems to me like this is an issue with your TV not having a proper 16:9 ratio. Or your TV settings are screwy. If you have a 16:9 ratio TV, a 16:9 ratio move (like... almost all of them) should fit without any black bars. But if you have a 4:3 aspect ratio HDTV... you're basically screwed (until you buy a 16:9 ratio TV or you find something that will convert a 16:9 to 4:3).

Bleh. Hate widescreen myself. You know how much of a pain in the ass it is to find movies in Wal-mart, or best-buy, or Target, that are Full-screen?!?! >< Makes movie shopping a major pain in the [censored], having to hop around store to store to find full-screen DVDs

The problem is your screen isn't wide enough: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2.35:1

Lot's of TV shows, though, are shot in 16:9

So if you want to blame anyone, blame Hollywoood. I live fairly close by, so I'll pass on the complaints to you. I have access to their complaint box.

Huh. I suppose I should have realized Hollywood would use some "weird" widescreen format.

Of course, DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs all use 16:9. So unless the studio forces 1.85:1 or something in the movie itself by putting in the black bars, you should be fine. Which makes me still think it's a TV issue.

They do. Some are anamorphic, but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matte_(filmmaking)#Mattes_and_widescreen_filming is very common practice

I don't see what's hard to understand about why they do it. Widescreen is better for movies. That's why we have been switching to wider aspect ratios. 16:9 just isn't as widescreen as a lot of movies. If they were to make the DVD/Blu-Ray fit your TV, they would have to cut off the sides of the film. Which is what they did with pretty much any movie that fits your TV's aspect ratio. Which you can do yourself on most TVs by zooming so that the horizontal width of the movie is the same as your TV, and cutting off the sides.

So, the advantages of wider-then-16:9 format: nothing is cut off, and can be made to look exactly the same as 16:9.

Advantages of 16:9 format movies: you don't have to push a button, and we don't have to hear you complain.

I guess my point is that Seti18 is going to have to live with the evil black bars (1.85:1 or not) 'cause there's not too much he can do about it (at least, not without buying an expensive projection system). Or he can simply 'zoom' the picture so the black bars go away, but then you lose the widescreen (I believe).

Stuff are generally filmed around 4:3, 16:9 (1.78:1, 1.85:1, etc) or 21:9 (2.39:1, 2.40:1, etc).

• 4:3 is the old TV standard. Very outdated and pretty much only used to show old TV produced stuff.
  
• 16:9 is the widescreen most TVs use today, and what the current gaming consoles use.
  
• 21:9 is pretty much what all "higher budget" movies use and as far as I know http://www.philips.co.uk/c/cinema-21-9/30849/cat/. This is the proper cinema format and has been around since the early 1950s so it's nothing new.

Before, many movies shot in 16:9 or 21:9 were cut down to fit 4:3 for the video/TV release, so a lot of the film was missing. They were basically censored, so the only chance to see the full film was at the cinema. Fortunately, that's often no longer the case even if a few 4:3 DVDs are out there.

Yeah, you'll lose a little bit, but not much if it is a 16:9 playing 1.85:1, most people don't care about it. Though personally I greatly prefer two small black bars so I get the full picture.

@Freddo: 16:9 does not equal 1.85:1, but 1.78:1, which is where the "problem" lies

Eh, those two are close enough. If the DVD player stretches it out to fill the whole screen, noone would notice the difference. The "problem" is rather in 21:9, which will have two large black bars on the top and bottom even on a 16:9 screen.

I've got a considerable amount of DVDs that don't automatically anamorph to fill a 16:9, though I do have those that do too. As you said the "problem" is small.

Completely forgot about 21:9 because I think I only have like 4 films shot in it total, I guess that would be a bigger "problem"

That said, when I watch something I generally get so into it I don't even notice the black bars, maybe the OP should stop focusing on the black bars and actually enjoy the film

After looking through my collection of Blu-rays I noticed that the majority of them are indeed 2.40:1 which does leave black bars on my 16:9 monitor. However, like you said, I hardly notice the bars when I'm watching the movie, unless it's just a bad movie.

Blame TV/Hollywood for not deciding on/sticking with a single size format for their art. I suspect TV manufacturers pick 16:9 because it's the more common for most users (since most probably watch more TV than very wide-screen movies), but maybe there's a tech reason for it too.

I like seeing the "whole picture" and I was buying letterboxed movies on VHS videotape. If the contrast on your TV is good and you turn the lights low, the black bars are just another border around your TV. If you dislike it because it makes the image smaller, buy a bigger TV.

I just prefer full screen.. I may be the last person on the planet that uses a full screen monitor, and when it dies I'll order a new one. Sorry but I go in the direction I like to go in. Not the direction everyone else is following like sheep.

I always had a full screen monitor. Switched to widescreen (because that's all they had) and I'll never go back.

Widescreen seemed a bit wierd for me at first, but now that i've gotten used to it i find 4:3 chokingly narrow.
I couldn't even imagine reading peeping into these forums with 4:3 screen :hehe: