If you've ever wondered about those black bars on your TV-

[mikebw]

This article explains them very well: http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/764
"High-Def FAQ: Why Don't the Black Bars Go Away?"


This may be of interest to anyone who is considering a new widescreen TV, projector or monitor.

[vision63]

Interesting. I never think of it as black bars being "placed" on the screen. I just think of it as nothing being there. The absence of an image. Everyone oughta get that guy to explain everything.

[Joey Cupcakes]

I knew all that stuff but this is a great link to send to people who don't "get it." Very nicely explained.

Now he needs to explain why stretching Academy Ratio pictures to a 16:9 width is even worse, filling up the screen by making everybody fat and short. This seems to be how all HDTVs in bars are set up...

[mikebw]

I remember my dad used to rent sci-fi movies that were shot in widescreen, but on VHS had been squished to fit on a 4:3 TV, so everyone was very tall and thin looking.

II can sort of understand how someone would be disappointed after spending a lot on a new HDTV only to find out that there are still plenty of movies that do not fill the screen, either horizontally or vertically.

[Jimmypoo]

This is why it is a good idea to make your own with an HD camera.

Let us know when you make your next trip to Vegas. What goes on in Vegas can stay in Vegas unless it's already been mastered to a DVD!

[bazookaman]

I've always loved viewing movies in their original aspect ratio. One of my pet peeves are movies (on TV) which START in letterbox but then switch to pan and scan. ONLY reason for the letterbox is to fit the opening credits. Panning and scanning would chop them off.

[Black Landlord]

[quote Jimmypoo]This is why it is a good idea to make your own with an HD camera.

Let us know when you make your next trip to Vegas. What goes on in Vegas can stay in Vegas unless it's already been mastered to a DVD!
I see you've been caught up in the R. Kelly trial coverage . . .

[OWC Jamie]

My TV is straight out of the fifties.
No black bars.
No gay bars.

[deckeda]

Can or should we legislate culture and taste? No. But if we did, everyone who buys a widescreen TV should be required to read that article.

The money quote:

If you have a frame that's too big for a photo, you use mattes to hold the picture in place and fill the empty space around it. That's exactly what the black bars do, no more and no less. In the final analysis, it comes down to a decision of which is more important, the picture or the frame.

I don't subscribe to HD sat or cable, so I wasn't aware that there has been a regression back to delivering a "full screen" by them cropping to 16:9 or un-matting the original shot. I'd be pissed. I suppose that when the major networks, broadcasting movies OTA in HD, would be tempted to similarly butcher the content in lieu of educating customers.

What I don't understand is why a broadcast would tend to not be true to the movie's original aspect ratio, but that a disc version (DVD or Blu-Ray) would likely be. Are these two different customers? People watching broadcasts prefer a stretched the image but when they go to buy or rent a movie, suddenly they prefer the correct ratio? Makes no sense.