full screen vs widescreen and letterbox

[orestes.]

What I find more annoying is watching regular TV or a fullscreen movie (that is not available in widescreen) on a widescreen TV! I prefer black bars over these annoying grey bars.
Sure I can fit it but I can get used to the grey bars over squishy people.

...and I must say I miss black TVs! I like silver but black was nicer for televisions I thought.

[anger is pointless]

im thinking of saving up for a wide screen tv are they good or do they mess up regular tv shows cause the shows arent wide screen

[orestes.]

Well reular TV shows will appear normal but you'll have bars on the sides instead of top and bottom. Of course you can stretch out the picture to get rid of this and I know people who do this and they don't mind but I find the people too squishy.

My TV, as I assume with most have a few different widescreen options like 'Normal', which is like regular TV with the bars; a few versions of theatrical widescreen and full. TV shows in widscreen can have their black bars "removed" like a movie although on commercials some stuff will be cut off top and bottom. Maybe that's what the other user was talking about when the top and bottom get cut off? They might have seen the wrong setting.

Sometimes you have to play with the settings a bit but it's quite easy to do if you know how to work a remote. I recommend it! I get used to the bars at the side even though I wish they were in black instead of grey. (maybe I can change it but I haven't figured out how yet?)

[dvdjunkie]

Orestes, you need to read the book on your television. I have a JVC Digital HDTV 56" Monitor and I don't have those annoying grey lines except when I am watching a show in Hi-Def. Otherwise there are no grey bars or anything on the television but the whole screen is full of picture. When I turn to TCM and they are showing a movie that is letterboxed, then I get bars on the top and bottom depending on what type of feature they are showing.

It took me a couple of days of reading and experimenting before I found the right settings for regular television that doesn't stretch the picture. And when I am watching DVD movies that are widescreen then I change the screen setting to "Cinema" and I only have to put up with minimal bars on a 2:35.1 movie and no bars on a 1:85.1 movie.

So, check out your manual that came with the television and soon you won't have to put up with those annoying grey bars on the sides of the screen.

[RJKD23]

the widescreen t.v. i have here is good, HD enabled,...and expensive!

but it has great options
like for instance, you can choose the ASPECT of how you want to watch your movies/T.V. Shows.

NORMAL: everything on T.V. is FULL SCREEN (and the BLACK BARS are on the side)
WIDE: the image is stretched to fit the t.v. unless it already IS wide screen format.
PANORAMA: i usually use this option when watching T.V. or those FULL SCREEN movies! mainly because the t.v. will be filled in choosing this setting; some items (but very minimal) are cropped out to imitate widescreen, but the images aren't DISTORTED (you know like..people looking fat or whatever). this is the best option i always choose.
ZOOM 1: to get rid of those "black bars" when watching Widescreen movies
ZOOM 2: i don't know the point of this, but it zooms in MOOORE into the picture.

[MickeyMouseboy]

Before I get too far, let me emphatically state that I always buy widescreen movies. With that said, I do believe that some filmakers like James Cameron actually shoot films in a full screen aspec ratio and crop the height of the film for a theater. I wasn't able to find any specific examples of it, but I know I've seen it somewhere. Also, the full screen version of Finding Nemo actually has more rendered space at the top and bottom instead of cutting off the sides-- so in reality, both versions are valid and can be watched depending on what ratio your tv is.

James Cameron filmed Titanic, The Abyss and Terminator 2 in Super 35. even in this format you still lose picture on the sides. Also all 3 LOTR films were shot in Super 35. if you watch the FS version of LOTR which is open matte versus the WS version of LOTR you can see more top and bottom but you loose picture on the sides. Air Force one is one of those movies where you can see more on the Fullscreen version than on the WS version.

Example:

Here's the whole Super 35 captured image on the prints.



This is what happens when the WS (red) and the FS (blue) are made from those transfers.



The WS is going to have a big more picture on the sides and it's going to look more scope like while the FS will have more info on the top and bottom but the scope effect will be lost and on some scenes when a character is on each extreme of the WS frame pan & scan will be used on the FF version.

now to Pixar re-formated movies.

Example:

This is the original Cinemascope version of A Bug's Life. Here you can see the scope of the ant village. Here the Director wanted to show the landscape in a scope fell shot. now.....



in the Full frame the picture is squeezed in to fit most of the characters in but the loving vista of the ants is lost. some image is lost on the sides and the picture looks cramped. You have more top and bottom but you loose the scope of things.




Here's more examples of pan & scan (FS) and Widescreen.

Columbia/ Tristar (Sony Pictures) A Few Good Men





Who are they looking at?

Walt Disney's The Black Hole





Now for 1.85:1 Films

Columbia Tristar (Sony Pictures) Jason and the Argonauts

Full Screen: Who is that Metal Giant after?



Widescreen comes to the rescue! why is Jason and his crew!




So now you know UDies W I D E S C R E E N is the way to go!

MMB

[Lars Vermundsberget]

i know im gonna look for wide screen videos and dvds from now on

Please don't if you want Bambi, for instance. I pointed out earlier in this thread that the important thing should be to retain the "original aspect ratio", and that doesn't always mean "wide". Not all movies are supposed to have the same wide shape. Please remember that.

[orestes.]

Orestes, you need to read the book on your television. I have a JVC Digital HDTV 56" Monitor and I don't have those annoying grey lines except when I am watching a show in Hi-Def. Otherwise there are no grey bars or anything on the television but the whole screen is full of picture. When I turn to TCM and they are showing a movie that is letterboxed, then I get bars on the top and bottom depending on what type of feature they are showing.

It took me a couple of days of reading and experimenting before I found the right settings for regular television that doesn't stretch the picture. And when I am watching DVD movies that are widescreen then I change the screen setting to "Cinema" and I only have to put up with minimal bars on a 2:35.1 movie and no bars on a 1:85.1 movie.

So, check out your manual that came with the television and soon you won't have to put up with those annoying grey bars on the sides of the screen.

Maybe it's because it's one of the cheaper widescreen tvs (the second cheapest was twice as much) but there is no option that makes it perfect without the bars. The 'theatre widescreen' mode is the closest. I don't have a 'Panorama' option so my options are different than some others. I don't have a mode called 'Cinema' either. I have 5 options though.

Yeah I'll read the book today. I might be able to remove the squishyness by changing the settings. Haven' come across it yet by exploring though.

[orestes.]

i know im gonna look for wide screen videos and dvds from now on

Please don't if you want Bambi, for instance. I pointed out earlier in this thread that the important thing should be to retain the "original aspect ratio", and that doesn't always mean "wide". Not all movies are supposed to have the same wide shape. Please remember that.

Yup and The Shining is another example. I prefer the way it was originally intended even if it's not widescreen although I wished everything was widescreen.

[anger is pointless]

ive been wondering when they say a video or dvd is the directors cut what does that mean

[Luke]

ive been wondering when they say a video or dvd is the directors cut what does that mean

It means that it is an alternate version of the film than what was originally exhibited and that the director of the film prefers this cut.

[anger is pointless]

i figured it ment we were seeing the actual aspect ratio

[Jayden]

i figured it ment we were seeing the actual aspect ratio

You don't have to have a director's cut to get the original aspect ratio. Otherwise, there'd be very few movies out there in their OARs. Directors cut just means that there's been scenes added or removed which was in line with the Director's original intentions (usually before the studio comes in and says the movie is too long and orders the director to cut more)

[anger is pointless]

i have a 13 inch color tv i bought about 2 years ago and my mom is always telling me i should get a bigger tv but i happen to like my little tv cause its so light i can just pick it up and take it to another room

i just watched mib 2 in wide screen its great

ok so if a movie says on the back thats its in its oar its the way its suppost to be right

[Fullhousegurl]

I don't get why everyone likes widescreen, i prefer full screen

FULL SCREEN RULES!

[MickeyMouseboy]

i have a 13 inch color tv i bought about 2 years ago and my mom is always telling me i should get a bigger tv but i happen to like my little tv cause i can just pick it up and take it to another room if i want to

i just watched mib 2 in wide screen its great

how can i found out if a movie is suppost to be wide screen

so if a movie says on the back thats its in its oar its the way its suppost to be right

yes on the back cover it will say what Aspect ratio the movie is.

1.66:1 - 1.75.1 - 1.85:1 - 2.35:1 - 2.40:1 - 2.20:1

all those are widescreen ratios

[anger is pointless]

thanks MickyMouseBoy

[ichabod]

I don't get why everyone likes widescreen, i prefer full screen

FULL SCREEN RULES!

Why, Must we be tortured like this?!

Do you not see why a pan and scan version of a movie is evil?

[Jayden]

i have a 13 inch color tv i bought about 2 years ago and my mom is always telling me i should get a bigger tv but i happen to like my little tv cause i can just pick it up and take it to another room if i want to

i just watched mib 2 in wide screen its great

how can i found out if a movie is suppost to be wide screen

so if a movie says on the back thats its in its oar its the way its suppost to be right

yes on the back cover it will say what Aspect ratio the movie is.

1.66:1 - 1.75.1 - 1.85:1 - 2.35:1 - 2.40:1 - 2.20:1

all those are widescreen ratios

Don't forget however, some older movies (specifically Disney movies in this case) were not filmed in widescreen, and thus their OAR is 1.33:1 or Fullscreen. Movies like this are: Alice In Wonderland, Bambi, Fantasia, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, Robin Hood, The Sword In The Stone and others. Always look for the words OAR or Original Aspect Ratio, not necessarily the widescreen label. If you want information about what Disney movies were shot in widescreen and fullscreen, just take a look at the Animated Classics menu on this very site, and it'll be able to tell you if you are unsure. Just as a general guideline however, it seems that the first widescreen animated feature by Disney was The Rescuers (with the exceptions of Lady And The Tramp and Sleeping Beauty of course, which were exceptions at their time instead of the rule). This would make The Fox And The Hound the only one on DVD not in it's actual OAR (although there is a lot of controversy about that, no one is entirely sure yet. Maybe someone should ask Leonard Maltin )

[anger is pointless]

ok ill look for oar on my movies from now on