full screen vs widescreen and letterbox

[anger is pointless]

i hope thiers not another post about this but im confused whats the diffrence between full screen and wide screen and letterbox versions

[Disneykid]

This site explains it all:

http://www.widescreen.org/widescreen.shtml

If you have Sleeping Beauty on DVD, there's a bonus feature on disc two that explains this, as well.

[ichabod]

Here is a good place to look:

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/oar.htm

In short fullscreen is the same size as a standard 4:3 TV screen whereas widescreen is wel...wider!

Pan and sacn is a work of pure evil which basically takes a widescreen movie and chops bits off the sides to make it look fullscreen so it fill the whole TV screen and there aren't any black bars at the top and bottm of the picture.

Well there might be someone who can give an exhaustingly in depth answer but that's all from me.

Just remember widescreen!

pan and scan

[anger is pointless]

that tears it im gonna start saving my money for a widescreen tv

[ichabod]

that tears it im gonna start saving my money for a widescreen tv

You don't need to own a widescreen TV to enjoy a movie in widescreen, all it means is when watching a widescreen film you get little bars at the top of the screen, it's no biggie.

Also even with a 16X9 widescreen TV you will still get black bars if the film if even wider widescreen like cinemascope! Or anything that is 16X9+!

[Dan05]

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

[The Little Merman]

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

I do, because I know that this is the true cinematic art that the director of the piece intended for me to see..

[ichabod]

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

Even is it means that half of the picture is missing?

If a movie or TV show is intended to be in full screen then fine, but when it is made pan and scan just so people don't complain about black bars on their screen parts of the film are being lost!

[Mr. Toad]

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

You lose approximately 25% of the moive in full screen including some information that is vital, not just backgrounds. As well, it is how the director wanted it to be seen. Thirdly, it is far closer to how we see the world.

[Luke]

<i>Brother Bear</i> isn't the best example, since the pan-and-scan is still 1.66:1 widescreen. But look at this:

<img src="http://www.ultimatedisney.com/images/brother19.jpg"> <img src="http://www.ultimatedisney.com/images/brother20.jpg">

Where'd Dude Bear go on the right?! Another casualty of pan-and-scan.

[Dan05]

<i>Brother Bear</i> isn't the best example, since the pan-and-scan is still 1.66:1 widescreen. But look at this:

<img src="http://www.ultimatedisney.com/images/brother19.jpg"> <img src="http://www.ultimatedisney.com/images/brother20.jpg">

Where'd Dude Bear go on the right?! Another casualty of pan-and-scan.

WHOA!! thats dumb, i never thought of that, but if you pick widescreeen your missing certain things too

[RJKD23]

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

Even is it means that half of the picture is missing?

If a movie or TV show is intended to be in full screen then fine, but when it is made pan and scan just so people don't complain about black bars on their screen parts of the film are being lost!

people who complain about black bars are IGNORANT and should read WHY those things exist.

i hate arguing with releatives when they choose to buy FULL SCREEN. Yea, sure it might be cheaper but what a WASTE and TERRIBLE way to enjoy a movie.

you can always watch a WIDESCREEN movie in a FULL SCREEN t.v.

I was watching Laws of Attraction in FULL SCREEN first on my laptop (because I was too lazy to go downstairs and watch in on the Widescreen T.V.) and in the one scene in court, I was wondering "Who the hell is she looking at?" and then I switched to WIDE SCREEN and that question got answered!

all i'm saying is that just because your t.v. is FULL SCREEN, you shouldn't CHOOSE to buy FULL SCREEN formatted DVDs. You loose 25% of the image.

Widescreen is better (in my opinion) is always best.

[RJKD23]

WHOA!! thats dumb, i never thought of that, but if you pick widescreeen your missing certain things too

what things are missing?

[ichabod]

WHOA!! thats dumb, i never thought of that, but if you pick widescreeen your missing certain things too

Like what?

[Dan05]

WHOA!! thats dumb, i never thought of that, but if you pick widescreeen your missing certain things too

what things are missing?

the top and bottom cause i used to buy whichever i didn't care about widescreen/fullscreen but I was watching a movie once and this lady got mad at some guy so when he turned around she did something which you couldn't see in widescreen cause it cut off the bottom

[Luke]

the top and bottom cause i used to buy whichever i didn't care about widescreen/fullscreen but I was watching a movie once and this lady got mad at some guy so when he turned around she did something which you couldn't see in widescreen cause it cut off the bottom

Widescreen NEVER "cuts off the bottom" except in about two instances that come to mind (the misframed <i>Buzz Lightyear of Star Command</i> and <i>Aladdin and the King of Thieves</i>, which are both widescreen when they should not be).

In some cases (particularly in films that are framed for 1.85:1), they are shot full frame, with the intention of being in the widescreen aspect ratio, and matted for theatrical exhibition. When they're released to home video, they might have some additional information on top and bottom (this is called "open matte"), but this was never intended to be seen and can be considered as "superflous visual information" as opposed to the widescreen version as being "missing something." And even open matte films almost always involve some cropping.

[ichabod]

the top and bottom cause i used to buy whichever i didn't care about widescreen/fullscreen but I was watching a movie once and this lady got mad at some guy so when he turned around she did something which you couldn't see in widescreen cause it cut off the bottom

Are you sure it wasn't supposed to be like that? What movie was it?

It could just have been a problem with that DVD the studio could have matted the fullscreen version, or it could have been a mistake with the printing. There's a link somewhere around here where there was a problem with the Back to future DVDs, where they were wrongly printed.

[Just Myself]

what things are missing?

the top and bottom cause i used to buy whichever i didn't care about widescreen/fullscreen but I was watching a movie once and this lady got mad at some guy so when he turned around she did something which you couldn't see in widescreen cause it cut off the bottom

Poor Dan05. So lost and confused in the widescreen vs. fullscreen war.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

A movie or other program has a certain shape ("aspect ratio"). Most movies from the past few decades have a different shape compared to Bambi and other titles from that era.

The bottom line should be to preserve a movie's original shape (OAR). Sometimes that means "black bars" on the sides, sometimes on top and bottom. 16:9 or 4:3 TV screen makes a difference.

Think of fitting a family photo into a frame that's already given. It's not a difficult concept.

[AwallaceUNC]

Poor Dan05. So lost and confused in the widescreen vs. fullscreen war.

Most of us were there at some point or another and that's what we're here for, to pick each other's brains and learn.

-Aaron