Bloody Aspect Ratios!
Mr Cable
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I have had a quick look at this elsewhere, but I simply can't get me head around it.
My TV is Widescreen - ergo 16:9. The Blu-Ray movies I have now bought state 16:9 on the back of them.
Now Hollywood movies aren't made in 16:9 I get that; but that's what that old Anamorphic Conversion gumph is for (isn't it)?
Anyhoo, can some please explain to me in simple terms, Why do I still get Borders on me Blu-Ray movies when they're in a 16:9 format on a 16:9 TV?
Thank you all in advance!
My TV is Widescreen - ergo 16:9. The Blu-Ray movies I have now bought state 16:9 on the back of them.
Now Hollywood movies aren't made in 16:9 I get that; but that's what that old Anamorphic Conversion gumph is for (isn't it)?
Anyhoo, can some please explain to me in simple terms, Why do I still get Borders on me Blu-Ray movies when they're in a 16:9 format on a 16:9 TV?
Thank you all in advance!
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Comments
The aspect ratio of widescreen TVs is 16:9, aka 1.77:1 which is very close to the 1.85:1 cinematic aspect ratio. The black bars on a 1.85:1 ratio film are so small that on most TVs they won't even be visible. 2.35:1 is wider so you get black bars on 25% of the picture.
All HD-DVD/Blu-ray movies are 16:9 native as the packaging indicates, but part of the frame may be black depending on the aspect ratio of the film.
Prior to anamorphic images (for TV, cinema used special lenses) the technique that was used was to "letterbox" the image by only using the middle lines, this had the effect of
lowering the resolution and reducing the image quality. This method is still used to produce a 2.35:1 image onto a 16:9 frame, there is no corresponding "2.35:1 anamorphic" in common (any?) use - on blu-ray it would give precious little advantage anyway.
The others have explained why you get black bars - if you have a fixed ratio screen and the image is a different ratio then you either have to crop /distort the image or you have black bars, any other outcome is impossible. Now when someone invents a stretchy plasma:).