BluRay - How much picture am I missing?
- Thread starter TheMagicPirate
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1.78:1, if we're being pedantic. 1.85:1 films have a small black border to
Yeh that's the badger
I recommend U571 on Blu as it plays nicely in full screen, and gives your sound system one hell of a workout. Plus it is a quality film (forgetting historical accuracies
) !Yes, the black bars are encoded and part of the frame.
Soldato
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Exactly right. I didn't realise until after I'd purchased my PS3 and 65" DLP that 16:9 was already (sort-of) outdated.
But the way I see it, it is just another marketing [scam] idea so manufacturers can get the most out of their products. If you ever sit and wait for the latest and greatest to come down in price with nothing better available, you will never buy a single thing. Just like with computer products.
And now I know I'll have a nice 65" DLP in my bedroom after the next gen comes down in price.
Caporegime
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I don't find it funny at all, i find it frustrating.
It's not 35% of the 50" not being used, it's your 50" TV about 35% too small on the horizontal department.
16:9 TV is based on many comprimises.
1, its "ok" for full widescreen movies with a modest letter box,
2 4:3 TV can be trimmed and broadcast as 14:9 with small sidebars without losing much information top/bottom without any stretching.
3 The wider the screen the harder it is to place a tv into a corner, limiting its positioning to the focal points of most rooms. Not every TV buyer wants their tv to be their rooms most dominating feature. Full theatrical ratio TV's of the same height as a 50inch 16:9 would be pretty big pieces of kit.
4 A compact 19inch 16:9 is fairly watchable, about the same as an oldschool 14inch TV. A full widescreen compact TV would probably have to be at least a 28inch to have any reasonable height.
No doubt one day TV's will be some roll up screen (without the need for a projector), easy to fit in any house and big enough that it really wont matter if its showing 4:3, 16:9, or 2.4:1 it will have a big picture, and easy to accomodate in the home. But until then 16:9 is a good comprimise for most people.
1, its "ok" for full widescreen movies with a modest letter box,
2 4:3 TV can be trimmed and broadcast as 14:9 with small sidebars without losing much information top/bottom without any stretching.
3 The wider the screen the harder it is to place a tv into a corner, limiting its positioning to the focal points of most rooms. Not every TV buyer wants their tv to be their rooms most dominating feature. Full theatrical ratio TV's of the same height as a 50inch 16:9 would be pretty big pieces of kit.
4 A compact 19inch 16:9 is fairly watchable, about the same as an oldschool 14inch TV. A full widescreen compact TV would probably have to be at least a 28inch to have any reasonable height.
No doubt one day TV's will be some roll up screen (without the need for a projector), easy to fit in any house and big enough that it really wont matter if its showing 4:3, 16:9, or 2.4:1 it will have a big picture, and easy to accomodate in the home. But until then 16:9 is a good comprimise for most people.
Why on earth do we still need the black bars anyway, I mean, what's their purpose?
Seeing the black bars has always sort of slightly annoyed me too. I imagine (hope) there's some technical/logical reason for it but you'd think they'd find some way to stop it.
Apologies in advance if you are offended, frustrated or peeved at my possibly (likely) dumb question
Seeing the black bars has always sort of slightly annoyed me too. I imagine (hope) there's some technical/logical reason for it but you'd think they'd find some way to stop it.
Apologies in advance if you are offended, frustrated or peeved at my possibly (likely) dumb question
As has been said above.. and in my Very large Screen Ratio list...
The Black Bars are due to the fact that Movies are invariably shot in 2.35:1 (or even 2.4:1) and the TV screen is 16:9 so to make the W-I-D-E picture fit in a Widescreen TV and keep the Width the height drops and you get Black Bars top and bottom!..
The Black Bars are due to the fact that Movies are invariably shot in 2.35:1 (or even 2.4:1) and the TV screen is 16:9 so to make the W-I-D-E picture fit in a Widescreen TV and keep the Width the height drops and you get Black Bars top and bottom!..
Thanks for that, I did have a look at your Very large Screen Ratio list but found myself falling alseep as I moved down the list...
So, my next dumb question; why don't they standardise it in some way? I mean, why does the customer have to sit and watch a film with black bars in the first place?
So, my next dumb question; why don't they standardise it in some way? I mean, why does the customer have to sit and watch a film with black bars in the first place?
The film industry is at least 150 years old... and (again from my boring list) trying to standardise all the Old/Classic movies to 16:9 or even 1.85:1 would be a very daunting and (to the purists) sacraligious thing to do!..
untill there are no more copies of the Classics you will always have the black bars!...
its like saying why when I'm watching the olympics/Football from *Insert Country* do I have black bars left and right... the World is a 'Non Standard' thing... it would be a nightmare to try and standardise it!!.
Everyone is different... I actually like the black bars!... plus when I watch a Movie i just turn off the lights and I can no longer see my TV Border so its just the 'Full Letterbox Goodness' as the Director Intended!!
a good example is when we were all still watching 4:3 TV's (you young uns can go to sleep now!!)... I have the original theatrical version of Return of the Jedi in 'Pan and Scan' so the 2.4:1 picture fitted my 4:3 screen without Bars... it was horrible.. one scene then CP3O and R2D2 fall off Jabba's Barge and they get picked up from the sand by magnets, you can just about see R2 and 3PO at the extreems of the screen chopped in half.. it was crap!!.. when the first 'Re-Hashed' versions cam out I bought the 2.4:1 Widescreen versions.. Still having a 4:3 TV... but it lookes Fantastic!... Cinema Like!!...
ever since then I've been a convert!!..
untill there are no more copies of the Classics you will always have the black bars!...
its like saying why when I'm watching the olympics/Football from *Insert Country* do I have black bars left and right... the World is a 'Non Standard' thing... it would be a nightmare to try and standardise it!!.
Everyone is different... I actually like the black bars!... plus when I watch a Movie i just turn off the lights and I can no longer see my TV Border so its just the 'Full Letterbox Goodness' as the Director Intended!!
a good example is when we were all still watching 4:3 TV's (you young uns can go to sleep now!!)... I have the original theatrical version of Return of the Jedi in 'Pan and Scan' so the 2.4:1 picture fitted my 4:3 screen without Bars... it was horrible.. one scene then CP3O and R2D2 fall off Jabba's Barge and they get picked up from the sand by magnets, you can just about see R2 and 3PO at the extreems of the screen chopped in half.. it was crap!!.. when the first 'Re-Hashed' versions cam out I bought the 2.4:1 Widescreen versions.. Still having a 4:3 TV... but it lookes Fantastic!... Cinema Like!!...
ever since then I've been a convert!!..
Films are made for the cinema - not your telly
Thanks for that, I did have a look at your Very large Screen Ratio list but found myself falling alseep as I moved down the list...
So, my next dumb question; why don't they standardise it in some way? I mean, why does the customer have to sit and watch a film with black bars in the first place?
Deleted member 651465
Deleted member 651465
Another argument for why TVs need to move away from a 16:9 aspect ratio 
The film industry is at least 150 years old... and (again from my boring list) trying to standardise all the Old/Classic movies to 16:9 or even 1.85:1 would be a very daunting and (to the purists) sacraligious thing to do!..
untill there are no more copies of the Classics you will always have the black bars!...
its like saying why when I'm watching the olympics/Football from *Insert Country* do I have black bars left and right... the World is a 'Non Standard' thing... it would be a nightmare to try and standardise it!!.
Everyone is different... I actually like the black bars!... plus when I watch a Movie i just turn off the lights and I can no longer see my TV Border so its just the 'Full Letterbox Goodness' as the Director Intended!!
a good example is when we were all still watching 4:3 TV's (you young uns can go to sleep now!!)... I have the original theatrical version of Return of the Jedi in 'Pan and Scan' so the 2.4:1 picture fitted my 4:3 screen without Bars... it was horrible.. one scene then CP3O and R2D2 fall off Jabba's Barge and they get picked up from the sand by magnets, you can just about see R2 and 3PO at the extreems of the screen chopped in half.. it was crap!!.. when the first 'Re-Hashed' versions cam out I bought the 2.4:1 Widescreen versions.. Still having a 4:3 TV... but it lookes Fantastic!... Cinema Like!!...
Thankyou again for that, much appreciated.
I didn't realise that the reason was due to the old classics but as I was reading I couldn't help but think that modern technology (and personal viewing experience) is being held back as a result.
I'm guessing that, today, more people watch newer films than old films and I imagine that there are a lot more newer films around than there are old classics, so why don't they do something to please the majority instead of the minority?
I remember when WS first came out myself, everyone was looking forward to it thinking they'd get a bigger picture, more detail etc but in reality it just meant that the picture was smaller in WS than it was in 4:3. At the time I remember a lot of people complaining about it saying it was pointless and a bit of a rip off, even today I hear people saying it.
Personally, I'm not overly bothered what format it's in; WS, B&W, etc as long as it's a decent film I'm watching. If it's a good film that holds your attention/interest then you soon forget any image problems there might be.
The thing is that I just don't see the point of WS, or Blu-Ray for that matter. To me it's the film that counts, not what gear it's being played on.
Some people buy certain DVDs purely because they have good 'quality' reviews, not purely whether it's a great film, but how well it's encoded or whatever. To me those people are watching their gear not the film, like as if they'll only watch a film if it makes their gear look good.
I hear you but I watch a heck of a lot more films at home than I do at the cinema.
you can always stretch the frame to fill the screen if you can put up with everybody looking like peter crouch.
but this is why i don't like screens smaller than 55" from ~10ft, especially with 2.35 films......on a good sized screen you never feel like you're missing real estate.
if you can put up with everybody looking like peter crouch.but this is why i don't like screens smaller than 55" from ~10ft, especially with 2.35 films......on a good sized screen you never feel like you're missing real estate.
I always thought the picture was stored anamorphically on whatever format it was, 35mm in most cases. The picture is stretched across the film to use as much 'resolution' (not sure the correct term) as possible, and then when its projected/mastered etc. its squished back to its correct AR.