BestEra Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 I was at friends' house to watch the Super Bowl. They have a new wide screen TV and I was distracted by the appearance of stubby legs on the players. The whole format was stretched sideways. Does anyone know how the old B&W full frame movies look on these new TV's? Are they skewed and stretched across the whole wide screen of the TV -- or do you have black spaces on the sides of the movies? Am I making sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
path40a Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 What you experienced is explained here: http://money.howstuffworks.com/tv-buying-guide15.htm specifically: Widescreen TVs have offered movie buffs an alternative to formatting or letterboxing that more accurately recreates the movie theater experience. For every 16 inches of width, they offer 9 inches of height -- and no cropping. With widescreen, films can be seen at home exactly as they were seen in the theater. There are, however, two downsides. First, 16:9 TVs are noticeably more expensive than their 4:3 counterparts. Second, when you watch 4:3 broadcasts on a 16:9 aspect ratio, the TV stretches the image to fill the screen. People look shorter and fatter and, depending on the screen size, the picture may appear grainy. Sports are still primarily broadcast for viewing on conventional televisions. If you watch a game on a widescreen, your favorite power forward may suddenly look more like a linebacker. Widescreen TVs have a tendency to stretch images intended for normal TV screens. Many TV manufactures offer different picture modes on their widescreen TVs to help solve this problem. A 4:3 setting is usually available and works by putting black bars on the sides of the screen, called picture boxing. If you don't like the bars, all manufacturers offer a mode that crops a little and stretches a little to fill the screen with out distorting the picture too much. You should experiment to see which works best for you. My television is 16:9 and the people in the older B&W films which are 4:3 look similar to what you saw during the Super Bowl when I'm watching them fullscreen. My set also has the picture boxing and other stretch or zoom modes which I seldom use. After a while, you get used to people looking "short & fat";-) Another thing I often do is vertically stretch the extremely widescreen films so that everyone in those actually looks "tall & thin"! Message was edited by: path40a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BestEra Posted February 9, 2006 Author Share Posted February 9, 2006 path40a: Hmmm. Not good. I guess I need to take VERY good care of the 4:3 screen television that I now have. Thanks much for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susanb Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 My husband and I can't help but find it humorous that the best technology of our age is in many ways a step back. The Ipod thing...no thanks, prefer the Polk Audio gigantics in the living room that make real sound. Just as the technology of reproducing audio and video seemed to be capable of producing what we always wanted, the means of play-back is taking a back seat. The same folks who might yell about not seeing the letterbox version of a movie or that one is not religiously restored to perfection will watch everything else in squat-vision. Hey, this is not a rant and I am not a technophobe. I just wonder what they are thinking. Will people of the future know what uncompressed music sounds like or that actors in the early days didn't all have short legs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
path40a Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 My 16:9 television allows me to watch movies anyway I want, choice is good! So, I can watch letterbox movies in their proper format OR the technology allows me to stretch them to fill more of the screen (out of proportion). It also lets me watch 4:3 TV and films in their proper format (with blank spaces at the sides of the picture) OR the technology allows me to stretch them to fill more of the screen. I like having the flexibility to choose. I do, however, agree that not all technological advances are a step forward ... like being able to check your e-mail during a meeting on a Blackberry or talking on a phone while driving a car;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsallieharding Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 I think that the 16:9 televisions are great, it is like path40 says, you can choose which way to watch, it's up to you. The black bars on the side is okay to me for 4:3 content. I don't stretch the picture and the reason I got the set is that most of what I watch is in letterbox anyway so it's great that technology suits the tastes of people who like widescreen films. There will always be 4:3 televisions for sale for people who want them it's only analogue televisons that will be discontinued. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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