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Q: I was visiting someone with a high definition TV. When they play back DVDs (normal ones, not Blu-ray), the images were letterboxed with black stripes on the top and bottom of the screen. What gives? I expect letterboxing on a square CRT but not on a widescreen HDTV. The TV plays HD broadcast channels in full screen mode just fine. A: You’re certainly not alone in your observation, Michael. Lots of people complain about the black bars above and below or to the sides on their HDTVs. You can get rid of them, but it would be wrong. There are good reasons for them to be there. In the case you cite, the bars above and below are there probably because the movie was filmed in CinemaScope. This is a cinema format that is wider than the 16:9 aspect ratio used on HDTVs. CinemaScope has an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 (which is the same as a 21.15:9 ratio). So how do you fit a wider image into the 16:9 screen? Your choices are to trim the sides off the picture to make it fit the 16:9 screen, or simply stretch it vertically to fit. Both of these approaches eliminate the black bars of letterboxing, but the first cuts off some of the image and the second will distort it noticeably like making the actors look skinny. (I hate to see cars driving down the street on oval wheels. Many people find that once they start noticing these distortions, it’s so distracting that they can’t pay attention to the movie. It’s like all the times that the boom mike appeared in the shots in “Out of Africa”.) That leaves doing the right thing: letterboxing. You get the full image in its normal aspect ratio so sizes are not distorted. Yes, you end up “not using” part of that big screen TV that you paid good money to buy, but I believe this will result in the best quality viewing experience. (If the black bars bother you too much, just drape curtains over the top and bottom portions, and pretend you’re in a movie theater.) The other case where you get black bars to the sides occur when you are viewing a standard definition image (4:3 aspect ratio) on a wide screen. You can “zoom” the image to fill the screen — which cuts off content from the top and bottom — or stretch it to fill the screen which makes everyone look short and fat. (The last two hotels I stayed in had widescreen flat panel TVs in the room, but they were set to stretch SD content to fill the screen, and it made me nuts trying to watch it.) Once again, the best quality image will be the one with the black bars on the sides.
Posted by Alfred Poor, January 20, 2010 5:00 AM
Reader Commentary If you are watching 4:3 content, and assuming that your set allows "jusitified' mode", give that a try. It only stretches the picture edges so the distortion is minimized.... Regman, that mode may work for some people, but it disturbs the heck out of me. It's like watching a movie through a fish-eye lens. On street scenes, bizarrely-stretched cars flow in from the sides where they become normal looking, only to turn into a Dali-esque melting object as it flows out the other edge. And close-up conversations between two actors' faces on either side of the screen would remind me of certain personal experiences in the late 60s and early 70s if I could only remember them. Like I said, it may work fine for others, and I think that's great, but it doesn't work for me at all. Alfred... We have got use to periodically watching some movies from non HD channels in letterbox format, but it has always been my understanding that it was better for my TV (plasma) to have grey bars rather than black bars. Am I right about this ?... Plasma screens used to be susceptible to "burn in" where the phosphors would age differently, leaving a permanent after-image. Most current plasma sets are less prone to permanent damage, though "image persistance" can still be a problem and take hours to fade. One strategy against this problem is to not leave a fixed location completely "on" or "off". The gray bars used in plasma screen letterboxing is designed to put some image at the edges, to mitigate any image persistance problems. I don't have first-hand experience that can tell me whether this makes a substantial difference or not. Alfred... I still don't understand why those black bars bother people so much. When I had a 4:3 tv I preferred watching movies in letterbox. Then again, my wife would rather use the TV speakers than the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound setup. Go figure......... I've often heard people tell me directly that they don't like to see a blank part on the big screen that they bought. If they paid for the whole thing, they want to use the whole thing. The impact on image quality is secondary; the stretching "doesn't look that bad". It makes me crazy to hear stuff like that, but I've learned not to argue. I smile and say "That's nice." Alfred... I've often heard people tell me directly that they don't like to see a blank part on the big screen that they bought. If they paid for the whole thing, they want to use the whole thing. The impact on image quality is secondary; the stretching "doesn't look that bad". It makes me crazy to hear stuff like that, but I've learned not to argue. I smile and say "That's nice." I'm there! Everyone in my (extended) family, as well as my neighbors insist the only way to watch HD is in "full screen mode", no matter what the actual format of the picture. I've tried to reset the picture on a 4x3 to have it look at least a little normal, but the black bars cause deep intake of breath. It's almost as if they think, regardless of how bad the people, background look, it's just wrong to have black bars. So... I gave up as well. Now, though, I'm being driven around the bend by another problem. My (new) Toshiba BDX2000 Blu-Ray player also... Glad I bought a second PS3 for my second Blu-Ray player.... I wonder how much complaining there will be when we get Cinemascope wide TVs and a lot of the images are only 16x9. Maybe with OLEDs, we can roll the screen up that we don't need. :roll:... Mike, As you said, if Toshiba admitted there is a problem with your player for 4:3 viewing I assume there is nothing else to do than wait. However, looking at the manual of your player, on page 36 the video menu shows some options that may cause/solve what you describe, and I quote: ------------------------------------------------- 16:9 Wide*: Select this when a wide-screen TV is connected. Discs recorded in wide-screen format is played back over the entire TV screen. -------------------------------------------------- 16:9 Squeeze: When playing back 4:3 images, the picture is displayed in the center of the 16:9 screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio. ------------------------------------------------ You did not said what your current setting was, but the "squeeze" setting above seems to perform what you want, and the wide setting may produce what you do not want. I assume you have researched your case with other player owners on the AVS forum to confirm the problem is wid... More from Alfred Poor
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About Alfred PoorAlfred Poor is a well-known display industry expert, who writes the daily HDTV Almanac. He wrote for PC Magazine for more than 20 years, and now is focusing on the home entertainment and home networking markets. |
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