16:10 LCD and letterbox?

[SingleAction]

16:10 LCD and letterbox?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just bought a Samsung 245bw WS monitor, and being new to LCD computer monitors, coming from a 21" Sony Trinitron CRT.

I understand that this has an aspect ratio of 16:10, rather then the 16:9, that my Panasonic 50" plasma has.

When I try watching a 1:85 DVD, that would be full screen on the Panasonic, I get top and bottom bars on the Samsung.

I have the resolution set on the video card for 1920X1200 60hz, which is the max, and recommended best setting for this monitor.

So my question: is this the norm if I want to watch movies on my new computer monitor, and the movie is in either 1:78, or 1:85 aspect ratio, it will still be in letterbox?

 

[cdmccool]

Yes, that's normal.

Kind of annoying that they did it that way since some people do watch movies on their PC.

 

[jkresh]

Yes all widescreen pc displays are 16:10 instead of 16:9, there will be a border unless you stretch/zoom the image (I think originally some display manufacturers said that the boarder was there so you could have hte controls on screen with the movie but that was just silly). You could try setting your samsung to 1920x1080 (it might or might not look acceptable but the boarder should disappear since that would be 1080p).

 

[The Sly Syl]

I'm actually glad to have a little letterboxing. It allows for some room for subtitles to fit underneath the picture. Of course, if you don't watch as many foreign films as i do; i can see how it'd be a little bit more annoying.

 

[Drexl]

There must be some reason why they did it. One thing I've thought of is maybe it's so two 8x5" pages can be displayed side by side and use the whole screen. Now if I could just think of a reason why non-ws monitors are 5:4 instead of 4:3.

I've connected the PS3 to my monitor, and yes the monitor will stretch it vertically from 16:9 to 16:10. While it's usable, it still bothers me, but then again I may be more sensitive than others.

 

[dds14u]

Originally posted by: Drexl
There must be some reason why they did it. One thing I've thought of is maybe it's so two 8x5" pages can be displayed side by side and use the whole screen. Now if I could just think of a reason why non-ws monitors are 5:4 instead of 4:3.

I've connected the PS3 to my monitor, and yes the monitor will stretch it vertically from 16:9 to 16:10. While it's usable, it still bothers me, but then again I may be more sensitive than others.

Actually the only common 5:4 resolution is 1280x1024.
If you do the math you'll notice 800x600, 1024x768, and 1600x1200 are all 4:3.

Why 5:4 ever came about might have to do with manufacturing the screens in the most cost effective way.

 

[SingleAction]

Thanks for confirming and answering my question.

I think the monitor is a keeper, and I'll learn to continue to live with black bars.

Why make wide screen hd tv's and still have to watch black bars?

When you go to the movies, no matter what the aspect ratio the movie was filmed in, there are no black bars!

 

[Drexl]

Originally posted by: SingleAction
Thanks for confirming and answering my question.

I think the monitor is a keeper, and I'll learn to continue to live with black bars.

Why make wide screen hd tv's and still have to watch black bars?

When you go to the movies, no matter what the aspect ratio the movie was filmed in, there are no black bars!

The reason for black bars is because movies are made with different aspect ratios, so no screen shape can accomodate them all without blank space in some cases. It's not as noticeable at the theater because a) it's so big and b) they generally use curtains on the sides of 1.85:1 movies to mask off the unused portion of the screen. For 2.35:1 movies, there will be no unused parts of the screen because the screen is in a 2.35:1 shape.