Do you know people that stretch movies to fit their whole screen?

[Number1]

Originally posted by: CZroe

Originally posted by: Number1

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Number1
OK I have a 42 in 16:9 plasma 1080i TV
I like to rent movies standard size because it fills the screen.
I avoid the widescreen version like a plague because I can't stand those horizontall black bars.

Are standard size movies automaticaly stretched by my hardware? If it is I can't tell. The picture looks fine to me.

Please tell me you're joking.

What the F are you talking about?

Theatrical content can be in 16:9 or wider than 16:9 aspect ratios (like Sony CinemaScope). This is referred to as "OAR." When you buy the widescreen version, you are either getting 16:9, which will fill your screen nicely, or you are getting a wider aspect enclosed within 16:9 to maintain the OAR. Wither way, if you buy 4:3 movies and stretch to 16:9, you are BUTCHERING far more than the average idiot who would zoom on the OAR to fill the screen.

When you say that you buy "standard/Full-screen" instead of "Widescreen/OAR" you are buying for the WRONG standard. 4:3 is no longer "standard" for theatrical movies (Academy Standard). You are purposely mis-matching your screen with the movie. You movies suffer, so ignorance is NOT bliss. If you are buying HD movies, like BD and HD-DVD, there should no longer be "standard" and "wide" versions, because "standard" is NO LONGER standard.

Stanley Kubrick preferred academy aspect, and shot his films intended for that as the OAR, though the theatrical cuts were framed as wide within academy frame. In Top Gun, Tom Cruise's motorcycle fist-pumping scene had his fist and most of his body chopped off in the theater and the frame was "opened up" for 4:3 release (rather than Panned and Scanned). These situations confuse the whole OAR vs. theatrical aspect debate, but one thing is inarguable: If you have a widescreen TV, you have no business buying "standard" 4:3 content. You are throwing your money away.

If you still have bars on a widescreen DVD, your DVD player is probably not set correctly. It is shrinking the movie and adding the bars which are making it lower than standard def. You will actually get increased resolution by correcting the setting. Non-anamorphic widescreen DVDs are less common, but some do exist. These were sloppily encoded DVDs that actually record the black bars inside a 4:3 image. The only way to remove those is to zoom in to blow up the lower detail picture or demand a proper widescreen release. Though this is mostly a problem with very old widescreen DVD titles, HD formats are finally giving us that "proper" release for some movies (most, like "The Big Lebowski," got "double dip" DVD releases that fixed it).

Edit: And, yes, most plasma HDTVs stretch 4:3 content by default to avoid burn-in. You have an aspect button that can correct most SD content, thogh HD content is supposed to be 16:9 (4:3 content will be "pillarboxed" by the output device). If you had an LCD, you should always use the setting to acheive OAR. Zoom on letterboxed SD programming like NatGeo or Discovery on SD cable, set 4:3 for "full screen" SD TV shows, fill at 16:9 for HDTV broadcasts and HD sources (Blu-Ray disc, XBOX 360, HTPC, etc).

Thanks for all the info. I will play around with my TV setting when I get home from work.
:thumbsup:

 

[Number1]

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel

Originally posted by: Number1
OK I have a 42 in 16:9 plasma 1080i TV
I like to rent movies standard size because it fills the screen.
I avoid the widescreen version like a plague because I can't stand those horizontall black bars.

Are standard size movies automaticaly stretched by my hardware? If it is I can't tell. The picture looks fine to me.

I have no idea what you are talking about. Movies come in two versions: Widescreen and Full-Screen (meant for older TVs).

In America (NTSC), Widescreen DVDs have a resolution of 720x480 which on playback get scaled (through this thing called an anamorphic process) to 852x480. 852x480, if you do the math, is 16:9 (close). On a widescreen TV, if the movie you are watching has a Source AR of 1.77:1 (eg. Requiem for a Dream), you wont' get any bars. If it was shot at 1.85:1 (eg. Atonement), you will get miniscule bars. If it was shot at 2.35:1 (eg. Pulp Fiction), you will get bigger black bars. If it was shot at 2.40:1 (eg. The Simpsons Movie), you will get even bigger bars. Watching a 1.33:1 movie/TV show would get you vertical bars on the sides of the image.

If you get a standard fullscreen DVD, you will be limited to 720x480 and would lose a fair bit of resolution. For eg., a 1.77:1 movie would result in 852x480 pixels on the anamorphic-enhanced widescreen version.

The same movie on a standard fullscreen DVD could employ one of two techniques:
1) Chop off the sides to fill the whole frame (called Pan-and-Scan)
2) Letterbox it so you get a 720x406 image, preserving the original AR but losing some resolution.

Ed: Fixed typo. They keys are like right next to each other.

I am getting more educated with this thread. Thanks.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

A lot of uneducated people out there. They buy an expensive TV and they want to fill up the entire screen or else they feel they aren't getting their value.

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I can hardly stand watching movies at all at most people's houses now even if aspect ratio is right

I feel the same way about movie theaters. There aren't any flickrs on my screen at home, my seats are more comfortable, the food is better, and no crowds or waiting in line. Netflix ftw!

Yeah but I can counter with that unless you're absolutely rolling in cash, nothing beats a huge screen with a nice digital projector or even an IMAX presentation. Nicer theaters I go to have stadium seating with nicer seats as well. And I don't care to stuff my face while I watch a movie so the food is a non issue. If I want something I'll smuggle my own snacks in. And opening day crowds can be a good thing because you share the experience with hundreds of other people who actually want to see the movie so the atmosphere is usually pretty awesome and actually a positive thing if you're not completely introverted.

 

[mugs]

It has always amazed me that people consider the black bars so annoying, yet they were able to live with the big black bezel around their TV for years.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

i would never talk to a person again if they said that to me. you dont automatically get more picture, you're merely stretching it to fill empty space.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

I cringe when I am at the store and hear people, usually guys explaining to their girlfriends or wives, that they only buy "Full Screen" DVD's, as they don't want to have portions of the picture cut off.

 

[Sureshot324]

Originally posted by: Number1

Originally posted by: Zaitsev

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie

Originally posted by: Number1

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Number1
OK I have a 42 in 16:9 plasma 1080i TV
I like to rent movies standard size because it fills the screen.
I avoid the widescreen version like a plague because I can't stand those horizontall black bars.

Are standard size movies automaticaly stretched by my hardware? If it is I can't tell. The picture looks fine to me.

Please tell me you're joking.

What the F are you talking about?

You're doing it wrong...

fixered

I am doing my movies wrong? OK
My experience with my TV is like this:

HD Cable TV 16:9 ratio looks stunning

Regular cable TV 4:3 looks awfull, everybody ends up with 10 feet wide shoulders. I don't watch it much.

DVD wide screen: looks OK, I hate the black bars.

DVD regular size: looks good, especialy cartoons like rattatouille, Ice age etc. I see no distortion like on the TV 4:3 broadcast.

I assume regular movie size equal 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio? Correct me if I am wrong.

Your TV should have a setting to put black bars on the sides when watching 4:3 TV.