HDTV question

[ezdriver]

I'm in the market for an HDTV(my first!) and was wondering:

The sets I looked at were widescreen(16:9) panels. But, when a widescreen movie played on them in the store, I would still see those irritating bars at the top and bottom of the screen. The movies playing were formatted at a 1.85:1 ratio, and if my math is correct, that would work out to 16.65:9. That's pretty damn close to 16:9, so my question is....why were the bars still showing on-screen? I thought by buying a widescreen TV that I would be saying "good-bye" to those bars forever?

ez

 

[tfinch2]

Maybe they were showing a movie that had an AR of 2.35:1

 

[Viper GTS]

Widescreen just means wider than 4:3.

There are lots of common movie ratios that aren't 16:9, & any of those will have bars.

Check out the link in my sig for pictures.

Viper GTS

 

[Corn]

Most TVs have a zoom mode so you can see less of the movie and fill up your screen......

 

[nycxandy]

16.65x9 does't fit into 16x9.

However, 16x8.5 does fit into 16x9, thus the horizontal bars.

 

[Dulanic]

Also if it was a 1.85:1 movie and it still showed bars... most likely they had the DVD player set as if it was using a 4:3 display.

 

[acemcmac]

I'd be so mad if I had a tv that did that. I am so happy I have a projector.

 

[ezdriver]

Originally posted by: Corn
Most TVs have a zoom mode so you can see less of the movie and fill up your screen......

I was hoping not to have to use that feature on a widescreen unless absolutely necessary. So, I assume that what you good people are saying is that a movie that states "Widescreen" on the box could still have the bars showing in some instances?

ez

 

[SaltBoy]

Originally posted by: ezdriver

Originally posted by: Corn
Most TVs have a zoom mode so you can see less of the movie and fill up your screen......

I was hoping not to have to use that feature on a widescreen unless absolutely necessary. So, I assume that what you good people are saying is that a movie that states "Widescreen" on the box could still have the bars showing in some instances?

ez

In all instances, actually. 16:9 is 1.78:1, while your standard movie is wider than that - either 1.85:1 or 2:35:1. There are no movies in the theaters that have a TRUE 1.78:1 aspect ratio.

/edit Oh yeah, there are some movies with a 1:66:1 ratio (narrower than 1.78:1) and some that go as high as 2.80:1 (Ben-Hur, for example).

 

[jdini76]

TVs with 16:9 are made that way for HDTV not necessarily movies. Notice all HDTV shows fit perfectly in the screen size of a widescreen tv.