Someone explain to me how letterbox is better?

[UDT89]

I dont get it.

I have a 60 inch projection. If i watch a letterbox movie..........i use only one third of the tv, litterally. The top and bottom are just black, and i mean BIG black sections.(lol that sounds weird)

Someone told me you see more with the letterbox/widescreen or whatever its called. If my tv is 60 inch then how do i see more? Just take the letterbox, right, and extend it up and down. Seems simple enough to me. I cant imagine watching a letterbox on a 27 inch, it must look like a 13 inch.

 

[Derango]

Ok...what shape is a movie theater screen?

Rectangular.

What shape is your TV screen?

Squareish.

So how do you convert rectangular to square? You lop off the sides and zoom in...then pan the picture to see all the important stuff. You're missing picture on the sides, you don't gain any on the top and bottom (well...somtimes you do, it depends how the movie was filmed...but what you do gain you weren't intended to see anyway).

 

[BigJohnKC]

Someone should also explain how to use the forum's search function - this question has been asked and answered numerous times...

 

[RSI]

Originally posted by: BigJohnKC
Someone should also explain how to use the forum's search function - this question has been asked and answered numerous times...

I've only seen one or two threads ever on this, so I don't see what you're complaining about. It's a lot more irritating when someone posts something that was already posted 15 times in the past 5 minutes.

Anyway, yes, you see more with widescreen, or "letterbox". How can you see more by chopping off the sides? Good example of the theatre/tv comparison btw.

 

[UDT89]

wow, arent you a funny guy big john........................man i cant stand people that have to look around for threads and write some moronic comment on how the poster did something wrong.

If you do a search for letterbox or widescreen, you really dont get much. Maybe you should learn the search feature................oh wait you have a thousand posts..............you're an AT god.



Now back to the response that helped me. Cant you just extend it up as well once you include the side features you normally dont see?
I can understand buying a letterbox/widescreen dvd if you have that widescreen tv, but if you dont whats the point?

 

[ohtwell]

Here you go





: ) Amanda

 

[Balthazar]

VERY simple concept. Widescreen (letterbox) allows you to see ALL of the footage that was shot.

Very cut and dried....

 

[ohtwell]

Originally posted by: UDT89
I dont get it.

I have a 60 inch projection. If i watch a letterbox movie..........i use only one third of the tv, litterally. The top and bottom are just black, and i mean BIG black sections.(lol that sounds weird)

Someone told me you see more with the letterbox/widescreen or whatever its called. If my tv is 60 inch then how do i see more? Just take the letterbox, right, and extend it up and down. Seems simple enough to me. I cant imagine watching a letterbox on a 27 inch, it must look like a 13 inch.

If you took the letterbox and extended it up and down everything would look too tall and stretched out.

It would make the image look funny.





: ) Amanda

 

[UDT89]

amanda, will you marry me???


If someone looks at that link, i see how they extend the viewing space sideways and you see a LOT more. Now, why cant they just extend the picture up and down? I guess its not possible. It just sucks b/c there is a lot of wasted space on my tv.


EDIT:

Thanks again amanda for the explination, i assume you are a into film?

I just wish i could see what it would look like if a widescreen get extended up/down. Well i guess maybe i should sell my projection and get a widescreen.

 

[Rallispec]

why dont they start filming movies in sqaure format?

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
why dont they start filming movies in sqaure format?

Because movies are filmed for the theater, not for your TV.

Made for TV movies are frequently shot in 4:3, but theatrical releases SHOULD be widescreen.

Viper GTS

 

[Rallispec]

a lot of the new HD tv's are rectangular... arent they?

so does that mean when you watch regular tv, you get reverser letterbox? like black bars on the sides?

 

[ThaGrandCow]

linky for j00

 

[AU Tiger]

On widescreen tv's regular tv has the blank space on the sides. Many tv's have the option to stretch the picture to fill the entire screen, but it looks strange.

You may notice some shows (X-Files is one example) are filmed in widescreen for HDTV viewers and have a message at the very beginning of the show to indicate this.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
a lot of the new HD tv's are rectangular... arent they?

so does that mean when you watch regular tv, you get reverser letterbox? like black bars on the sides?

yes but a lot of prime time shows are broadcasted in HDTV so they are inherntly a 16x9 signal so they are perfect for your tv and movies. Some show like West Wing and Er and Enterprise already show you black bars on the top and bottom so you can use the zoom feature on your widescreen tv to fill up the entire screen.

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
a lot of the new HD tv's are rectangular... arent they?

so does that mean when you watch regular tv, you get reverser letterbox? like black bars on the sides?

Most if not all the tv programs on English tv and Sky Digital are mostly all 16:9 so its alright

 

[luv2chill]

It also might interest you to know that until the 1950s, all movies were filmed and exhibited in 1.33:1. The move to widescreen was a "gimmick", instituted when TV became hugely popular and threatened to keep people out of the theaters. But it was a gimmick that paid off... it's now become an integral part of the movie watching experience. Now we find TV following suit to a widescreen format. Wonder what the movie industry will think of next... Smell-o-vision?

l2c

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: luv2chill
It also might interest you to know that until the 1950s, all movies were filmed and exhibited in 1.33:1. The move to widescreen was a "gimmick", instituted when TV became hugely popular and threatened to keep people out of the theaters. But it was a gimmick that paid off... it's now become an integral part of the movie watching experience. Now we find TV following suit to a widescreen format. Wonder what the movie industry will think of next... Smell-o-vision?

l2c

Funny you mention that. It used to bug me that I could not seem to find DVD's of some of my favorite older movies in widescreen format. Finally I did some research and found out what you posted above. I am old enough to remember CinemaScope movies and they were truly impressive to see in a theatre.

 

[yakko]

Originally posted by: UDT89
I have a 60 inch projection.

Should have got a widescreen TV.

 

[hoihtah]

just get a LCD projector.

 

[Ns1]

if you want to see how ugly that is, depending on what kinda tv you have, watch it in STRETCH and then watch it in NARROW

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: UDT89I just wish i could see what it would look like if a widescreen get extended up/down.

There is simply nothing there. It seems to me that you're under the impression that the movies are "cut off" at the top and bottom. They aren't; 4:3 aspect ratio movies (your standard TV) are the ones that are "cut off", on the left and right.

 

[AUMM]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
a lot of the new HD tv's are rectangular... arent they?

so does that mean when you watch regular tv, you get reverser letterbox? like black bars on the sides?

i have a widescreen and i never watch with the black bars on the side, either ill zoom in, or have the side 3-4 inches stretched out, i can hardly notice. watching in normal mode with black bars on the sides is bad for the tv

 

[BigPotato]

widescreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen ruuuuuuuuuuuuuules