PAL 16:9 question

[red_squirrel]

On a 4:3 TV, when a movie is in 16:9, the letterbox bars appear at the top and bottom of the screen, how big are the bars?

I need to know for converting movies. I have been told around 85 on another forum, but this squashes the picture too much... does anybvody know the exact size?

Thanks in advance.

[bugster]

It depends on the aspect ratio of the movie. Not all widescreen movies are 16:9, many are even wider. Look in the user guides forum for an aspect ratio guide by DJRumpy, its pretty good. You may have to go a few pages into the forum to find as its old-ish but still accurate.

[erratic]

If the movie is 16:9 the black bars are 72 (PAL) lines high - 60 lines for NTSC.

[red_squirrel]

Thanks so much erratic, that is exactly what I had been looking for, I had previously been told they were 80 for a PAL DVD on this forum which made a very squashed picture.

Thanks again