Correct aspect ratio

[dfisher052]

I'm starting to think about getting an HDTV & one question keeps cropping up. I've seen displays at many stores & I've noticed that regular aspect ratio 4:3 is always stretched out & doesn't look normal (everyone is short & fat). I've got a lot of classic B & W films (DVD & DVIX) that I want to see in there normal aspect ratio. How does an HDTV compensate for that so they show correctly, or doesn't it. Also, what about watching normal TV stations. Again, it seems in the stores that display HDTV's, regular TV stations are shown in widescreen & they don't look normal. Does it depend on the particular TV or what. Another thing that comes to mind, how are my old B & W films going to look on an HDTV set. Am I better off with a smaller screen size ('32 or '37) or will a larger screen ('42 or '47) work ok? Any thoughts from the experts, of which there are many on these forums.

[filmboss80]

No worries. You can manually select 4:3 aspect ratio on the remote of any HDTV. Those who sell them in stores don't bother, either because they are lazy, ignorant, or (most likely) don't like to have black bars on each side of a 16:9 screen.

Also -- newer DVD players, designed for HDMI, will enhance / upconvert standard resolution images to make them look reasonably nice on your new HDTV.

[greymalkin]

the aspect ratio is managed the same way a 16:9 movies is managed on your 4:3 tv..with black bars. instead of having bars along the top and bottom, you'll have them along the sides. This is configurable on any HDTV.

As with any stardard def signal, the picture will look softer on an HDTV than your standard def tv, but for the DVD's you could use an upscaling dvd player to assist..

[dfisher052]

Thanks for the replys. I guess that answers my concerns. As usual, the experts have been heard from. Much appreciated.

[guns1inger]

This is a handy calculator to show you the difference in real estate between your old fullscreen set and various different sizes of widescreen. It will help you work out what size covers your fullscreen need. I had the same issue when buying my LCD, as I have a lot of older 1.33 material that I still like to watch, and I hate using zoom to crop off the top and bottom.

http://www.cavecreations.com/tv2.cgi

In my case I also had space limitations, but ultimately while I lost around 6.5% in 1.33 viewing size, I gained 67% in widescreen viewing area - a good compromise.

[freebird73717]

Those who sell them in stores don't bother, either because they are lazy, ignorant, or (most likely) don't like to have black bars on each side of a 16:9 screen.

I have friends and family that have widescreen tv's. All of them watch 4:3 without the black bars. I tried showing them the difference. But they all had the same responses. "I don't like those black bars..." or "NO. I want the picture to fill up the whole screen". I really don't like watching tv with them. I would rather see the black bars on the side than see a distorted picture.

[guns1inger]

If the stores were honest about how movies appear on widescreen TVs - yes, 4:3 will have pillarboxes, yes, some movies will still have black bars because they are wider than the TV, yes, you can use a zoom function if you must fill the screen and not get distortion - a lot less people would be so confused and complain so much about the format. While all human beings are inflicted with some level of stupidity, most will cope with concepts like this if it is explained to them in simple terms.

[piaggio]

Hi All,

I have actually gone ahead a while ago and bought a widescreen Plasma. I too dislike the "stretched screen"

Ever since then, I have had trouble watching DVDs I have burnt myself. They are usually an .avi file and I have tried to burn on Windows through Roxio 10 and Toast on my Mac.

When I put them in to play, they "zoom" in and obviously can't make out much at all.

If someone could offer some advice as to what is going wrong, I would appreciate it very much.

I am running a Pioneer DVR-640H into a 42" (106cm) plasma from Soniq.

Have tried various methods but am starting to think I need to set the ratio so the "brainy" TV doesn't try to adjust anything.

K.

[piaggio]

I found a setting (after a while), in Toast to set either a 16:9 or 4:3 ration. That worked, but had to check what the ratio was to start with, which is pretty easy by the preview thumbnail. Hope this helps other people out. K.