Letterboxing In Anamorphic DVDs
Dear Gary: I’m a subscriber since Issue 9. Great mag. I’m about to buy the Sony XBR400 36-inch TV, seeing as HDTV is only a dream now. As you know, it has an “auto” enhanced 16:9 feature. My question is simple, albeit probably stupid to you folks: Will all anamorphic widescreen DVDs fill the 16:9 window or just the ones that are released 1.78:1? What about the 2.35:1 and the 2.40:1 DVDs? Do they remain in their original ratio and appear as a thinner band within the 16:9 window? Sorry, but I need a quick answer, seeing as I may go with a 16:9 TV depending on your response.
John Terry
Video Technical Editor Greg Rogers Comments:
Movies with aspect ratios greater (wider) than 1.78:1 are letterboxed within the 16:9 (anamorphic) frame. The picture will fill the width, but not the height of the 16:9 portion of the screen. For a wider aspect ratio movie to fill the entire 16:9 frame the picture would have to be either geometrically distorted (expanded vertically) or some of the image would need to be cut off the sides of the picture—neither are acceptable alternatives to me or most of our readers.
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