I was wondering.
Last week-end, with my girls playing Tomb Raider, we decided to watch a Lara Croft movie and I noticed that the black bars on top and bottom really are a shame for our Home-cinema setup.
Checking out the reason, I noticed that most movies are done for 29:1 (current 2.35:1 or 2.40:1 aspect ratio). Our own TV being quite old, I told myself there must be something on the market dealing with it.
However, after browsing the Web for about an hour, I didn’t find anything that would display me in hardware a 2.35:1 or 2.40:1 aspect ratio where we don’t have the black bars. They all do Full HD
I know that I could get rid of these by configuring the TV/Display/Aspect ratio - but I paid for a BlueRay, I paid for a TV - and I’d like these to play together nicely without “giving” away half of the screen to black bars…
That is just insanely stupid…
So my question to you folks - anyone found/uses something that decently displays the said aspect ratio correctly without giving away half of the screen to black bars? What’s your take on this, what’s your setup - why is it good/bad?
Full HD = 1920x1080 which is 16:9. This is used for TV-shows but also some movies.
As you said, a lot of movies are 2.35:1 or 2.40:1 which is roughly 1920x800 or 21:9
So basicly you want a TV that doesn’t show black bars for 21:9 content but also is able to show 16:9 content without loss of any pixel?
If you want something where the black borders don’t show, I guess a projector would be the closest to that.
There are some 21:9 TV’s but I they are not that common (and probably because of that more expensive). What will you do when you want to watch a 16:9 movie because there are a lot of those as well. You’ll be stuck with black borders to the left and right in stead of top and bottom…
Philips did a range of 21:9 TVs way back but they never really took off. They are long discontinued but you may pick one up 2nd hand: Philips 21:9 TVs
The only way you are going to get rid of the black bars on the TV is to zoom the image and lose picture information on the left & right of the screen or vertically stretch the image and distort the picture.
The only other option is to look at a projection system
Blame the entertainment business for not sticking to 1 format. 4:3, 16:9, 16:10, 21:9, IMAX… Unless some manufacturer is able to create a TV-screen that dynamically adapts its size to the format it plays you will always have black borders on some content.
That is exactly my point.
I went the Open Source and Free world exactly as I am not accepting to pay for a product (and now to pay for the possibility to view it as many times as I want) and not being able to view it on the device of my choice (DRM and Crap).
And then when we buy their DRM Crap, it is in such a poor format that the big screen we have is able to be used to 60% only, because the format was so bad we have to black out the rest of the screen…
Idiocracy all over …
This is a physical limitation. The format is as it is and is variable. The TV does it’s best to show that format as received on your screen.
It would be as buying a 9.2 speaker setup and complaining that when you listen to the radio and only 2 speakers are used… garbage in, garbage out…
Seen as not all movies have the same format you will always run into limits. That’s the reason for 16:9 TV’s I guess. Displays all content but with the drawback of black borders for 4:3 or 21:9 etc… content.
As said before, if you want something without borders you will have to get a projector which will only project the content on your screen. But you’ll still have the “problem” that not all of your screen might be used/projected on based on what format content gets projected.
There are historical reasons for all the common aspect ratios, and all are because of physical film formats. Home video presentation was never a consideration i any of the aspect ratio choices for filming movies.
A 21:9 screen really is the best way to handle home video, because it makes the ultra-widescreen formats wider instead of shorter, which was the reason those movies were filmed that way…to feel more expansive. The problem is that without a projector and side masking curtains, showing 1.85:1 movies and HDTV just looks wrong.
Also, a flat panel 21:9 TV that is tall enough to give you the picture size you want is much wider than a standard 16:9 TV. If you have the room for such a wide TV, most people just get a 16:9 TV that gives you a much taller picture on most content. This ruins the effect of “ultra-widescreen” being wider, but people live with it. Then, too, a 21:9 TV would have to be 2520x1080 pixels to allow full 1920x1080 in the center area. That’s creeping up into 4K pixel range, so the TV would be a lot more expensive for just “HD” resolution.
Thx for that. That is exactly the Info I wanted.
To be honest, the price never was really an issue. I tend to spend more when I buy stuff, as I hate it to bite myself after because I saved on the wrong side.
I’ll check if I can find some 21:9 TV providing a 2520x1080 That will prolly be tough, but I love a good challenge anytime
Depending on what size you want there’s quite a few computer monitors that are 21:9, but very few Tvs. I guess a projector with a 21:9 sized screen would work as well.
