I can't stand stretched images. It's easier to deal with the bars if your TV is black, just looks like part of the frame.
I don't think you have to, but that's the way they have gone about it. Are the old HD TV blu rays coded this way? I assume TNG is...except that doesn't happen when I stream it on the 4:3 iPad....what about the Pertwee Who blu ?
The black sidebars wouldn't bother as much of there were bars on the sides AND on the top and bottom...
I've gotten used to the side bars and that's how I watch it now. But instead of stretching the image, back in the day I used to zoom in the picture, so it's actually kind of like you're cropping the 4:3 image to fit 16:9. It worked fine for the most part, but sometimes it looked like their heads were chopped off, which was kind of fun if you've been drinking.
I can not abide stretching the image. I'm all about original aspect ratio. I actually do keep a CRT tv (from about 2004) with a dvd player for most of my 20th century shows. --Alex
I wish it was easier and cost effective to get and keep a half decent one. They are good for video game consoles and my still alive VHS recorder.
I actually held off a long time before upgrading to HD. I only broke down and got one when Nintendo released the NES Classic mini console and it only has an HDMI out. That was only a year or so ago. I then got the HD monitor and a blu-ray player. I've been a strong CRT devote forever. But even then, I watched movies with the widescreen black bars on top and bottom. OAR FTW. --Alex
I'm in the beginning of my every summer TNG marathon (selected episodes) for the first time with a new 16:9 TV... I guess OAR will be my choice, it just takes a moment to get used to the sidebars.
It hurts reading some of these comments. I remember actively seeking out letterboxed films on VHS. I couldn't stand pan-n-scan. I wanted to see the WHOLE movie, as it was INTENDED to be seen. Same goes for today. I heard the Blu-ray for Firefly was cropped to fit 16:9 screens. Whelp, never buying the HD version of THAT series, as much as I love it. My parents watch just about everything in their kitchen cropped AND stretched. Drives me nuts.
Another 4:3 here. The side Bars don't bother me. I stop "seeing" them after a while. Same as top/bottom bars and 3D effects in cinema.
Firefly was composed for 16x9, so the Blu-rays are the intended ratio. Any TV screenings of it that were in 4:3 were either cropped or opened up.
The correct answer is always "the way it was filmed and meant to be seen." I really can't understand why some people can't handle black at the sides or tops. Does the frame of the screen also bother people?? A distorted or cropped picture is not only more disturbing to me, it's simply wrong.
Our company has screens up in the cafeteria running news channels. The image is usually squished vertically. I can't even imagine why, because the screens are 16:9 and the news channels cast in 16:9, but it drives me nuts.
If the black bars are truly bothersome to some viewers, there's always the option of dimming the lights...
Doesn't bother me, original aspect ratio or nothing. Actually used to irritate me to no end when a movie would be broadcast in "full screen" (aka pan & scan) format instead of letterbox. So, are the people bothered by the vertical bars on a 16:9 screen the same people bothered by the horizontal bars when viewing a widescreen movie on a 4:3 screen? I may not share their view, but I can understand that some people feel in the back of their mind that they are missing part of the picture, even though they know that's not the case. (The ones who actually believed that something was cut off were just ignorant.)
The only time I ever even notice them is when I've taken screenshots on my computer to post at TrekBBS. When watching an episode, I don't "see" them. It's like when watching a foreign movie with subtitles. After a few minutes, you no longer really "see" the subtitles and it's almost like you're hearing the film in your own language.
What the man said. My new First World Problem is that now that TVs are usually 16:9 they tend to treat 2.35:1 (for instance) as "close enough". Netflix had Journey to the Center of the Earth cropped to 16:9. Arrrgh. But to repeat: Nope, Star Trek (TOS-VOY) is 4:3. You might wish it was 16:9. But you might also wish they used the TMP sets and models in TOS. It didn't happen that way either. I'd love to see TOS recomposed for 2.35:1 It would be interesting. But the real TOS will always be 4:3.