4:3 or 16:9, choose...

[JesterFace]

How do you watch Star Trek with today's widescreen TV?

Do you have the black sidebars or do you stretch the image to fill 16:9 screen and sacrifice a little from the top and bottom and everybody is usually sliced from the forehead...

I hate the black sidebars... but I don't want to strech the image either, I need a 4:3 TV apparently.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I have the sidebars. Don't stretch. It looks like shit.

I need a 4:3 TV apparently.

You'd also need a time machine to go back and get one.

 

[JesterFace]

You'd also need a time machine to go back and get one.

My father AND sister have one each just in case if needed.

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

Stretch. Can't stand black sidebars for a second.

 

[feek61]

4:3 for TOS; 16:9 for "Enterprise"

Don't stretch if filmed in 4:3

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Stretch. Can't stand black sidebars for a second.

You can't stand the bars, but you CAN stand the distortion of the image?

 

[DonIago]

OAR (Original Aspect Ratio)

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

You can't stand the bars, but you CAN stand the distortion of the image?

Yup.
I guess I'm weird like that. The horizontal top/bottom black stripes don't bother me at all, but having vertical left/right black bars makes it cringeworthy for me. Must be some form of OCD.

 

[jaime]

Watch on an iPad. That's still 4.3. XD

 

[Spot's Meow]

I never stretch it, the distortion is very distracting. I go with the black bars, though honestly I don't even notice they're there.

 

[Michael]

Would never even think about stretching the image. OAR all the way for me.

 

[suarezguy]

Original aspect ratio/composition all the way, the side bars aren't really noticeable.

Relatedly, I tend to think that (aside from my preference for OAR in general) 4:3 often feels like a better ratio for television series.

 

[Tosk]

I watch it in whatever ratio it was originally directed for.

 

[JesterFace]

4:3 often feels like a better ratio for television series.

This!

 

[BeatleJWOL]

Don't stretch. It looks like shit.

This. OAR FTW

 

[MacLeod]

Yup.
I guess I'm weird like that. The vertical top/bottom black stripes don't bother me at all, but having horizontal left/right black bars makes it cringeworthy for me. Must be some form of OCD.

Isn't that the other way around Vertical is when you would have the black bars on the left/right side of the picture, whilst horizontal would be above and below the picture

 

[KennyB]

Black bars on the side never bothered me.......hated pan and scan so I could live with them watching a movie on a 4:3 television. So glad those days are gone.

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

Isn't that the other way around Vertical is when you would have the black bars on the left/right side of the picture, whilst horizontal would be above and below the picture

Oops. You're correct. I've edited it.

 

[JesterFace]

I guess I'll have to get used to the black sidebars, stretching the image "takes something away" as it limits the picture...
But hey, it's the same thing with Friends and other good old series.

 

[TommyR01D]

It irks me that you can have Standard Definition 4:3, Standard Definition 16:9 and High Definition 16:9, but High Definition 4:3 is apparently impossible. Remastered Star Trek (or any other old film or television) has to have black bars embedded at the sides, so if you actually watch it on a 4:3 screen it ends up window-boxed.

 

[KennyB]

It irks me that you can have Standard Definition 4:3, Standard Definition 16:9 and High Definition 16:9, but High Definition 4:3 is apparently impossible. Remastered Star Trek (or any other old film or television) has to have black bars embedded at the sides, so if you actually watch it on a 4:3 screen it ends up window-boxed.

You still have one of those babies?