I zoom, not stretch. When I'm watching a 4:3 show on Netflix, it defaults to being stretched sideways, and I have not found any way to change it to pillar-boxing on my TV, despite thoroughly exploring every possible technical setting over and over again. So I set it to zoom because it's more tolerable than stretching. However, if I am watching 4:3 on DVD or blu-ray, then I can watch it pillar-boxed just fine. Kor
I have a question for blue ray players. I have been thinking about getting one. Can you set them were they kind of look like they do on Netflix or Hulu? For me they look better than 16.9 but not to huge like when I use zoom I use to could do that with Trek when I would watch it on Netfix but that was when I still had Dish Network and now I have a Amazon Firestick I can't do it anymore. Jason
I've noticed some shows on the Heroes & Icons channel, like Xena, are NOT QUITE the right aspect ration. They're cropped to fill the screen, but everybody looks maybe 5% squished. maybe less. But just enough that it freaks me out and makes it hard to watch. Conversely, there's one oldies channel on our system that shows 4:3 shows and movies squashed side-to-side, so people are tall and skinny and the pillar boxes are much thicker than usual. Can't figure THAT one out.
I always want the original aspect ratio, but then along comes the Babylon 5 DVDs with its 16:9 transfer of the film source with the image opened up for more of the live action frame, higher resolution, film quality, but with the effects and composite shots zoomed in or stretched from the 4:3 NTSC source. Then there's the Transformers Movie (the animation with Leonard Nimoy) which on Blu-ray comes with two discs, the 1.85:1 widescreen theatrical version, and the open matte 4:3 television version with more picture information but pillarboxed.
I'm curious as to what Netflix and Hulu do to shows like "X -Files" and "Lost" or "Firefly". I think they were filmed in widescreen but the fill the entire screen on those services yet they don't look squished to me. Also when I had Dish Network I could fix it so I could watch Trek without the bars on the sides but also not looking to squished but also not like it is when you use zoom and it is to big. It seems like they had a third option. Jason
X-Files I don't know. Firefly was filmed widescreen and cropped to 4:3 for broadcast. So when it's 16:9 everything is shiny.
How though do you get something that was filmed in 4:3 cover the entire screen of a modern tv without making it looked stretched via 16:9 or to big looking like you get with zoom? Jason
By cropping. If you pay close attention to the visuals in shows like this, you may notice that either the sides or the tops and bottoms can easily be cut without losing anything important. The X-Files was also mostly filmed so that it could be framed in either 4:3 or 16:9. Certain effects scenes have to be up-scaled and zoomed for 16:9 HD, though, since they were never originally mastered in that format. Kor
I went to go see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and they had it projected to fill a 16:9 screen. Arrrgh. The opening credits fell off the edges of the screen. On the flip side I remember seeing Disney's Atlantis, their first animated film in 2.35:1 since Sleeping Beauty (I think). I remember the curtains opening wider after the previews were done. Huzzah!
Yes, that's odd. Just try thinking of the black bars at the sides as theater curtains -- or the TV cabinet back in the days when television sets looked like furniture. Really, I can't understand how anyone can watch a TV image that's either stretched like a rubber band or has bits chopped off. Original aspect ratio is the only correct way to view a movie or TV show. Period, full stop, end of story. I thought black bars at the sides was called "pillar-boxing." "Window-boxing" is when the entire image is slightly reduced so there's a black border on all 4 sides of the film frame. The credits on older films would sometimes be window-boxed so the TV overscan wouldn't cut off the edges of the titles. EDIT: I reread your post and I see that in fact that's exactly what you were talking about. Or maybe "window-boxing" is how you grow pot in a high-rise apartment.
^ "The problem with marijuana being decriminalized...no one can remember where they left the petitions."
Do modern blue ray players allow you to crop older shows if you want? I've been planning to buy a blue ray player and while I like widescreen I don't like the bars on the side but I don't like the stretch look of 16:9 either. For me I don't mind loosing a little bit at the edges with older shows because tv shows back in the day lacked the scope of modern tv shows or how most movies have looked for along time. Even some modern shows it doesn't really seem like it would be much of a issue. I'm not sure "The BIng Bang Theory" needs the scope of something like some of the comic book series or "Better Call Saul" where the shows do feel almost look like a movie in how they look. Jason