George wrote in news:bNidnUTU-
:

Jim Yanik wrote:
George wrote in news:QPSdnS67ip4ld1TbnZ2dnUVZ_h-
:

Jim Yanik wrote:
Smitty Two wrote in
news

That particular phenomenon has nothing to do with digital *or* hdtv.
That's called "aspect ratio" and it's something that the television
user can (and should) adjust to match the source material. DAGS.

Aspect ratio should be automatic.

DTVs seem to have a feature which you can toggle on to fill the whole
screen. If you happen to be watching 4:5 programming it stretches
everything out. It drives me nuts but when I mentioned it out to a few
people they couldn't get it even when I pointed out that round things
shouldn't look ovals and everyone shouldn't look like a sumo wrestler.

Ah,you force the wrong aspect ratio.
Some people don't like the letterboxing,I guess...

In the cases I mentioned it wasn't letterboxing. They stretched it to
fill in the sides,then everything was squashed down.


it's 4:3 and 16:9 ratios,BTW

"Tired fingers" when I wrote that but I was close...



Normally,when displaying 16:9 video on a 4:3 display,there are dark bands
at the top and bottom of the screen.
for 4:3 video on a 16:9 display,you get the dark bands on the sides.
that's letterboxing.

So,if you stretch the horizontal to fill the screen,the image looks
squished.that's simple physics. You used to be able to see that same effect
at movie theaters when the projectionist didn't change lenses to fit the
film they were showing.

You also get the same thing when resizing pictures to fit your PC
display,depending on the original format of the pic. Some viewers like
Irfan View allow you to retain aspect ratio or to allow the stretch/squish
of the pic.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net