Wide Screen TV, Wide Screen Movies
This page contains mostly legacy information, information that pertains mainly to 4:3 aspect ratio TV sets, which are no longer being sold new in the U.S.A.
By now, most of us are used to seeing wide screen movies on television.
In a simplistic sense, there are just three choices for putting a wide screen movie on a non-wide-screen TV set: "big", "small", and "squashed". "Big" means that some of the picture content is off the screen. "Small" means that part of the screen area is unused. For TV broadcasts, "big" (full screen, with side panning and scanning) was the rule for many decades while nowadays "small" (letterboxed) is becoming more common.
Today, the standard TV screen is "wider" (16.9, or 1.78:1) than the predominant TV screen (4:3, or 1.33:1) of the 20'th century. But there are "wider screen" movies such as 2.00:1 or even 2.35:1 and for these movies the same choices of "big", "small" and "squashed" apply.
Click here for an illustration of "squashed".
Widescreen Topics
Brief Widescreen History
Common Aspect Ratios
Is a 16:9 TV Better Than a 4:3 TV?
DVD Player Display Modes
TV Display Modes
Anamorphic Programs
Adjusting 4:3 TV for 16:9 Program (Vertical Squeeze)
Redirected for TV
Equal Size Pictures
Video Glossary
More video topics.
Topics on other subjects.
Brief Widescreen History and Background
When movies were invented, an approximately 4:3 aspect ratio became the standard. Prior to 1955, almost all movies were shot with a (n approx.) 4:3 screen aspect ratio, now known as the "Academy Ratio". A few movies nowadays are still shot in a 4:3 ratio. To this day standard movie film -- 35mm, 16mm, 8mm -- is normally formatted with 4:3 aspect ratio frames.
Because movies had a 4:3 aspect ratio, TV pictures were given the same aspect ratio. (The first TV picture tubes were round lending themselves to square or 1:1 aspect ratio pictures and also some snapshot cameras delivered square pictures.)
Movie producers invented wide screen movies to attract people back to the theaters as opposed to their staying home and watching TV.
When wide screen movies were first shown on TV, the most important part of each scene (in the opinion of the person doing the televising) was shown filling the screen and material on one or both sides was cut off. This technique is still used today for both TV broadcasts of movies and home video and is called "pan and scan". See diagram A above.
In response to viewer demands, wide screen movies were also offered where the picture was zoomed out so the entire width fit in the TV screen. An inescapable consequence was that unused screen area and wasted TV scan lines occurred at the top and the bottom of the screen. The term "letterbox" came to be used to describe movies formatted this way because the viewer had the impression s/he was looking through a mail slot. See diagram B above.
For the most part, those viewers who preferred to see the entire movie frame also had upscale video equipment including laser disks and DVD. The increased horizontal resolution offered by laserdisks over ordinary videocassette tapes made up for the loss of vertical resolution caused by shrinking the picture to fit completely in the screen. Therefore a letterbox edition became the rule for laserdisk releases but remained the exception in tape releases.
Named after the filming technique that squeezed a wide screen movie onto a 4:3 frame on 35mm film, the so-called anamorphic (16:9 enhanced) DVD represented a 16:9 aspect ratio picture and allowed more of the video scan lines (rows of pixels) to construct the picture and fewer scan lines to be wasted within the black letterbox bars above and below.
The 16:9 aspect ratio was chosen as the standard for U.S. high definition TV (ATSC HDTV). Most TV sets produced nowadays (2008) are of the 16:9 aspect ratio. While there has been talk of introducing a third aspect ratio (2.35:1; 21:9) for DVD's to accommodate films of or close to that aspect ratio, this move has not happened.
Common Aspect Ratios
There are five common movie aspect ratios -- 4:3 (1.33:1), 16:9 (1.77:1), 1.85:1, 2:1, and 2:35:1 -- (and some not so common aspect ratios). Regardless of what shape the screen is, only one aspect ratio will fit exactly. For all of the other aspect ratios, the same three choices we discussed earlier (big, small, squashed) must apply:
We'll repeat the descriptions of "big" and "small" briefly:
A. (Big) Zoom in so the entire screen is filled, but part of the picture is off the sides or off the top and bottom. This is the pan and scan edition of the DVD. The intent is to present the portion of the picture in #2 of the diagram below but if the TV set has a lot of overscan, the result will be more like #1 below.
B. (Small) Zoom out so the entire picture fits in the screen but there are unused borders either on the sides or on the top and bottom. This is the letterbox edition. The intent is to present the picture as in #4 of the diagram below. In rare instances the picture is zoomed out even further, as in #5 below so that it is fully visible even on a TV with a lot of overscan.
In the theater, movies of different aspect ratios are usually shown the same height, leaving different amounts of the screen sides unused. We don't notice this because the room is dark and in some cases curtains are drawn to cover the unused screen areas.
Varying the Zoom
1. Extreme zoom in
2. Standard pan and scan
3. In between
4. Standard letterbox
5. Windowbox
6. Variation for subtitle or closed caption
In a Nutshell: The correct way to commit a wide screen movie to video is to vary the amount of zoom in each scene.
Let's imagine you are the artistic director for a wide screen movie expected to be a blockbuster. A premiere date has been scheduled, news reporters and critics invited, and the first showing at the theater will be televised live. We won't worry about the electronic details; your cameraman has a special camera that will capture the picture perfectly off the movie screen and he has memorized the script and scene sequence. All you have to do is tell him when and where to zoom and pan.
You have every right to tell your cameraman to set the camera once, to cover the entire movie screen (and also part of the curtain above and people's heads below). People at home will then see the "letterbox edition" on their TV screens as the auditorium is darkened and what is above and below the picture fade into blackness.
But you and your crew have televised plays and ballets also. You would zoom in here and there, wouldn't you? This is even though you carefully and artistically set up the props and scenery for each scene in your movie during filming.
The truth is, most movies can be presented better on video with different amounts of zoom, pan, and scan for different scenes. I don't know of any movies for which this was done because it is expensive, requiring lengthy discussion with producers and directors. It may also require more expensive video conversion equipment (telecines, etc.) and require that the technicians stop and restart the video conversion each time a zoom or aspect ratio change is done.
It is actually easier to make the artistic decisions to add zoom for a hybrid letterbox and pan and scan movie compared with televising a live show. This is because the necessary zoom range is smaller (#2, #3, and #4 in the above diagram), never putting material off the top and bottom. The more freedom you have, the harder it is to make choices.
Even during filming, most directors really would like different aspect ratios for each of the scenes; but are constrained to one aspect ratio for the entire movie. Props and scenery at the sides may very well have been filler material as opposed to artistic content. Such scenes can survive the cropping due to pan and scan without detracting from the visual experience.
Panoramas and scenic vistas, for example the opening of "Sound of Music", show very well as pan and scan. If there is already some panning in the wide screen film, the pan and scan version of that scene just pans a bit faster. For a scene already containing zoom, we just exaggerate it a bit, either starting or ending with a full screen side cropped view.
If the same background is used several times in a movie, additional zoom can be added on some of the respective scenes without losing items in the background forever. Unlike viewing in a theater, the viewer at home can replay scenes to view details again. He will be able to find that bridge, statue, or deer off in the background at least once in a hybrid pan and scanned version of the movie.
Scene transitions would look better if the varying space above and below the picture were filled with a fake proscenium curtain image rather than being left black.
The above paragraphs are this writer's opinion.
Anamorphic or 16:9 Enhanced DVD's
The so-called "anamorphic" DVD provides a much improved picture on a 16:9 TV set. For a regular (4:3) TV set the viewer may set the DVD player in 4:3 mode and the player automatically displays the picture correctly for both anamorphic and non-anamorphic disks.
Summary, Factoids, and Fiction
The so-called "anamorphic" DVD is one whose picture content represents a 16:9 shaped space and is intended to be played upon a 16:9 shaped screen or 16:9 shaped portion of a screen.
Whereas a "full frame" or "letterboxed" disk, (one without the "enhanced" or "anamorphic" designation) is intended to be played onto a 4:3 shaped screen or space.
To play 16:9 enhanced DVD's on a 4:3 TV set you choose one but not both of the following:
(a) Set the DVD player "TV Shape" or "Aspect Ratio" setting to 4:3 or letterbox mode (refer to the player instructions).(b) Set the TV to 16:9 mode (sharper picture, explained further on down as Vertical Squeeze).
Unfortunately the labeling on the package is occasionally incorrect but fortunately the player (usually) automatically selects the mode to play the disk correctly.
Since any wide screen movie frame placed within a16:9 shaped space surrounds more of the rows of pixels there compared with in a 4:3 shaped space, it is easy to see that the 16:9 enhancement improves the resolution and sharpness of the picture and leaves fewer wasted rows of pixels (or scan lines) in black stripes above and below. The anamorphic DVD has the same approx. 720 x 480 pixel video frame.
With more scan lines closer together in the picture, the vertical resolution of the picture is greatly improved, thus the enhancement.
"Anamorphic" in video is a misnomer; the TV set adjustments determine the aspect ratio you see.
Compared with a standard disk of the same subject, the picture as played from a 16:9 enhanced disk is sharper, but it is not bigger.
Either standard or enhanced DVD's can be made from either standard or anamorphically shot films.
Most DVD's have a piece of data (a flag) that tells the player whether or not they are enhanced. This is used to automatically switch the player (some makes and models require manual switching) into the proper aspect ratio. Otherwise there is no intrinsic or electronic difference between the enhanced and standard disks' picture content.
To play 16:9 enhanced disks with full resolution, the TV set is adjusted to exactly 16:9 regardless of the aspect ratio of the movie or program.
If the aspect ratio of the movie or program is greater than 16:9, portions of the black letterbox bars will be within the 16:9 shaped space. Then even an enhanced disk will have these portions of the black bars permanently recorded as part of the video frame and seen on a 16:9 TV screen.
Heated debate continues as to whether captions should be placed within or below the picture.
********
Anamorphic (the word) -- In photography or video, refers to the stretching or squeezing of an image to fill a space with a different aspect ratio; means provided later for viewing the image in its proper proportions.From Greek: ana- for "again", morph for "form"; to form again, to reform, to reshape.
Anamorphosis -- A distorted picture which looks normal when viewed through a special device called an anamorphoscope.
Some methods of filming wide screen movies use anamorphic techniques. The image is side-compressed using a special camera lens so it fills the entire 4:3 aspect ratio film frame. During showing, a special lens (a type of anamorphoscope) is used on the projector to exactly reverse the distortion and produce the correct wide screen presentation. Any film, anamorphic or not, can be committed to video either as a standard or 16:9 enhanced DVD. For taking photographs and filming movies, the opposite of "anamorphic" is "spherical".
The same technique is used with video for use with 16:9 aspect ratio TV sets. Televising can be done using the same anamorphic lenses used in filming, or by using spherical lenses and 16:9 shaped pickup elements inside the camera. Telecine machines (film scanners) with 16:9 shaped or variable shaped scan areas are in common use. For 16:9 enhanced DVD, the pixels in the720 x 480 array are all chosen from a 16:9 shaped area..
In video the word "anamorphic" is really a misnomer. A video picture can be stretched any which way on the screen by the viewer by manipulating the set controls. A few modern TV sets automatically select the desired aspect ratio using a "flag" (small piece of data) encoded in the video signal. Currently, in the U.S., only two aspect ratios, 4:3 and 16:9, have been standardized so far (1/98). It is anyone's opinion as to which aspect ratio is considered standard. Since the 4:3 aspect ratio has been around longer, marketing of all video products nowadays refers to the 4:3 aspect ratio as standard; the 16:9 DVD's are referred to as "anamorphic", "enhanced", or "high resolution". There are rumors that a 20:9 enhanced DVD format will be introduced for 2.35:1 aspect ratio movies and then the word "anamorphic" by itself will become ambiguous.
Use of the 16:9 aspect ratio improves the vertical resolution of a wide screen movie compared with the 4:3 aspect ratio because fewer scan lines or pixels are wasted in the black bars above and below the image. For example, when the 480 scan lines are evenly spaced in a 4:3 frame, 360 of them will be inside a 16:9 aspect ratio rectangle contained within. The 60 scan lines above and 60 scan lines below the 16:9 rectangle are "wasted". Produced in the 16:9 enhanced form, the movie would be zero lines wasted in a top black bar, all 480* lines evenly spaced within the 16:9 picture area, and zero lines in a bottom black bar.
Although video could be produced for any aspect ratio, the DVD standard was defined with just two aspect ratios, 4:3 and 16:9. Therefore movies with aspect ratios greater than 16:9 will still have top and bottom black bars permanently recorded on the disk, consuming a few scan lines, and visible on a 16:9 TV. Let's do another example. A 2.35:1 aspect ratio movie in a 4:3 aspect ratio NTSC video frame would have 104 scan lines in the top black bar, only 272 lines making up the picture, and 104 scan lines in the bottom black bar. In a 16:9 video frame, there would be 58 lines in the top black bar, 364 lines making up the picture, and 58 lines in the bottom black bar, again improving resolution.
Due to overscan and slight geometric inaccuracies, which vary from one TV set to another, movies with 1.85:1 aspect ratio may fill the screen on some TV sets but not on others. The aspect ratio as measured on the screen may not always be exactly correct.
16:9 enhanced DVD's are normally labeled as 16:9 enhanced or "anamorphic". Once in awhile the labeling is incorrect. Since there is rarely both an enhanced and a standard letterboxed edition of the same program on the market at the same time, mislabeling is not an inconvenience to most DVD purchasers. The exception would be the most demanding videophiles who would not buy the standard DVD, anticipating that the program would be re-released as enhanced in the future. With a 4:3 TV the viewer usually doesn't notice any difference as the player (usually) automatically selects the proper submode.
Many heated arguments still go on regarding whether captions and subtitles should be placed in the picture or below. For the 1.85:1 (and also 16:9 itself) it is not possible to put captions below the picture without foregoing the benefits of 16:9 enhancement since the enhanced disk has no leftover pixels to construct the captions with. Even the 2:1 aspect ratio movie has severely limited usable space for captioning under the picture because most TV sets have overscan losing a significant portion of the lower edge of the video frame. The result is that producers who feel that captions should go under the picture will produce the program using standard letterbox rather than 16:9 enhanced and many serious videophiles dislike that.
*Of the 525 scan lines that make up an NTSC video frame, the picture occupies the first 480 give or take a few depending on source material and make and model of equipment. Therefore the DVD format of 480 rows of pixels matches the NTSC video frame quite well.
4:3 TV Vertical Squeeze Trick (16:9 mode)
Your DVD player instructions tells you to use the letterbox mode (or 4:3 mode) on the player when you play a 16:9 enhanced DVD on a (n older) 4:3 aspect ratio TV set.
You may be able to see the increased resolution of 16:9 enhanced programs correctly on a 4:3 TV set by putting the player into16:9 mode and reducing the TV picture height. What we want to do is put 480 scan lines into a 16:9 shaped space. Reducing the height on a 4:3 TV set is comparable to the 4:3 mode on every 16:9 TV set. The latter mode on a 16:9 TV does nothing more than reduce the picture width.
Every TV set has a height (vertical size) control which is theoretically all that is needed to make the adjustment. Unfortunately the adjustment is usually inconvenient and cumbersome. We will not be able to give specific directions for specific TV sets here.
Your computer monitor probably has a height control as a button or knob on the front panel, or as one of the settings in the setup menus. Typical labeling is shown below.
First let me try to scare you off.
The height control might be a screwdriver adjustment at the back of the set, not easily accessed.The height control might not bring down the height far enough.
You might have to tweak other adjustments, such as for pincushion distortion or convergence errors.
You may have to go into the so called service menu which may void the warranty.
But maybe you will be lucky and find:
Your TV set has macro capability so it remembers all the adjustment and tweaking so the second time and thereafter all you have to do is press one button on the remote control.Your serviceman can install a knob on the front panel that duplicates the screwdriver adjustment in the rear and you manage to control the height without having to tweak other things. (This will void the warranty.)
While you are at it you might want to reduce the picture width slightly once and never touch it again, to reduce overscan if your TV was cursed with too much of that.
Note: The finished picture and the black letterbox bars will be almost the same shape and size as when you used to select letterbox (4:3) mode on your DVD player.
Note also: If your height adjustment is continuously variable, set it to exactly 16:9 before playing the enhanced disk. You will need a 4:3 program such as a broadcast to line up the top and bottom edges of the video frame. You do not have to remember the aspect ratio of the movie itself.
Note also: If you are able to put the TV in 16:9 mode, remember to set your DVD player to 16:9 mode also and leave it that way.
Caution: If you use service menus, turn down the contrast (picture, white level) when making the adjustment. Otherwise a mistake may cause the picture to collapse into a thin line or small spot and the full strength electron beam will burn the screen in seconds. Also write down all settings so if you make a mistake you can put it back the way it was.
On some TV sets or when playing some video disks or programs, scan lines 481 through 525 are not all completely black. Flashes of light may be seen above and below the 16:9 shaped space when a 4:3 TV is put into 16:9 mode. If the movie has an aspect ratio greater than 16:9 these flashes will occur in the middle of the black letterbox bars.
For compatibility with 4:3 TV sets without easily adjusted height controls, all NTSC DVD players have the 4:3 letterbox, mode. When you select this mode, the player constructs a 360 scan line picture with the usual 60 lines wasted in black bars above and below. Some players produce a better looking picture than others; the end result has resolution slightly to noticeably worse than a non-enhanced letterbox edition. The easiest method is to discard every fourth row of pixels (scan line) in each interlaced field, which results in the last two of every eight scan lines lost from the full video frame. A more elaborate method is to do some form of blending of each line with its neighbors so details occupying just one scan line are not lost completely. When shopping for a DVD player you should examine the picture quality of the 4:3 mode before buying.
A small number of laser disks, videocassettes, and other media with 16:9 aspect ratio programs do exist. Because reformatting the picture is not a function of most laser disk players and VCR's, these programs did not sell too many copies.
The following web page has more on 16:9 enhanced DVD's:
www.smr-home-theatre.org/anamorphic/index.html
DVD Format vs. 16:9 TV Display Mode
Below are the results of adjusting the aspect ratio control on a 16:9 TV set while leaving the DVD player in 16:9 mode. The correct subject is a perfect circle.
The preferred setting is marked with an arrow. The red lines indicate additional black area if the movie has an aspect ratio greater than 16:9.
Columns: Kinds of DVD disks
Rows: TV mode settings
TV Display Modes
16:9 TV's come with at least three display modes, usually but not always named as shown:
4:3 -- The picture (all 480* scan lines) occupies the middle of the screen with black bars on the sides. Used for viewing of broadcasts and programs with aspect ratio smaller than 16:9. A few TV sets will put a PIP picture in the black space.
Full or 16:9 -- The picture is spread out over the entire width of the screen but not spilled off the top and bottom. Needed to view 16:9 programs such as "anamorphic" a.k.a. "enhanced" DVD movies whose 720 (approx.) by 480 pixel frame makes a 16:9 picture. Also used in a gimmicky fashion for standard broadcasts, giving a distorted stretched look. The latter may find some use in shallow rooms where some viewers are sitting well off to the side; to them a normal picture will appear side-squished.
Zoom, or Expanded -- The picture is a 4:3 picture that fills the 16:9 screen with but loses approximately 60 scan lines off the top and 60 off the bottom leaving about 360 lines visible. Used to give a bigger picture when viewing ordinary letterboxed movies of aspect ratio 16:9 and higher, where the scan lines wasted on black bars are now outside the screen. If a 4:3 program is viewed this way, the top and bottom are chopped off just as the sides of a movie lost to pan-and-scan.
There may be a fourth or fifth mode, given a name such as "Cinema" or "Theaterwide", and consisting of a partial stretch or zoom, or stretching that becomes more pronounced at the sides..
*For NTSC, the picture occupies the first (approx.) 480 scan lines.
Which is Better, a 16:9 or 4:3 TV?
In 2008, very few 4:3 TV sets are being sold; most of them are lower priced smaller sized sets. But many 4:3 video projectors are still being sold, primarily for use in offices and schools.
The 16:9 aspect ratio is a nice compromise since it is "in between". There is program material that is more square (4:3) and program material that is more rectangular (2.0, 2.35, etc.). The viewer gets the impression that the picture sizes for the various movie aspect ratios are more balanced. Whereas 4:3 is at one extreme of the common aspect ratios. Everything else is progressively smaller.
Today's 16:9 TV has an advantage in that it lets you select either the 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio. (Other aspect ratios are displayed within the 16:9 shaped area.) While older 4:3 TV's could match that advantage with an easily adjusted vertical size control, most didn't come with that.
Picture tubes for direct view 16:9 TV's were always more expensive for a given amount of viewing area. But flat panel TV sets (primarily LCD) are rapidly superceding CRT sets and most are offered in the 16:9 shape.
The 4:3 CRT projection TV uses the small picture tubes (CRT's, or "guns") down inside more efficiently. The CRT's themselves are 4:3 for 16:9 TV sets as well. While both 4:3 and 16:9 projection sets use a narrow (as in letterboxing) strip across the screens for wide screen programs, the 4:3 set uses almost the entire screens for 4:3 programs while the 16:9 set uses only the middles of the CRTs' screens (as in windowboxing). Larger, more expensive, CRTs were sometimes used to compensate for this. Non-CRT projectors for TV, movies, and entertainment are mostly 16:9 models (with 16:9 picture producing elements inside).
Comparison of picture viewing area versus movie aspect ratios on 4:3 and
16:9 TV sets. Scores represent quantity, not quality. Scores are relative
to each other in the same column only and are the same for any screen size.
Score 1 -- 4:3 has score of 100
Score 2 -- 16:9 has score of 100
Example A -- 4:3 TV set, dimensions below given for a 30" diagonal screen size.
Aspect Dimensions Score 1 Score 2
4:3 24 x 18 100
133
16:9 24 x 13.5 75
100
1.85:1 24 x 13 72
96
2.00:1 24 x 12 67
89
2.35:1 24 x 10.2 56
75
Example B -- 16:9 TV set, dimensions below given for a 37" diagonal screen size.
Aspect Dimensions Score 1 Score 2
4:3 24 x 18 100
75
16:9 32 x 18 133
100
1.85:1 32 x 17.3 128 96
2.00:1 32 x 16 118
89
2.35:1 32 x 13.6 101 76
Some experts say that if most of your viewing is of 4:3 material, you should buy a 4:3 TV set. Over years of viewing, the screen phosphors gradually dim with usage, and the edges of the screen usually occupied by the black areas outside the picture don't dim as much. If the contrast is kept low, under 50% for direct view TV sets and under 33% for projection sets, this uneven screen wear should not be a problem.
DVD Player Display Modes
Normal or 16:9 -- The 720 by 480 pixel DVD video frame is placed on the entire 480 scan line NTSC video frame with no changes. Note: In this mode the DVD player neither knows nor cares whether the disk is enhanced for 16:9. The final adjustment of the aspect ratio is done manually at the TV set.
Letterbox or 4:3 -- Some players will automatically do the right thing for standard and enhanced disks using a piece of data called a flag encoded on the disk. If so, for standard disks the 720 by 480 pixel video frame is placed on the entire 480 scan line NTSC video frame and it fills a 4:3 TV screen. For enhanced disks the 720 by 480 pixel DVD video frame is reconstructed to fit in the center 360 scan lines of the NTSC video frame. Unused (black) bars, 60 scan lines wide, are left at the top and bottom. There are different methods of accomplishing this. The easiest method is to discard one out of every four rows of pixels. This mode permits viewing the entire width of a an enhanced (anamorphic) format wide screen DVD program on a 4:3 TV without an easily adjusted height control. If a standard disk yields a squashed picture with black bars, then the player failed to select the proper mode and you must manually set the player to 16:9 mode for this disk.
Cropped, or Auto Pan and Scan -- Not all players will go into this mode unless the disk is specially encoded for it. The 720 by 480 pixel DVD video frame occupies all 480 scan lines but only 540 pixels of each line are spread out over the video frame width. If the disk does not have automatic pan and scan, the middle 540 pixels are used, otherwise data on the disk specifies which 540 pixel span is used. Used to get a full screen height image of a a 16:9 enhanced format wide screen DVD program on a 4:3 TV without an easily adjusted height control.
Some players will not let you select the "wrong" mode for a disk but may let you do so if you let the movie play for a few minutes and then press stop and select the mode.
To get the same size picture, a 4:3 TV needs to be about 10% larger (diagonally) for movies; a 16:9 TV needs to be about 20% larger for broadcasts.
If you were watching a wide screen movie on a 16:9 aspect ratio TV but then decided you wanted a 4:3 TV, buy a set with the same width to get the same size picture. Your new 4:3 TV would be 10% (9%) larger diagonally. For example a 50 inch 4:3 RPTV and a 46 inch 16:9 RPTV will play a wide screen movie about the same size. Any major perceived difference is an optical illusion. If you insist, you can make cardboard strips to hang above and below the picture to conceal the black bars.
If you were watching a 4:3 TV broadcast on a standard 4:3 TV but you decided you wanted a 16:9 TV, buy a set with the same height to get the same size picture. Your new 16:9 TV would be 20% (22%) larger in diagonal size. For example a 36 inch 16:9 direct view TV and a 29 inch 4:3 direct view TV will show you Monday night football about the same size assuming no overscan on the latter. Any major perceived difference is an optical illusion. If you insist, you can make curtains to hang on the sides of the 16:9 TV to conceal the black bars.
What should you do? If you are shopping for a TV, buy one a bit larger than you thought necessary. You can even bring two pieces of cardboard, one 4:3 and the other 16:9, to specify the minimum size picture you want.
Most large TV sets are 16:9 nowadays. Video projectors for office use are mostly 4:3 although they are also used for TV viewing. If you really want a 4:3 TV, try to get one with a "16:9" button"or an easily adjusted height control. This will allow you to take advantage of enhanced widescreen (anamorphic) DVD's. All 16:9 TV's already have such a control.
All parts (c) copyright 1997-2008, Allan W. Jayne, Jr. unless otherwise noted or other origin stated.
P.O. Box 762, Nashua, NH 03061
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