Posted by Vincent at bg-tc-ppp918.monmouth.com on January 01, 2003 at 23:01:49:
In Reply to: actually, it is posted by sean on December 31, 2002 at 12:55:22:
16:9 equals 1.78:1, a little less wide than 1.85:1. Thus, 1.85:1 films are either A. "opened up" ever so slightly top and bottom for their 16:9 video transfers to change the 1.85:1 ratio to 1.78:1, or B. ever-so-slightly letterboxed, but in such cases the letterboxing would be so slight that I'd likely be cropped off due to the televison set's overscan.
As for A BETTER PLACE, it'll be centered within the 1.78:1 frame with bars on the sides, and also have black bars top and bottom. You could zoom it in to fill the screen, but in that case you'll be cropping the top and bottom of the image.
Vincent
: The point Karla was making is, what is the ratio of the TV? I don't have a widescreen TV, but I was under the impression that they are 16x9, which is 1.85:1 ... so a movie like 'Mallrats' or 'Chasing Amy' wouldn't appear to be letterboxed ... not sure what would happen with something like 'A Better Place' (can't wait until people complain about black lines on the sides of older movies and TV, though) ...