Thanks, Lee. So I might even consider one of those stretched screens, as long as I am able to have the black lines on the sides. I hardly watch movies anyhow, I prefer people's features to be normal. As long as I have the capability to choose the settings, I would not object to buying one of those newfangled screens. As you see, I have not as yet made the dicision. I had to know the reason for those stretched countenances of the news people. Marta On Mar 7, 2005, at 20:39, Lee Larson wrote:
> On Mar 7, 2005, at 7:20 PM, Marta Edie worried: > >> Can somebody shed some light on the new wide TV screens ? What are >> they good for? All they seem to do is pull people out of proportion. >> People all look to me like gnomes -wide heads, wide bodies, short >> legs, almost like the caricature one sees oneself in when going to >> one of those mirror shows at the fair which distort one's image.- >> Well, not quite - but then- what is the purpose? It is one thing when >> I have my desktop picture pulled apart to cover the whole screen, but >> It is only I who has to look at it. Thus far I have not gotten an >> answer to my question from anybody. > > Traditional analog television screens are in what is termed a 4:3 > ratio. That means the width is about 1/3 more than the height. The > newer high definition televisions are usually in a 16:9 ratio, which > means the width is quite a bit more than the height. > > The newer 16:9 ratio is closer to that of Hollywood movies. This means > movies shown in high definition won't have be either trimmed to fit on > the screen, or shown letterbox style, with the black strip at the top > and bottom. Video buffs and movie makers have been wanting this for > years because they hate having the carefully composed shots in movies > mangled to fit on a TV screen. > > Most of the newer widescreen TVs have several settings for watching > the 4:3 content. There are three I've seen: > > (1) Fill the whole screen. This causes the squashed people you're > complaining about. > > (2) Clip the top and bottom out of the picture to keep the aspect > ratio correct. This removes Peter Jennings' hair and hands. > > (3) Show the 4:3 picture in the center of the 16:9 screen. This causes > a "letterbox" look with the black bars on the sides of the screen > instead of the top and bottom. > > Most of the high-end TVs I've looked at let you choose the method for > 4:3 viewing somewhere in the setup. You'll probably stumble on it, if > you play with the remote control for a while. As a last resort, ask to > see the manual. | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will | be March 22. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup>
