1.85:1 on a 16X9 set, How much do you lose?

[SmackDaddy]

I've been wondering about this since I got my 46" WS Mitsubishi. When you watch a 2.35:1 DVD you still see black bars, but when you watch a 1.85:1 DVD the image fills the screen. Since a 16:9 set=1.78:1 you are losing some of the picture.

My question is is it form the sides? Top and Bottom?

[reverb]

For practical argument, you don't lose anything. Technically, you are losing about 3% of the entire image off all sides due to TV overscan, including the minor letterboxing of 1.85:1 on a 1.78:1 display. You are losing the same amount with all material, 1.33-c2.40:1, though again it is from the entire screen including any black.

You are losing less than in a movie theater.

[reverb]

Additionally, here's how minute the horizontal difference is between 1.85 and 1.78:1: 0.04%. To discern any significant variance you would have to up the scale dramatically.

One of these days I will post a framing chart, as I would use to do a 1.85:1 extraction from the 1.78:1 Panavision 24P HD camera. You will not discern an aspect ratio difference between the full chip aperture and the 1.85:1 frame.

[SmackDaddy]

Thanks for the info. For some reason I just had a hard time of quantifying the difference. It just kills me though that 4-5% overscan on the sides(left and right)is about the best I can manage(which If i figure that correctly I'm losing up to 4" of image on the sides as my display is almost exactly 40" wide) without the convergence getting all screwy. I estimate that my top and bottom convergence is somewhere between 2% on top, 3-4% on the bottom.

You would think that RPTV manufactures would take this into account when designing their sets, especially those of the WS variety.