sataniko

I just got my Blu-Ray player yesterday and I stopped by Wal-mart to get some movies. I bought The Wrestler and The Descent.

My question is that the I was under the impression that if a movie said 16:9 Widescreen it would fill the screen and no black bars (at least that was the case with standard DVD's), but that doesn't seem to be the case with the The Descent disc. Am I wrong or is this a typo? The case for the movie says 16:9 Widescreen feature presentation.

Thanks in advance.

MBoyd

tommyp007

If the OAR (original aspect ratio) was wider than 1:85 - 1,the there will still be bars on the screen to preserve the film ratio

In other words.....the movie is bigger than yo tv.

(sigh)

Gizmo

Sigh.

fumanstan

This is on the older side, but still applies and should help!

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...reenorama.html

Joe Molotov

Black bars sound pretty hip. It's not as bad as the one time I bought a Blu-Ray from Wal-Mart and got gay biker bars on the screen. It was a little awkward with the parents there, but my mom seemed to enjoy the ass-less chaps.

Doctorossi

Hey guys, how 'bout adopting a *helpful* attitude? You know more about this topic than the OP, but he's trying to understand and educate himself and he doesn't appear to be a troll. Rather than fling poo at him, why don't you play nice and maybe the world will see the benefit of another educated soul rather than another irritated one? I know this topic comes up disappointingly often, but not everyone has the benefit of the knowledge some of us have and we should welcome them and help them see the light.

Right?

shaun3000

It sounds like the packaging is misleading in reference to the aspect ratio. 16x9 is probably referring to the screen size rather than anything to do with the movie. On DVDs, they would advertise them as Anamorphic or 16x9 to let you know that it would fill a widescreen TV. (As opposed to letterboxed 4x3 movies, designed for 4x3 TVs)

What you are interested in is the aspect ratio, which is probably 2.35:1.

Keep in mind that even if it is 1.85:1 or so, you still might have tiny black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, but chances are you won't notice them unless you look for them.

sataniko

You are right the packaging of the disc is misleading. I just wanted to pick a movie that would fill the screen, that's why I was looking for one that said 16:9, specifically.


Thank you for your help.

shaun3000

If you're looking for something to show off what your BD player can do, image-wise, check out this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=858316

Off the top of my head: any of the Pixar films and The Dark Knight. (Especially the IMAX sequences!)

Mr. Salty

That's 1.85:1.
It has nothing to do with size; it's proportions. The movie has a wider aspect ratio that a widescreen TV.
In general I agree with your post, but the question is a bit strange coming from someone who has been a member here for six years and who has almost 1,700 posts.
Typical Lionsgate, copying the information from their DVD packaging without thought to the differences between the formats. Blu-ray is natively 16:9, so if you see 16:9 or 16X9 on a Blu-ray package you should disregard it when trying to determine the aspect ratio of the movie. Movie aspect ratios are not expressed as 16:9.

DVD Polizei

Actually, Lionsgate DOES say on their cover art for The Descent, that it's 2.35:1. The problem, is they do it like this on the back cover artwork on the lower-left side:

<pre>-------------------
16 x 9

WIDESCREEN

2.35:1
-------------------</pre>

The only advice I have is to look ALL OVER THE ARTWORK for information on the movie. And yes, it would be nice if studios had some consistency and had a stipulation by the MPAA or whoever where to put the AR so consumers knew where to look. Until then, it's an AR scavenger hunt.

And finally, I'm not surprised at all by the OP's post. He just got his Blu-ray player. If he purchased a DVD and it said the same thing, it wouldn't be any different. It's simply a rather not-so-well-placed AR on the back cover. And of course, the black background on the back doesn't help, either.

I somehwhat agree with Mr. Salty. Avoid using "16x9 or 16:9" as an exclusive indicator of the AR of a movie. It's tough when you're out at a store, because nobody knows shit and you're on your own.

Gizmo

So why not be the *helpful* guy and help him

We really need to get some new stickies or update the ones we have.

cracksky

This seems pretty clear.

The top number is a dimension but in this case it indicates the DVD is enhanced for HDTV's. The bottom number is an aspect ratio and it wouldn't take much to find out that it's wider than an HDTV and would produce black areas on the top and bottom of your screen.

A little research perhaps before asking such a simple question.

This information has been on DVD packaging for years.

shaun3000

Well no one forced you to open the thread. I apologize on everyone's behalf for wasting your precious time.

shelland

I didn't know anything about this subject back when I bought my first HDTV 7 years ago. Don't feel bad, I've been reading these threads over and over on every HT forum ever since.

Basically, movies are filmed in two different aspect ratios - once you know the difference, you'll even be able to tell in the theater. As noted above anything 1.85:1 will for the most part fill your screen and 2.35:1 will have bars on the top and bottom.

This site has some great explanations and some screen shots to help illustrate:

http://www.widescreen.org/index.shtml

You should be able to see the variance in 'shape' from these two images:

1.85:1


2.35:1 (black bars on HDTV)

DVD Polizei

All I see are 1:1 squares.

Mr. Salty

The problem is, in this case it's a Blu-ray, not a DVD. Blu-rays are not "enhanced for HDTVs."
These days, yes, two aspect ratios cover most films. But historically there are many more: 1.33:1 (aka 4:3), 1.66:1, 1.85:1, 2.35:1 (and 2.4:1), 2.55:1, 2.76:1, 2.89:1, just to name a few of the ARs found in my own collection.

cracksky

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image))

http://www.blu-ray.com/

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?id=174

If you ever need some quick info on a BD title like Descent just pop on over to this site and you'll see the aspect ratio and other specs plus caps that show the bars.

Hammer99

Looks to me like the OP was questioning the cover info, NOT complaining or bitching about OAR. Jeez.

Doctorossi

A couple of nice folks already had. I was just irritated by the tone of everyone else who felt compelled to post about their sheer intellectual exhaustion at having to see a newbie-ish question infect their forum.

gglass4269

Sometimes I hate people on this site

Brian Shannon

Unfortunately the industry has done a very poor job of education with respect to film sizes and how they relate to tv's

My feeling exactly, ever since this forum was created.

JayDerek

yeah but OP, why on earth are you just looking for a movie that 'fills your screen'??? how about pick a movie you enjoy and enjoy it in it's HD beauty in the aspect ratio it was MEANT to be seen in?

DVD Polizei

I think he's well aware of a movie's intentional AR, but just wanted to fill his screen because he just bought a new Blu-ray player to view on his HDTV, and wanted to view a movie which took up the entire screen. Notice he didn't say he wished The Descent was at a 1.78:1 AR, but said just the opposite--that he was looking for a 1.78:1 AR movie ("16x9"), and thought The Descent was it.