Where Did Those "Black Bars" Come From?

A Casual History of Black Bars

When movies started being projected on screens across the country the aspect ratio was 4 units wide for each 3 units height.

Decades later the TV industry used the same aspect ratio.

People were so hypnotized by TV in the 1950's that they forget to go to the movies. Hollywood's response was wide screen spectacular epic movies.


Theaters installed wide screens with masking to reshape the screen when they were showing the standard 4x3 movies. By using masking the fixed size wide screens became adjustable. Unfortunately TV sets are fixed size and will probably stay that way.

Did Hollywood pick one wide screen aspect ratio and stick with it? Of course not. So now, our fixed aspect ratio television sets have to adapt to many aspect ratios. If the original aspect ratio of the film is maintained then black bars are best way to do it.

I'm not sure exactly when "Letterbox" started but it was big when Laser Disks became available. The transfer to Laser Disk, for wide screen movies, was done in 4x3 frames but only a portion of each frame was used. The black bars were included right there in the 4x3 frame. In that way they could create a "wide" image of any aspect ratio. It was an unfortunate trade-off because they were using only a portion of each 4x3 frame. Image information was lost.

As wide screen and HD TVs became a possibility, Letterbox just wasn't good enough. It's hard to find more recent wide screen movies that haven't been "Enhanced for widescreen TVs" -- sometimes referred to as "Anamorphic Widescreen" -- link. You will find statements like these on DVD boxes. Short of HD DVD this type of DVD can look pretty good.

Some older movies that have received extensive restoration have also been enhanced for wide screen TV. The older wide screen movies that have not been "enhanced" may be described on the DVD box as "Widescreen version: Presented in a 'letterbox' Widescreen format preserving the aspect ratio of it's original theatrical exhibition."

The Letterbox movies that I have seen tend to have poor PQ because of the methods used and the fact that Hollywood made no effort to preserve their master copies. In many cases it was necessary to search for copies of a film in private collections and then patch together the best pieces.

The last type of DVD that I'm familiar with is the original 4x3 movie. Their DVD boxes will have statements like "1.37:1 Academy Ratio" and "Standard Version: Presented in a format preserving the aspect ratio of the original theatrical exhibition." The number 1.33 is just 4 divided by 3 and is expressing the aspect ratio of a film as 1.33:1 or 1.33 units wide for each 1 unit high. Silent movies were shot at 1.33:1 but when sound was introduce part to the frame had to be used for the sound track which resulted in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio. Kelpie brough this to my attention today (03/02/2007).

See Wikipedia for more historical information.

Some movies have been "treated" to fill a 4x3 screen and are labeled as "Full Screen", "Pan and Scan" or something similar. I avoid them.


Sample Setup for a Samsung HLP TV and a Component connection to a DVD player.

With a properly configured DVD player connected to a Samsung HLP (2004) set through component you should have these choices if you use the P. Size (Picture Size) button on the Samsung remote.


Wide: for Anamorphic Enhanced Widescreen movies. There will be black bars top and bottom for all films with an aspect ratio greater than 1.85:1.

Panorama: for those who want to force a 4x3 image to fill a 16x9 screen. The image will be stretched more toward the sides than in the middle. Objects on the sides of the image will be fatter than they would be if they were in the center of the image.

Zoom 1: for older Letterbox wide screen films. The image is "magnified" and equal amount in all four directions until it reaches the left and right sides of the screen. There will be black bars on the top and bottom of the screen because if the "letterboxed" films were created wider than the 16x9 screens.

Zoom 2: it does the same thing as Zoom 1 only it doesn't stop until the entire screen is used to display the image. The ends of an image will be cut off using Zoom2.

4x3: for old films made before wide screen took over. There will be black bars on each side so that the image has a ratio of 4 units wide for each unit high.

Sample Setup for a Samsung HLP TV and a HDMI or DVI connection to a DVD player.

Set the up-scaling DVD player to output either 480p or 720p and pick your own favorite setting.

Wide (TV): use for all Anamorphic Enhanced Widescreen movies. There will be black bars top and bottom for all films with an aspect ratio greater than 1.85:1. There will be some extra overscan.

Wide (PC): don't use this option for anything except personal computer desk top work. There will be enough under scan to make a windows desk top visible.

Expand: provides 1x1 bit mapping and none of the extra "electronic" overscan used in "Wide (TV)". Movies wider than 1.85:1 have black bars top and bottom. SD TV or movies with a 4x3 aspect ratio have black bars on each side of the image.

4x3: it's the same as above for old 4x3 films with black side bars.

If you don't know the aspect ratio or transfer type of the film you want to watch check it out at the Internet Movie Database or at Netflix .

Examples of Film Aspect Ratos:


Some films have been issued on DVD more that once. Some have been issued in Letterbox and then again in Widescreen Anamorphic. When ever I have a choice I get the Widescreen Anamorphic version.

An aspect ratio of 1:78:1 is exactly the size of 16x9 wide screen TV sets (16 / 9 = 1.77. There should be no black bars.

An aspect ratio of 1:85:1 is slightly wider than 16x9 wide screen TV sets. There may be very thin black bars top and bottom. The over scan in some TV sets will make these black bars impossible to see.

An aspect ratio greater than 1:85 will have black bars top and bottom. As the films aspect ratio gets larger (wider) the black bars top and bottom also get larger.

An aspect ratio less that 1.78, which in almost all cases will be 1.37:1 (~4x3), will have wide black bars on each side of the image.

Letterboxed Examples:

Ben-Hur (1959); (Provided by Trent)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052618/dvd
2.76:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Released 13 March 2001
Results: Top/Bottom largest black bars.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/dvd
2.20:1 Letterbox
Released 25 August 1998
Box Notes: Widescreen version: Presented in a "letterbox" widescreen format preserving the "scope" aspect ratio of it's original theatrical exhibition.
Results: Top/Bottom black bars.

King and I, The (1956)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049408/dvd
2.55:1 Letterbox
Released 27 April 1999
Box Notes: Widescreen version: Presented in a "letterbox" widescreen format preserving the aspect ratio of the original theatrical exhibition.
Results: Top/Bottom black bars.

Anamorphic Widescreen Examples:

North by Northwest (1959)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/dvd
1.78 :1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Released 29 August 2000
Box Notes: Widescreen version: Presented in a "matted" widescreen format preserving the aspect ratio of the original theatrical exhibition. Enhanced for widescreen TVs.
Results: No black bars.

Birds, The (1963)
Collector's Edition
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/dvd
1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Released 28 March 2000
Box Notes: No aspect ratio comments on the box, but 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen listed.
Results: Thin black bars but overscan should hide them.

Music Man, The (1962)
Special Edition
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056262/dvd
2.20:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Released 23 February 1999
Box Notes: Widescreen version: Presented in a "letterbox" widescreen format preserving the aspect ratio of the original theatrical exhibition. Enhanced for widescreen TVs.
Results: Top/Bottom black bars.

Academy Ratio (Standard Version) Examples:

American in Paris, An
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043278/dvd
1.37:1 Academy Ratio
Released 2 May 2000
Box Notes: Standard Version: Presented in a format preserving the aspect ratio of the original theatrical exhibition.
Results: Wide black bars right and left sides.

Links To Other Black Bar Information:

Confused about 2.35:1?

Why Don't the Black Bars Go Away?

Widescreen TVs do NOT get rid of black bars totally.

All About Aspect Ratios

The Ultimate Guide to Anamorphic Widescreen DVD

More links to inforation about aspect ratio and movies.

Understanding aspect ratios for video exhibtion...

Are there any strange aspect ratios out there that you have run into? The Internet Movie Database is a good place to get that kind of information for any film that may interest you.

Do a search for the movie you are interested in and then under "Other Info" click on "DVD details".

Thanks.

Good luck testing. I don't want to wear out my welcome or I would go back again for more tests.

If you are "personally" cooking a turkey then Thanksgiving Eve is the perfect time.

DrDeville, thanks I needed that!

Thanks weebling1. How about Michael Todd's "Around The World In 80 Days"? Wasn't that done in something called Todd-AO?

Thanks Marc. I should have pointed that out too. My wife has actually sent in a couple of corrections relating to other types of information.

I've just been trying to find any other sources for detailed information about films. So far I haven't had much luck.

Anyone know of a detail oriented film history site?

Those years (when TV became the big new thing) were the fifties. The very big movie houses were built in the thirties. I think that any increase in 4x3 screen size would have gone along with the big theater boom of the thirties.

This is where a good history of the movies would come in handy.

I don't think in 65 years (allowing five years for minimum growth ) that I've ever seen a 4x3 screen that stretched floor to ceiling.

The purposes of this thread is to help in getting as close as possible to the original aspect ratio of theatrical presentation of any film or other material on DVD. Of course, the best we can do is display the DVD aspect ratio image without unnecessary distortion.

I wouldn't expect the "blockbuster" films to ever come back to a "narrow" 16x9 ratio.

If you know a film was transfered as "Anamorphic" then the correct aspect mode for a Sony GWIII LCD RPTV is "Full". In the same situation a Samsung HLN RPTV should have it's aspect mode set to "Wide" or "Wide (TV) depending on the input you are using. "Letterbox" would be set to "Zoom" on either one, and an old "4x3 Academy Ratio" film would be set to "Normal" on a Samsung.

Well, if you've got that worked out then maybe you could explain some of the bond market behavior that has me confused.

"Pretty Woman" is not "Enhanced for Widescreen". It is Letterbox which requires a different setup. Check the first message for an explanation and example setup for Letterbox films.

For information about films check The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) -- notice the Aspect Ratio box for "Pretty Woman".


If you scroll down you will see that the only Anamophic Widescreen releases of "Pretty Woman" are PAL which is the standard for Europe. The only way you have to view the Letterbox "Pretty Woman" correctly is via component 1 and Zoom.

The other alternative is to get a different DVI enabled DVD player. Needing two (DVI & Component 1) connections to view all types of DVD transfers is a design failure in the HD-931. Samsung "should" change that in the next HD-931 model.

The HD-931 has another problem to consider too.

Click here for Color Space information.

Pearl Harbor is Anamorphic Widescreen and has a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The correct Aspect Mode on the HLN507 would be "Wide". There should be black bars top and bottom but people should not look streached.

Something else must be wrong. The first candidate would be your DVD player. It should have a setup choice to tell it the type of display you are using. There will either be a menu item or maybe a switch on the front or back to select either 4x3 or 16x9. It should be set to match the aspect ratio of your HLN507 which is 16x9.

After you get your DVDs displayed correctly you might want to try your DVD player with progressive mode off. Many times your Samsung's Faroudja chip will give you better picture quality than the DVD player. To do that you have to be connected to component 1.

To know which transfer type is which can be confusing. The "black bar" thead also has other links (at the bottom of the first message) you can explore which might make it clearer than I did.

Once you get your setup producing the right image it may be easier to understand.

I started when test patterns were a big thing.