TV Narrow Screen

[PaulSB]

I have an LG 42” LA66 TV. The screen aspect ratio is set to “original.” When watching films via Netflix or Amazon we always get the truly annoying narrow screen where above and below the image there is a black band and the image will not fill the whole screen.

I would expect a relatively modern smart TV to be able to deal with an HD film, it is an HD television.

Can anyone explain why this is and how to change it? I have tried different aspect ratios but nothing seems to help.

Thanks.

 

[Dave7]

No.....but it really annoys me.
You would think....modern TV...modern film.....problem sorted. I look forward to so helpful replies (unlike mine).

 

[sight-pin]

Annoying to say the least. Something to do with aspect ratio TV being 16:9 and some films etc being 2:35. Your'd have to use zoom to fit but would lose out on the sides of the picture.

Edit: Turning off HD in settings may work i once read somewhere.

 

[sight-pin]

4k Home cinema projector is an option

 

[ColinJ]

Films are usually made to a different aspect ratio to HD TVs, which are 16:9, so if they are displayed correctly then there will always be black bars, usually above and below the image. Old TV shows tend to be in 4:3 ratio so they will have the black bars either side instead.

There are only 3 ways to get rid of the bars and TVs do have the settings to allow it, even though doing so is an abomination! The content can be zoomed to fill the screen (but then parts of the original are lost off the edges of the TV), it can be exactly stretched or shrunk to fit (people then look either tall and skinny, or short and fat!), or worst of all a hybrid of the 2 where things look weirdly distorted.

The TV is not lopping off part of the picture. The director already decided what the camera would show and the TV is just being faithful to that.

The problem with the black bars is entirely in the mind of the viewer. Imagine a set with a perfect black level being watched in a dark room. The image would look exactly the shape it was supposed to and the bars would be invisible!

 

[ColinJ]

PS If you think I am being opinionated about this, watch Bridge Over The River Kwai in the original ratio and then again 'panned and scanned'. A pivotal scene towards the climax becomes a complete joke once messed with. Either the TV company has to play 'pan pong' with the image veering left and right wildly to keep up with the dialogue, or one or both of the characters shouting at each other are invisible beyond the edges of the set!

 

[stalagmike]

Home projector is the only way to mitigate this effect. You basically make the image so large that the black bars are thrown off the screen.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

If you think I am being opinionated about this, watch Bridge Over The River Kwai

It was The Bridge On the River Kwai.

(Awfully pedantic, I know.)

 

[midlife]

I think the original book was "over" ?

 

[MossCommuter]

Movies are made in various aspect ratios and actually the aspect ratio can change throughout the movie; see the brilliant Grand Budapest Hotel for an example. Next time you're at the pictures, watch the sides of the screen after the adverts finish; you might see the cinema systems setting up the AR of the movie (which is coded in the digital content package). The AR of your telly is fixed so movies are often edited for broadcast to one AR that fits 16:9 but that can end up losing lots. It's my preference to see the movie in the original AR where possible and live with the black edges.

 

[swee'pea99]

[QUOTE 5152882, member: 259"]No, it was "de la".[/QUOTE]
Top pedantry! Bravo!

 

[ColinJ]

To illustrate the issue, here is a scene from The Bridge ON the River Kwai:

A dramatic, wide image.

Here is what it would look like correctly displayed in letterbox format on a 16:9 set:

And here is a 'panned and scanned' version with the sense of space, an officer, and lots of other men lost:

I would prefer to stick with what the director intended!

 

[MontyVeda]

My DVD player annoys the chuff out of me... it thinks it's being clever when i stick my Sweeney DVD in and it stretches the image to fill my screen and everything, from Denis Waterman's chubby face to the wheels on the Ford Granada are stretched. The only way to rectify it is to put the disc into my PC which allows me to choose whatever aspect ratio I want.

DVD player - 0 : PC - 1

 

[captain nemo1701]

PS If you think I am being opinionated about this, watch Bridge Over The River Kwai in the original ratio and then again 'panned and scanned'. A pivotal scene towards the climax becomes a complete joke once messed with. Either the TV company has to play 'pan pong' with the image veering left and right wildly to keep up with the dialogue, or one or both of the characters shouting at each other are invisible beyond the edges of the set!

Lord, I loathe the old pan & scan!. You used to get the camera swinging between people talking, truly dreadful. Interestingly, with old TV shows in 4:3, they now do the opposite of letterboxing & 'pillarbox' the image with black bands at either side of the screen

 

[ColinJ]

If we are talking about annoying visual artefacts on TV broadcasts ... I am not bothered by those black lines, but D.O.Gs (Digital On-screen Graphics) really DO irritate me. I can easily check what channel I am on, and honestly, in a climactic scene of a drama I really do NOT want something to pop up over the picture to tell me what is coming up next! They can also cause permanent 'burn-in' on certain types of TV...

Picture by Mrschimpf at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50049475