What does “Letterboxing” and “Pan and Scan” mean?
To accommodate the 4:3 aspect ratio, many programs and movies utilize a “pan and scan” technique that diminishes the integrity of the film and fails to preserve the original wide screen composition of the picture. “Letterboxing” returns the full picture to the screen and preserves the aspect ratio of the original production, preventing parts of the image from being cropped. Television programs and movies filmed in wide screen will utilize letterboxing in order to keep the full integrity of the image when shown in a 4:3 aspect ratio. There are a significant amount of wide screen movies available on DVD that display in letterbox only, especially earlier movies filmed in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Viewing letterboxed movies on a wide screen set may not eliminate the black bars entirely, but does reduce them while providing a larger, clearer picture in its entirety.
