What is widescreen?
Widescreen is the characteristic ?rectangular? image favoured by film presentations since the 1950?s. There are several aspect ratios but the most common are expressed as, in order of width, WS 1.66:1, WS 1.78:1 (also referred to as 16:9), WS 1.85:1 and WS 2.35:1.Each of these denote the width to height ratio of the particular widescreen presentation; i.e. 1.85:1 illustrates the frame is 1.85 times wider than it is tall.On a standard television, a widescreen image will be characterised by the black bars visible at the top and bottom of the screen. How thick these bars are will depend on the aspect ratio of the widescreen presentation; the wider the image frame, the thicker the black bars.
Widescreen is the characteristic ‘rectangular’ image favoured by in most film presentations. There are several aspect ratios that may be called ‘widescreen’ but the most common are (in order of increasing width) 1.66:1, 1.78:1 (also referred to as 16:9), 1.85:1 and 2.35:1. If a widescreen image is viewed in on a standard television, the screen will be taller than the image and black bars visible at the top and bottom. The thickness of these bars will depend on the aspect ratio of the widescreen presentation: the wider the aspect ration, the thicker the black bars.
A good number of people are under the impression that the WIDESCREEN format is merely designed to create an illusion of the cinematic experience enabled by the placement of black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Viewers will find themselves with a significantly smaller presentation of the film, giving the impression that the black bars on the screen cover up the top and bottom portions of the original image, therefore cheating the viewer for the sake of a cinematic presentation.
Digital television will be broadcast in widescreen mode. Widescreen television has a different aspect ratio (ratio of width to height) than traditional analog. The aspect ratio of a widescreen is 16:9, while Australian viewers have been accustomed to viewing a 4:3 aspect ratio since television began in this country. Widescreen will, in many cases, literally mean you see more of the picture. Most movies are currently made in 16:9 and are converted to 4:3 to allow us to watch them on television or video, so there is a lot of information that you don’t see on your television that you would see in the cinema version of the film. Live sporting events will benefit in particular from the extra detail and wider frame. For some time now television production has been converting to widescreen, both locally and overseas.
Digital television is broadcast in a native widescreen mode. Widescreen television has a different aspect ratio (ratio of width to height) than traditional analogue television. The aspect ratio of a widescreen is 16:9, while Australian viewers have been accustomed to viewing a 4:3 aspect ratio since television began in this country. Widescreen will, in many cases, literally mean you see more of the picture. Most movies are currently made in 16:9 and are converted to 4:3 to allow us to watch them on television or video, so there is a lot of information that you don’t see on your television that you would see in the cinema version of the film. Live sporting events will benefit in particular from the extra detail and wider frame. For some time now television production has been converting to widescreen, with the majority of local television programming now being made in widescreen while increasing amounts of overseas programming shown in Australia is also being made available in a widescr
