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If you have a modern wide-screen TV, what do you set it to when watching old films?I'll be brutally honest - I can't stand the gray side bars, so I always stretch... guilty...
When I had my older 4:3 projector that was not an issue, and on that large 100" screen old B&W films looked marvelous, but since then all my screens are wide, so each time I sigh and then stretch.
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Just like the movie theaters of my childhood. Then I'd add a Voice of the Theater single loudspeaker and I'd be all set. Oh, and fresh popped corn in a bag of course.
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nt
My wife wasn't crazy about it.
sz
I love the old black and white movies... I've got a huge collection of favorites that I watch on a dedicated system with a 4:3 screen ratio in glorious mono. The screen is IF calibrated to D5500 (I think, can't remember exactly) which gives it a true silver screen look.
It's 5400K, the original NTSC standard. My "Warm" setting is thus calibrated and my "Neutral" is set at 6500K so I can switch back and forth as need be.The nonemclature is counter-intuitive but the results are spectacular. I suppose you have the most recent DVD (two disc set) of "Casablanca, which is simply stunning.
Funny you brought up Casablanca... I was going to mention it in my original post. I'm a huge fan of Bogart. Of course I've got the new Casablanca set, as well as The Big Sleep, Treasure of the Sierra Madre and most of Bogie's other movies, especially my favorite, The Maltese Falcon. Likewise all things Cagney. Great stuff!
I AlWAYS watch laserdiscs and DVDs in their original film correct aspect ratio (I know, not eactly attainable with 2.35 and 1.85 films on a 1.78 wide screen display but you know what I mean). I HATE the one stretch mode on my (ISF calibrated) SONY 51" RPTV. For 4.3 films on LD and DVD I use the "Normal" mode, for non-anamorphic wide screen films I use the "Zoom" mode, and for anamorphic wide sreen films I use the "Full" mode. The only tme I cheat is during a cable pan and scan broadcast of a film originally shot in wide screen. There I use the "Zoom" mode, preferring the cut off heads to the "I've got blinders on" effect of pan and scan.
Sometimes I stretch, but usually I don't. The black bars don't really bother me, and in the dark they tend to be minimized.
Jack
I have a 32" wide screen LCD and I watch in the 4:3 format. The bars don't bother me after a few minutes and I find the stretched proportions annoying on some material. A lot depends on whether there are strong geometric shapes like squares and circles in the picture which show up the stretch quite noticeably. If there aren't any such shapes and most of the actors are on the thin side, the stretch may not be all that noticeable a lot of the time but it usually gets to me at some stage. I automatically switch to the 4:3 proportions if I know the film is in that format or immediately I notice a problem.I have to admit, though, that there are those who think I'm anal on a lot of things and they may well believe that of me on this matter. There is a chance that they are right :-)
David Aiken
I usually like to use the round shapes to set the mode, like I said, I try to get the lowest distortions while retaining the largest portion of the screen. Every TV calls the stretch modes differently, but on my Pioneer plasma there are a couple of usable ones.Some people say your eyes get used to the bars, but I also feel your eyes learn to ignore the stretch, as long as it is not too intrusive.
My current display is a small 34" direct view CRT.I don't mind the bars that much - I don't LIKE them...but I tend to forget about them after a couple minutes of viewing. I hate my stretch modes. Just can't do them.
For normal TV viewing and 4:3 films in English I often use the 14:9 expand, which shaves a bit off the top and bottom but not much. This may or may not work with subtitles - just depends where they are placed in the frame.
For widescreen subtitles I love to use the "subtitle" feature on my TV where I can move them and the frame up or down. I have a Panny RP91 so I can scale 4:3 DVDs to OAR.
There is no perfect solution so you just gotta select what you can live with.
I have both the 57” 16:9 CRT RP HDTV and the 42” Plasma HDTV. Both of them have the automatic display format (scaling) of which I find to be very handy especially when watching old 4:3 movies and or watching normal TV programming as it saves me a lot of time of peddling around for the right display format. Although I sometimes override it of course, this is entirely depending on the movie format that I am watching however, 90% of the time I just leave it the way it is as it gives me the best aspect ratio balance overall.Here is the format (scaling) that I can choose from my TV
1. Automatic (I use this setting 90% of the time)
2. Super Zoom (Excellent for the new release with super anamorphic format movies)
3. 4:3
4. Movie Expand 14:9
5. Movie Expand 16:9
6. 16:9 Subtitle (Excellent for foreign movies)
7. Wide ScreenAnother option is you can always use an external scaler.
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I sometimes (TV mainly) crop top and bottom to fit sideways. I am watching CNBC now and have to struggle to catch the stuff across the top but the picture is so much bigger.
I HATE to stretch as everyone looks like they are in one of those house of mirror places and those skeletal actresses all look like Ricki Lake.
Well, there are different stretches, and I always freeze a frame and then try several modes to see which one gives me the least distorted picture. Sometimes I sacrifice small portion of top and bottom, OK if there are no subtitles.Bottom line is there is no perfect solution, so I was wondering which poison people choose.
On a front projector I would not stretch, as the screen is big enough.
nt
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