Why is Letterbox preferred over Fullscreen?

Why choose letter box over full screen? Find out in this detailed analysis from Die Hard.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• film
• diehard
• video
• letterbox

[alaindiazaran]

but there are movies that are not fullscreen but neither widescreen it's like widescreen but in a larger size i don't know

[ratkins0687]

@alaindiazaran Well, unless it's in a 16:9 format, it is not widescreen. It may of had smaller black bars on the left and right. Some movies were not exactly 4:3, but were not distributed in a widescreen format.

[RoyKidman3]

What is the fucking point of Full Frame...its just annoying

[RdCrestdBreegull]

Actually a program does not have to be in widescreen to be HD. There are some 4:3 HD programs/movies.

[favouriteshirts]

Back in the late 80's I worked in a video store. I had all these (usually) senior citizens griping that there were black bars blocking out part of the picture! :p I just about gave up trying to explain letterbox.

Nowadays I have a 37" 1080p HD screen, don't know the exact science like some people, but it looks better than anything I had in the 70's-90's! Now I'm still not crazy about 2.35:1 WS like my "Planet of the Apes" box. I like 1.85, but never 1.33 unless it was filmed that way.

[ratkins0687]

@wallabyj Seeing as though my reply is now 2 years later, I'm sure information has been relayed over. 480p is not High Definition. in 480p you still have 720x480 lines of resolution, but by having the P, means every single line is scanned, as opposed to "i" where every other line is scanned. 480p and 480i are both standard definition, but 480p will give a slightly better picture. The size of the image is the same, which is why it is Standard Definition.

[encycl07pedia]

Letterbox vs. Widescreen on a wide screen:

Letterbox has black bars all around (4:3 canvas) if unstretched

Widescreen has little to no blackspace around it.

I wish Spaceballs' DVD makers had done true widescreen instead of crap letterbox. It looks bad on my WS computer.

[RdCrestdBreegull]

@ratkins0687 Sorry about the late reply. YES, the Wizard of Oz Blu-ray is definitely HD. HD simply means that the digital video source is at least 720 lines in vertical resolution (Wizard of Oz is 1080). The original source will either be film or video. If it's film, it just needs to be physically scanned at at least 720 horizontal lines. If it's video, it needs to be upscaled, which will usually not look all that great. The actual ratio of the source doesn't matter as far as HD goes.

[RMProdux2008]

You know what i find hilarious?? When people have 16:9 tvs and stretch shows that are 4:3 format to fit their screen and keep the stretch even with shows that are in 16:9!!! Theyre stretching shows and movies that are in 16:9 on their 16:9 tvs!! Instead of zooming in and not distorting the image, they stretch a 16:9 show as if was 4:3!

[entertainmentguy1984]

@kurtywurty85 to me there is no better way to watch a movie then in wide screen when it comes to your TV it's almost like your at the movies based on what your looking at I have a 24 inch wide screen tube and i love it i would like to get a 32 sometime in the coming years

[apache566]

4:3 is ok for standard tv shows and stuff, but for movies, it's better to be letterboxed.

Movies are directed to make use of wide aspect ratios, it's an important part of the storytelling.