Widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

televisions provide several modes for displaying video from 4:3 (standard

aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...

) sources. These modes may be selected manually from a remote control, or automatically if an

Active Format Description In television technology, Active Format Description (AFD) is a standard set of codes that can be sent in the MPEG video stream or in the baseband Serial digital interface, SDI video signal that carries information about their aspect ratio and oth ...

is available.

Normal mode

''Normal mode'' frames the 4:3 video to the 16:9 picture area by displaying it in its original aspect ratio, with vertical gray or black bars on both sides of the screen. The disadvantage of this method is the fact that the image is small by virtue of not using the entire width of the screen. This is also known as the ''4:3 mode''.

Full mode

''Full mode'' horizontally stretches the 4:3 video evenly across the entire width of the screen. This is the proper mode to display

anamorphic Anamorphic format is a cinematography technique that captures widescreen images using recording media with narrower native Aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios. Originally developed for 35 mm movie film, 35 mm film to create widescreen pres ...

video. If used for standard aspect ratio video, everything on the screen will appear wider than normal. Contrast this with anamorphic video displayed without processing on a 4:3 display, in which people on the screen will appear taller than normal. This is also known as the ''16:9 mode''.

Zoom mode

''Zoom mode'' evenly stretches the picture both horizontally and vertically, until the picture fills the entire width of the screen. This crops out the top and bottom of the picture. This mode is used for

letterboxed Letter-boxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting video-graphic image has mattes of empty space above and belo ...

and

open matte Open matte is a filming technique that involves matting out the top and bottom of the film frame in the movie projector (known as a ''soft matte'') for the widescreen theatrical release and then scanning the film without a matte (at Academy ...

video.

14:9 mode

In ''14:9 mode'', the picture is magnified more than in Normal mode, but less than in Zoom mode, while retaining the original aspect ratio.

Wide Zoom mode

''Wide Zoom mode'', also called ''Just mode'', ''Horizon'', or ''Smart Stretch'', progressively stretches the picture horizontally, less in the middle and more on the edges. This allows normal aspect ratio video to be displayed across the entire width of the screen, with minimal cropping, and with much less of the unpleasing visual stretching effect of ''Full mode''.

External links

http://www.cinemasource.com/articles/aspect_ratios.pdf Understanding Aspect Ratios
Film and video technology {{tv-tech-stub