[OT] Why do so few people understand aspect ratios?

[Eric Battersby]

On Wed, 26 May 2010, Thomas Milne wrote:

> I don't know if anyone on here does any video encoding, but can anyone
> tell me why it is that so many people insist on adding the black bars
> to their videos? It's amazing how many people I run into who cannot
> seem to grasp the difference between 4:3, 16:9 and panoramic. They
> think if a movie is widescreen, ie. 16:9, they need to add the black
> bars to 'pad' the video...why?
>
> Are their TV's wrong? Their computer displays? I've had all kinds of
> TV's, old CRT and flat screen, I've never, ever, needed to mess with
> video to make it display properly. Ever.


I can think of two reasons.
(1) Someone wants to merge two videos together, where each
    video is in a different aspect ratio.

(2) The encoding is being made for the lowest common
    denominator 4:3 output display.

    Some simple 4:3 output displays do not understand
    aspect ratios.  They will always display fullscreen by:
    (a) zooming the image until the vertical is maximized and
	thus cropping the sides.
    (b) stretching the image horizontally and vertically until
	there are no bars.

--
Eric B.
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