# Difference between 16:9 and Widescreen



## MaxPower (Jan 30, 2003)

My Brother in Law asked me the other day what the difference was between a 16:9 aspect ratio TV and a Widescreen TV.

Had me stumped. I thought they were esentially the same. Is there a difference?

So I now turn over this question to the esteemed ehMac community in hopes of shedding some light on this question.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

16:9 is a specific ratio while Widescreen in general use can cover other formats that are beyond 4:3. but may not be exactly 16:9
This covers it nicely

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/special/caveat_emptor.htm


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## Guido (Aug 11, 2003)

Widescreen in a generic term. You can say anything that is letterboxed is wide screen. If you watch shows like ER, West Wing, and some others they are broadcasted in "Widescreen" which is 16 : 9 in that case. When you go to a theater you are watching in either 2 : 35 or 1 : 85. Regualar TV is usually called 4 : 3 in the biz (no black bars at the top and bottom).

This link might help explain

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/aspectratios/widescreenorama.html


To get these aspect ratios we use we use special lenes that shoots in Animorphic. But this is a wole other topic.


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## Kosh (May 27, 2002)

The one thing I've learned is that widescreen DOESN'T mean High Definition. I'd like to kill those people who decided to broadcast West Wing in "Widescreen" rather than High Definition on a High Definition channel. I have to stretch the picture to fit the screen. It would look so much better in HD.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

It needs to be recorded in HiDef to get the quality ( not a lot are yet) OR needs to be originally filmed in 35mm and then converted to hiDef.
I'm surprised you need to anything other than "full" on a HiDef channel or your Toshiba - besides I thought it has 1080i extrapolation for standard broadcasts








That was one thing I wanted on mine.


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## Kosh (May 27, 2002)

> I'm surprised you need to anything other than "full" on a HiDef channel or your Toshiba - besides I thought it has 1080i extrapolation for standard broadcasts


I was surprised too. But there is obviously about 3 or 4 different formats that are being broadcast on the high-def channels. There's full high def, I don't have to do anything. There's widescreen, with a border all around the picture, so I have to stretch the picture. There's 2 formats with borders on the right and left - one format seems to have smaller borders then the other - so I have to stretch the screen (this is similar to the regular 4:3 channels). Normally, during prime time, the channels are in pure high-def. West Wing seems to switch every so often between widescreen and high-def, last week it was is widescreen, this week it was in high-def.

Now as for 1080i extrapolation, I believe that's what I'm talking about, except that the TV doesn't do it automatically, you have to switch between the 4 picture sizes which are: 

0:Natural - the picture is displayed in its originally formatted proportion - that's high-def
1:Theatre Wide 1 - stretches the picture non-uniformly
2:Theatre Wide 2 - stretches the picture uniformly
3:Theatre Wide 3 - stretches the picture non-uniformly

1 and 3 are close, but do it a different way.


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## Guido (Aug 11, 2003)

> OR needs to be originally filmed in 35mm and then converted to hiDef.


You can even shoot Super 16mm and transfer HD. You can also upconvert to HD from any format. I have upconverted MiniDV to HD as a test. Trust me it doesn't look all that great. There are many misconceptions about HD, that I need to correct people on. The biggest one is that it's a huge cost saving over shooting on film. WRONG!!!!!!!! But that's a different posting for another day.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

I think the term is "garbage in garbage out"  
If the information is not there in the first place it's not going to improve.
HD suites are tres $$$$


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## Guido (Aug 11, 2003)

I did quote a client once for a online FCP HD system for something around 75 to 80 grand about a year and a half ago. Still better than an Avid Symphony at about 4-6 hundred grand. Of course this doesn't include the HD deck....Just add about another 120 grand  

And Super 16mm to HD look great! If lite properly of course. This is what Queer as Folk does. They broadcast in both Standard def and HD on Showtime in the USA.


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