Aspect Ratios - The Director's Vision

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by BRICKARD

Why is it that many/most Blu-Ray DVDs are letterboxed, but when the movie is shown on network/cable TV, it fills up the screen beautifully in HD and (seemingly) without sacrificing any of the lateral picture?

Originally Posted by Dotpattern

Because for broadcast (in most cases) they zoom in on the image to fill the screen top and bottom, but the left and right are cropped out.

This is what they've been doing for decades now. Read the very first post in this thread.

Keep in mind with Super35 it's possible to show additional picture information without cropping the sides.

THAT said, the information was never intended by the director to be part of the picture's composition. Compare the Super35 The World's Fastest Indian, it was opened up for the BD but shown at the theatrical 2.35 on HDNet. The composition of the picture is much better in 2.35, particularly since he likes showing the motorcycle racing from the side so it fills the 2.35 frame completely. The opened up version only adds empty space.

So what's better? Black bars or useless information?

NITPICK ALERT! They aren't "Blu-ray DVDs". A lot of people say it, even some publications, but the format's name is Blu-ray Disc or BD for short. The disc structure itself actually has more in common with CD! Of course we know it's completely incompatible with DVD players, just as DVD is with CD players.