Wide Screen (wide screen)

As you can see, (almost) all of the projector fixed resolutions are in a 4:3 ratio format (horizontal:vertical). That is, the projector's internal panel, onto which the incoming image must be mapped, is a bit wider (by 1.33 times) than it is high. This is the industry standard for most portable home-theater projectors.

True "Home Theater" signals mimic the shape of a movie theater screen rather than a standard TV. That is, the ratio of width to height is much more exaggerated, in a ratio of 16:9 (1.78 times wider than high) rather than 4:3 (1.33). When used to describe a TV, widescreen generally refers to a 16:9 format. Wide Screen image with an aspect ratio greater than 1.33:1 or a picture wider and narrower than a standard television image.

For example, high-definition television (HDTV) comes in two different formats, both of which are in a 16:9 ratio: 720p (720 lines of resolution in "Progressive" scan format) and 1080i (1080 lines in "Interlaced" format).

It is important to understand is that the image recorded on to a DVD is actually distorted. You have to "tell" your DVD player what aspect ratio display device you're using to watch the movie correctly. If you tell your DVD player that you're using a widescreen television, when in fact you're using a 4:3 television.

Anamorphic DVDs provide no additional benefits unless you have a widescreen television to take advantage of the higher vertical resolution. If you do have a widescreen television, then the DVD player will output the distorted image to your television/monitor. It is then that the monitor/television electronically stretches the image horizontally into its intended correct aspect ratio of 16:9. If your television has settings for different aspect ratios, the television will have to be set to 16:9 to watch the DVD properly.

There are also two different broadcast standards for television (16:9 format HDTV and 4:3 format NTSC) in the United States. DVD media also comes in both widescreen and standard output options. Therefore, there isn't one obvious native resolution solution.

2.35 Widescreen:

Current flat-screen TV tech favors the 16:9 (or 1.78:1) dimension ratio, but many movies are shot in Cinemascope 2.35:1, around 32% wider. That's why you still see letterboxing on your HDTV, or the frames are cropped to fit. High-end home theater projectors already cater for Cinemascope dimensions by using anamorphic lenses and some fancy processing to correct the image.

The idea is to install a screen with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, or 2.35 units wide for every one unit of height. The big advantage is that you can see movies that are made in this format full frame, without any black bars above or below the picture. The most popular of the alternative formats is 2.35:1 since many motion pictures are filmed in this aspect ratio. The common anamorphic widescreen film format in use today is commonly called Scope or 2.35:1. This format is essentially the same as at the time of CinemaScope, except for minor technical developments.

Howover all of the wide screen videos are not in their full aspect ratio. There are examples of some movies which were shot in 2.35:1 ratio (CinemaScope or PanaVision) but were transferred in 2:1 or less. In fact, if you watch the first five of the wide screen "Star Trek" movies - one right after the other - you will find that almost no two are the same ratio, even though they were all filmed in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.