Projected screen size

[david park]

Hi,
I'm new and about to purchase a projector but my question is regarding size/ratio of my screen.

I see the projector specify 4x3 and 16x9 ratios, the same as Tv sets. But DVD's say all manor of different ratios.

Nothing
4x3
Widescreen
16x9
cinemascope
2.35:1
1.77:1
Full frame

etc.

Do they all come out 16X9 ?

Or will I sometimes get black bands at top and bottom, as sometimes happens on Tv ?

I think the later could well be the case, in which case what is the widest ratio that is used ?

 

[mikeq]

16:9 = 1.78:1

so a 1.78:1 movie will fill the screen exactly.

1.85:1 and 2.35:1 (2 other common formats) will show black bands top and bottom (2.35:1 have large black bands as the width is bigger)

4:3 = 1.33:1 will show black bands at the side and top/bottom (at least it does on my projector)

Many projectors/TVs have zoom modes that allow you to get rid of the bands, but IMO are detremental to the image quality and I prefer to watch the movies as intended.

Mike

 

[Zone]

Ben Hur is 2:76:1

 

[david park]

Thanks, life is complecated.

I seem to recall when Ben Hur was first released in the cinema it was on 70mm and the ratio then was different to other 70mm prints which were then called Todd-AO, can't remember what procees Ben Hur was called.

The early 35mm magnetic sound Cinemascope was 1:2.75, later alltered to 1;2.65/1:2.5 when optical sound added because Rank cinemas would not equip all thier cinemas to magnetic 4 channel sound.

 

[RTFM]

Ben Hur was shot on 65mm negative film using a process known as Ultra Panavision 70 or MGM Camera 65.
This was a 24fps vertical 5 perforation system using a 1.25x anamorphic lens system with a max aspect ratio of 2.76:1

70mm anamorphic prints were indeed 2.76:1 and 35mm anamorphic prints were made by Technicolor with an aspect ratio of 2.5:1