Subject:  My Picture Has Black Bars, Is Stretched, Distorted, Or Too Large For The Screen (Aspect Ratio Adjustments)

An Explanation Of Aspect Ratios And Why Aspect Ratios Cause Bars Or Distortion On Widescreen TVs.

Aspect ratio is the ratio of the width of an image to its height.

For example, pictures displayed in the 16:9 aspect ratio are 16 inches wide for every 9 inches they are tall.

Television sets are available in two major aspect ratios:

• 16:9, also known as Widescreen.
• 4:3, also known as Standard Definition, Normal, or Full Screen.

TV broadcasts and movies come in a variety of aspect ratios. Here are the most common:

• 16:9 (Examples: HD broadcasts and some movies)
• 4:3 (Examples: Standard definition programming and full screen movies)
• 1.85 Academy Flat (Examples: Many widescreen, DVD, and Blu-ray movies)
• 2.35:1 Scope (Examples: Many widescreen and Blu-ray movies)

The Consequences Of Multiple Aspect Ratios

Because there are two television aspect ratios and four major types of broadcast and movie aspect ratios, the picture on your TV can appear in one of the three states below depending on your TV type and the signal the TV is receiving:

• The image is stretched horizontally. (People look stretched out so they are short and fat)
• There are bars (usually black or gray) on the sides of the image or on the top and bottom, but no distortion of the picture.
• There is no distortion or bars. Everything appears as it should.

Illustrations of the 16:9 and 4:3 Aspect Ratios

To help you understand how your wide screen TV displays a 16:9 picture, we’ve included an example of a 16:9 picture and a 4:3 picture below.

On a widescreen TV (16:9 aspect ratio), the 16:9 picture covers the entire screen and displays with no distortion.

Resolving Problems Caused by Aspect Ratio.

Below is a list of common problems caused by the mismatch of aspect ratios and TV screen sizes.

Click the description of each problem to see a visual example of the problem and an explanation of how to resolve it.