Watching 4:3 programmes in 16:9

[Liam19]

I'm just curious as to how different people see the following subject.

With so many channels airing endless re-runs these days, there are many programmes still running that were shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio (Friends, The Simpsons and South Park jump to mind, though there are countless others of course).

My question is, when you watch Friends on E4 one evening, do you leave your TV set to '16:9' and watch the show stretched horizontally, or do you switch to '4:3' and put up with pillarboxes on the sides?

I'm all for avoiding any kind of distortion of the image, but in the particular case of Friends my tendency is to stick to 16:9 - for some reason, the image just doesn't really look as stretched to my eyes as it obviously has been. Most other shows just look stupid this way, but I find Friends to look perfectly acceptable.

Any thoughts?

 

[Messiah]

I definitely watch all these programmes in 16:9. I don't really notice the stretching to be honest but black bars down the sides would drive me insane!

 

[professorhat]

I generally let the TV decide - so if it was a 4:3 broadcast, it will display in 4:3, but if it's a 16:9 broadcast, it will display in 16:9 (as I remember, Friends for me comes up in 4:3 when I occasionally put it on to pass the time). Sometimes, the TV gets it wrong, but it's normally pretty easy to tell.

On the other hand, I watch very little broadcast TV, so maybe I'm not the best person to reply!

 

[Anonymous]

For me it depends on the programme too:

• Friends - I don't notice one way or the other
• The Simpsons - Homer's too fat in 16:9!
• The Wire - Something this good should be watched the way it was intended

 

[D.J.KRIME]

For me everything at it's correct aspect ratio as personally the black bars don't bother me any where near as much as a streached image does. At least all new episodes of the Simpsons are made in 16:9 and HD

 

[Anonymous]

I find that if you are connected using scart cables the tv will switch automatically but hdmi or component connections do not.

 

[professorhat]

Shouldn't be anything to do with the connection which decides the aspect ratio. My PS3 unit is connected via HDMI (I have a PlayTV unit) and it switches the aspect ratio just fine on this.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

A Sky+HD box does not AUTO switch via HDMI, the only way to get each channel presented in their native aspect ratio is if you select 1080i and set your TV to 1:1 pixel mapping otherwise all 4:3 content will be displayed at the aspect ratio as selected in your Sky box menu system which should be 16:9

 

[professorhat]

Ah, that would explain it. Thanks fella.

 

[Anonymous]

I really do not like to watch streched picture, people to thick, cars to stretched, sometimes mising top or bottom, awfull.

Also it can give a less sharp picture. (no 1to1 pixel rate but streching not enough information over a bigger pixel surface)

Why spend thousends on a good telly if the basic aspect ratio is not even correctly displayed....????

Who would care after that about correct colors, motion, brightness and everything else

 

[ear]

true..I also find myself watching the 4:3 tv rather than the 16.9 one..

 

[aliEnRIK]

I always watch everything as intended

I HATE stretched pictures

 

[Dave_]

No Stretch-O-Vision for me either!

 

[bigblue235]

I'd much rather have black bars than stretchyvision.

D.J.KRIME:A Sky+HD box does not AUTO switch via HDMI, the only way to get each channel presented in their native aspect ratio is if you select 1080i and set your TV to 1:1 pixel mapping otherwise all 4:3 content will be displayed at the aspect ratio as selected in your Sky box menu system which should be 16:9

I use the 'Auto' setting rather than 1080i, and this gives me 4:3 with 4:3 content. Isn't the aspect ratio section in the box menu just for Scart/RF outputs?

 

[fido87456]

Black bars every time for me. I can't stand stretched pictures, everyone looks like they've eaten extra doughnuts and been hit on the head by a shovel...

 

[Chisy1]

Hang on a second, so you're all telling me that tv characters just haven't got fatter as they've got older! Cos that's what seems to be happening to me!!

 

[aliEnRIK]

Chisy1:Hang on a second, so you're all telling me that tv characters just haven't got fatter as they've got older! Cos that's what seems to be happening to me!!

Thats a joke right?