‘Black bars’ irk many TV viewers

November 6, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Q. I have multiple extra pay channels for movies that are almost always shown full screen on my 16:9 TV, even though they were filmed in the wider 2:35 aspect ratio. This leads to the image being cropped and I feel cheated because we cannot see everything that was originally released to theaters. Some of our friends cannot tolerate watching a movie when it has the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. I have not been successful in explaining to them that they are not seeing the entire image from the movie. They simply don’t care.

Why do pay services not broadcast in the original aspect ratio, and is there any hope in getting them to do so?

R.R., Minneapolis

A. You hit the nail on the head when you said, “Some of our friends cannot tolerate watching a movie when it has the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen.” Sadly this is the majority of the public, and broadcasters are accommodating them. I still get emails stating, “I hated black bar movies on my old TV, which was not widescreen. Now I have widescreen and the bars are back! I can’t escape them!” This usually happens when they play Blu-ray movies, which almost always are recorded in the original aspect ratio to please purists like you.

This is unlikely to change until the majority of the public changes its mind and demands movies be broadcast as originally recorded. I can tell you based on almost 10 years of public interaction writing this column that things are unlikely to swing in your direction. You may want to consider renting Blu-ray copies of your favorite films to see them as they were originally filmed. You will get a better picture and sound as well.

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Contact Don Lindich at www.soundadviceblog.com and use the “submit question” link on that site. ) 2011, McClatchy-Tribune News Service

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