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Very Wide Films
Many films are made with aspect ratios even wider
than 1.85:1, such as 2.35:1. Even on a widescreen
(1.78:1) video display these films would be distorted
if they were simply allowed to fill the screen.
Instead thin black bars are added to the top and
bottom of the image on the disc itself when the
transfer from film to video is made.
On a widescreen display these will properly be
shown as thin black bars. This is perfectly normal
and there is no distortion of the image. On a
standard display, additional black bars will be added
by the DVD player (or much less commonly by the
display itself). The end result will be thick black
bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Again this
is perfectly normal.
Pan and Scan Discs
Sometimes when a widescreen film is transferred to
DVD, only the center portion is scanned. This
process is called “pan and scan” and changes the
aspect ratio to 1.33:1, allowing for viewing on
standard displays without the use of black bars.
However this not only changes the film director’s
original visual composition, but can even lead to
critical elements being left out of the picture
entirely.
These discs are often euphemistically called
“fullscreen”. Most film enthusiasts prefer to watch
the film’s original aspect ratio and therefore avoid
these discs. As far as compatibility with either
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