MovieChat Forums > American Dad! (2005) Discussion > Aspect Ratio Question

Aspect Ratio Question

posted 8 years ago by Electrical1
3 replies | jump to latest

For the older The Golden Turd segments featured in the episodes back when the show was broadcasted in 4:3/1.33:1, on a 16:9 display could you zoom in on them to fill the screen and achieve a 2.35:1 scope aspect ratio without cropping or distorting the image?

Because after all the older The Golden Turd segments are intended to provide a letterbox effect to make them appear more cinematic on a 4:3 TV with black bars on the top and bottom.

Without zooming, watching these segments on a 16:9 TV simply appears windowboxed with black bars on all 4 sides of the screen.

[–] Final_Hitokiri 8 years ago

Seems possible, but I don't think it would work the way that you think it would.

The format of the entire image is still in that 4:3 ratio, so even though the "Golden Turd" portion is shrunk to be in 16:9, by zooming in you'd really only be cropping off the top and the bottom portions; but the horizontal would still be skewed as it wasn't stretched for the full screen.

Some TVs do give you an option to play around with these formats, but I don't know if it would work with streaming; perhaps on DVD?

[–] Electrical1 8 years ago

So you're saying the aspect ratio controlling of the older "Golden Turd" portions work in a different way compared to 2.35:1 scope movies presented on non-anamorphic Laserdiscs/early DVDs where if you zoom in correctly on a 16:9 display, you can accurately fill the screen while also keeping the proportions in tact with no cropping?

Because as I understood it: non-anamorphic for a movie in 1.85:1, 2.35:1 etc is also a letterbox image within a 4:3 ratio, hence why they were designed and intended to be watched on actual 4:3 TVs.

It just seemed that the Golden Turd portions were just that: a letterbox image inside a 4:3 ratio.

I guess it depends on where and how your watching the streaming, but yes DVD is a given.

[–] Final_Hitokiri 8 years ago

It just seemed that the Golden Turd portions were just that: a letterbox image inside a 4:3 ratio.

It's quite possible that you could stretch it, but the issue being that even though it holds the 16:9 format; it is still contained within that 4:3 ratio.

Your TV may or may not let the length of the image exceed beyond that 4:3 aspect to give you a bigger 16:9 image:
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