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A Critical Home Theater Decision — 16:9 or 2.4?

Choosing the Right Aspect Ratio

What is aspect ratio, you ask? Aspect ratio is the ratio of the width of the screen to the height of the screen. Essentially, it describes the shape of the rectangle. Today the most popular aspect ratio for consumer video display is 16:9, which is the standard HDTV format. The numbers mean that the picture is 16 units wide for every 9 units in height.

Sometimes you will see the 16:9 aspect ratio referred to as 1.78:1, or simply 1.78. Why? Because 16 divided by 9 = 1.78. But it means the same thing. A 1.78 screen is 1.78 units in width for every unit of height.

If you are going to use a flatscreen HDTV for your home theater, you are stuck with the 16:9 format for better or for worse. Though they come in a wide variety of sizes, they are all 16:9 aspect ratio. But if you are planning to use a projector and screen, you have another option, which is 2.4:1, commonly known as the Cinemascope format. This is a wider format than standard 16:9. Many people prefer it because it matches the aspect ratio of a lot of movies being produced today.

Think about the black bars

Here is a simple fact of life: Videos and movies are made in a variety of different aspect ratios. There is no standard. So no matter what aspect ratio your screen is, you will always end up with black bars at the top and bottom of some material, and black pillars at the sides of other material. The only time you don’t get black bars is if you are viewing video or film shot in the format of the screen you are using–either a film done in 1.78 displayed on a 16:9 screen, or a movie shot in 2.4 on a 2.4 Cinemascope screen. In both of those cases, the screen frame will match the picture precisely, and no black bars will exist.

(By the way, we’re assuming you want to see the material you watch in its correct original aspect ratio, as the director created it. If you don’t, there are several ways to stretch, manipulate, or crop video images to get them to fill a 16:9 screen and eliminate the black bars.)

So in choosing between a screen aspect ratio of 1.78 vs. 2.4, you are really deciding how the various film and video formats will appear on your screen. For example, if you select a 16:9 screen, all of your 2.4 format movies will have black bars top and bottom. If you select a 2.4 screen, all of your 16:9 material will be “pillar-boxed” in the center of the screen with black columns on each side.

 

By Evan Powell

See Full Story on www.projectorcentral.com

XGA or WXGA

XGA or WXGAphoto credit:triplewidemedia.com

Wide resolution screens have made its way into becoming the preferred choice for monitor manufacturers. Most if not all current laptop and PC monitors are in wide format, commonly known as WXGA or 16:10. Some has even gone on to HD format, 16:9.

Similarly for large screen industry, we are seeing an increase number of WXGA format projectors but demand for the old XGA or 4:3 resolution projector is still strong despite the market shift, why?

To help users better understand the difference, the following comparison table should give a good idea on the pros and cons between the XGA and WXGA format projectors:

Performance XGA, 1024 x 768 pixels (4:3) WXGA, 1280 x 800 pixels (16:10)
Image quality If the image is generated from a WXGA format source, it will be ‘force down’ to fit as XGA format. Hence the projection will look elongated vertically and sharpness will be affected. Some projector may support 16:10 without distortion of the image, instead, the projector will block off a certain amount of pixels to make the image resolution match that of a 16:10 ratio. This method will actually deprive users on maximizing the pixel available on the projector and image quality will too be compromised. WXGA native resolution projectors will have an option to go down to XGA, hence a change of settings will help ‘sync’ the projector screen to match nicely with your older version PC/ laptop monitors.
Image Size Despite having fewer pixels than a WXGA format projector, it will have a larger image when projecting side-by-side with a WXGA projector on a screen with the same width. This is due to the advantage from the 4:3 ratio, giving more height to the entire image. Despite a larger screen size, its image sharpness will not be comparable to WXGA. Disadvantage of a wide format image is the wastage of projection space. Image size is confined to the limitation of its width. If there is insufficient width for projection, a WXGA image will look a lot smaller than that of a 4:3.
Cost Generally XGA projectors will cost $200 – $400 cheaper than a similar specification WXGA projector WXGA having more pixels uses a ‘larger’ chip hence a heftier price tag.

It really boils down to the individual requirements of each user to get the right resolution projector to better suit his/ her budget. The following points should help you look out for the right consideration when deciding between XGA or WXGA.

1. Type of image source

Are you buying the projector for purely presentation or playing video? Is your existing source (i.e. Laptop, DVD Player, Cable TV Setup Box) for 4:3 or 16:10/ 16:9?

2. Size of image

How big (width and Height) are you prepared to project up to?

3. Budget

How much are you willing to spend? (not forgetting cost incurred on installation)

Using The Right Aspect Ratio to Maximize Your Screen Size

projectorscreenYou have a 4:3 screen but you are considering a WXGA projector as it matches the resolution of your new Laptops. Without incurring additional cost of changing a 16:9 screen, how can you maximize your current screen?

By projecting onto the 4:3 screen with a 16:9 image, your top and bottom half of the screen area would be wasted. To make matter worst, if you get connected to a XGA Resolution Laptop, the projected image will be even smaller than your actual screen; it shows a smaller image than the 16:9 because the left and right extreme of the pixels are ‘blocked’ off to show only 1024×768 instead of 1280×800.

It is misleading that some projector catalogues are telling you that using a WXGA Projector will give you a larger screen, but you actually end up with a smaller one.

So what are your options?

If you still prefer the WXGA Resolution, you will need to change to a larger 16:9 screen to get a larger image. The area where you install the screen must have sufficient width to cater for the increase in screen size.

A more cost effective option is actually to keep to a XGA Projector. WHY?

Without having to change your existing 4:3 screen, using a native XGA Projector will maximize the screen surface. (Not forgetting that XGA projectors are also a couple hundred dollars cheaper than the WXGA ones)

What happens when you try to connect with a WXGA Resolution Laptop? You have 2 options:

  1. Fix the projector Aspect Ratio at 4:3 and the projector will compress the WXGA image to fit into a 4:3 image. This method might cause some distortion in the image you are trying to project.
  2. Allow the projector to auto detect the Laptop resolution and adapt accordingly. What happens is the projector will block off the top and bottom of the image to show a 16:9 aspect ratio image. This however will not give you the full 1280×800, but 1024×576 pixels and the sharpness of the image will be compromised but not compromising the actual size as you will still be maximizing the full width of your screen. Consider the cost savings, it is perhaps a good trade off.

So in summary, if you would like to have a WXGA Resolution projector, it will serve you better if you change to a larger WXGA Format Screen. If not, buying a XGA Resolution projector need not necessarily mean that you cannot display a 16:9 image when required (all these while using your existing projector screen)

We can be found at the following address:

Visual Tech Solutions Pte Ltd

Vision Exchange
2 Venture Drive
# 24-01
Singapore 608526
tel: +65 6914 7705
fax: +65 6914 9001

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