Operation Manual

37
English
Technical Support
How to show films in widescreen format
Films that are made for cinema are in a format that is designed for a cinema
screen. Most American films since 1955 have been made in widescreen format of
1.85:1 (for most European films the widescreen aspect ratio of 1.66:1 applies).
The aspect ratio of your screen is equal to 1.77:1. If you wish to show a
widescreen film it is necessary to adapt the image. Please use the following steps
or settings.
Pan&Scan process:
The picture is reduced in order to achieve fullscreen. This is done by panning the
entire image and scanning it, effectively trimming the sides and focusing on the
significant action on the screen. The width of the image is reduced, thereby losing
a section.
Letterbox process: In Letterbox the picture is shown in its original view ratio. As
no part of the image is cropped, this results in a black bar above and below the
viewing field.
Widescreen process: In Widescreen an effort is made to view the entire image
as it appeared originally in the cinema – although the proportions of the cinema
screen and that of the television monitor differ greatly. In Widescreen the
proportions of the film image are maintained (in most cases 1.85:1) with black bars
being introduced above and below the image, which simulate the rectangular
format of the cinema screen.
Television systems
The following table provides an overview of television systems in European
countries, this list is not guaranteed to be exhaustive, nor does it claim to be totally
accurate or up-to-date.
Country Colour TV system
Albania PAL B,G
Andorra PAL B,G
Belgium PAL B,H
Bosnia Herzegovina PAL B,H
Bulgaria SECAM D,K
Denmark PAL B
Germany PAL B,G
Faeroe Islands PAL B,G
Finland PAL B,G
France SECAM L
Gibraltar PAL B,G