48inch OLED SAMSUNG TV - apps are not fooling the screen

[TimmyBGood]

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@anita+db wrote:

how annoying a brand new TV does this

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The argument would be that your modern television is displaying content as its creator intended it to be seen, while older sets permitted an unfortunate distortion which was tolerated when screens were smaller.

[Chodley]

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@anita+db wrote:

Thanks just checked both of your suggested programs and yes match yours stated -  again tried the same 2 on TV apps and same as Sky Q - how annoying a brand new TV does this - thank you anyway 

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You haven't yet said what content is showing with black bars but I assume it's stuff that needs black bars because it isn't 16:9. Which aside from big hollywood movies is actuallly pretty rare these days because so much content is being aimed at streaming viewing. What actual content did you test so we can see how it behaves on our setups?

But assuming it is 2.35:1 or 1.85:1

.... to fill the whole screen, the picture either has to be distorted or bits cut off. I think the industry decided about 10 years ago, once TV screens got pretty damn big, to stop letting people mess up their beautifully crafted movies just to light every pixel on an arbritrarily sized screen 😁 so they stopped offering those weird zoom options.

[anita+db]

hi in the previous post above only certain apps on the TV i.e. Netflix iPlayer Prime Video on certain programs series or  films are showing the black bar above and below. The only option I have on this new TV is  resolution 16.9 or custom ? and neither seems to eradicate that, so sounds like I've just gotta put up with it.

[Chodley]

What. Actual. Content?

because (for example) Sky Cinema is in the right format, fills my 16:9 screen

 

but if the actual movie was shot at a wider aspect ratio, then that will have black bars - Wonka in this example a couple of minutes later

So if you have some content on Prime which maybe should be 16:9 but has black bars, what actual program/movie is it? We can check if we get the same.

 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Chodley wrote:

but if the actual movie was shot at a wider aspect ratio, then that will have black bars - Wonka in this example a couple of minutes later

I believe Wonka is in 2.39 : 1 

This is not the same as the 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which apparently has different aspect ratios depending on the distribution medium but had an IMAX release in 1.85 : 1

 

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[Chodley]

My tape measure concurs 😄

[anita+db]

Ok in Netflix films black bars are 

Bank of Dave 2 , The lucky one , Fracture 

films ok -Rumour has it , A Family affair

series with black bars edges

what a girl wants ,  safe , virgin river 

all of these I watched on my old 43* Samsung no problem 

[Chodley]

Yep. Same on all of those. That's how they're supposed to look.

If they were full screen on your old TV then it was cropping the sides of the image off on the ones which now have black bars or possibly (my old Sony 32" CRT did this) the sides of the image were warped like a wide angle lens to squeeze them in.

Someone mentioned earlier but I think it was around the time 4k was introduced that TV manufacturers stopped offering these weird zoomy options.

[Chodley]

This is a great story (lifted from reddit)

Peter Hyams is quoted as saying he asked Steven Spielberg while he was making Jurassic Park why he was shooting it in 1.85 rather than going wider and he said Spielberg looked at him like he was an idiot and said, “Because dinosaurs are tall.”

I just tried Jurassic Park and indeed it fills the whole screen. 1.85:1 is very close to 16:9

[Chodley]

And now I'm watching Jurassic Park when I should be doing something productive. 😆 What a classic.

[anita+db]

Thanks yes - I've spoken to Samsung now apparently as you say its creator content making 

[PandJ2020]

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@anita+db wrote:

Thanks yes - I've spoken to Samsung now apparently as you say its creator content making 

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Films are generally wider than 16:9 and will have black bars.  Content for TV will usually be 16:9 without the bars.