YOUR NEXT TV Standard 4:3 or widescreen 16:9? See also: HDTV Explained "A must read before buying an HDTV"

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    Choosing Aspect Ratio
      
   During the past few years, the exploding popularity of DVDs and the slow-but-steady transition to digital television have introduced TV viewers to pictures that are not only sharper and clearer, but also wider. TV manufacturers have responded by building more and more widescreen  TVs, from 15" LCD models for your desktop to 60" rear-projection "big-screen" models for your home theater. Eventually, all new TVs and new TV programming will be widescreen, but should you make the switch now?

      Screen aspect ratio
  A TV's screen aspect ratio is simply the relationship between the screen's width and height. The traditional TV screen is slightly wider than it is tall; its aspect ratio is 4:3 (usually pronounced "4-by-3"), or 4 units wide by 3 units tall. Widescreen TVs are much more rectangular, with a ratio of 16:9. Another way of expressing a screen's aspect ratio is to divide the width by the height. After tapping a few calculator keys, it turns out that 4:3 equals 1.33:1 and 16:9 equals 1.78:1. These numbers will help you understand the big picture when we encounter other widescreen ratios a little later.

 

       Nearly all analog (non-HDTV-capable) TVs have 4:3 screens — you don't have a choice. And true High-Definition Television models (those with built-in HDTV tuners) are required to have 16:9 screens. That leaves the popular category of "HDTV-ready sets" (often called HDTV monitors), which can have either a 16:9 or 4:3 screen. If you're shopping for a new TV, how do you decide which shape is right for you? Let your viewing preferences be your guide. Neither screen aspect ratio will provide a perfect, screen-filling picture for every type of program you watch. Here's why.

• 4:3 program sources: Most standard (analog) local and network broadcasts are in 4:3. Most non-HD cable and satellite programming is also in 4:3. Many DVD movies have a "pan-and-scan" version for 4:3 TVs. (If you like old movies, you're in luck — most films made prior to the early 1950s were shot in 4:3.) Most of your VHS movie collection is probably also 4:3 ("formatted to fit your screen"). And if you've been shooting home movies over the years, they're almost certainly 4:3 also.
   

• 16:9 program sources: The official aspect ratio for all HDTV programming is 16:9. That's the case whether you receive your HDTV signals via local over-the-air broadcasts, digital cable service, or satellite TV. Even if you don't currently receive HDTV, you've probably noticed that more and more non-HD versions of HDTV programs are being shown in widescreen, like "The Sopranos" and "The West Wing." Many DVD movies are optimized for display on 16:9 screens. The technical term for these DVDs is "anamorphic", but their packaging usually says "enhanced for 16x9 televisions" or "enhanced for widescreen televisions."
   

• Other widescreen program sources: Nearly all current Hollywood movies are shot at aspect ratios that are even wider than 16:9 (1.78:1). The two most common formats are 1.85:1 and 2.35:1. As the screen shots on the next page show, a movie at 1.85:1 is close to a perfect fit for a 16:9 screen, and even a significantly wider 2.35:1 film matches up better with a 16:9 screen than a 4:3 screen.

Keep in mind that if you buy a 4:3 TV to optimize analog material, you'll have to put up with horizontal black bars above and below the image when you watch widescreen material. On the other hand, if you choose a 16:9 TV, you'll have to choose between seeing vertical bars on the sides of standard 4:3 programs, or distorting the image with a "stretch" or "zoom" function that expands the image so it fills the rest of the screen.

Having trouble picturing the various screen/program combinations? The screen shots on the next page show how the most common TV and movie aspect ratios look on both 4:3 and 16:9 screens.