Bringing great video quality as the director intended.
Having your own home cinema can be truly awesome and can be designed and tailored to suit your exact requirements and budget. However, did you know that there are a few important elements that need to be considered before installation commences? There’s nothing worse than looking at a picture that is distorted and in no way matched to the intentions of the movies production team. That’s where the relationship between the height and width of a screen comes in, otherwise know as the aspect ratio.
The ratio of width to height
Cinema projection screens are available in two ratios – 16:9 (otherwise known as widescreen) and 2.35:1 (known as cinemascope) – both of which are designed for different types of viewing content. Should the majority of content be from sources including Sky, Freeview, gaming, the occasional movie, etc; then a 16:9 ratio screen will be perfectly suitable as the vast majority of the content shown will have been produced in 16:9 as well. However, you may notice that when watching movies, there is often a black bar at the top and bottom of the screen. This is due to the movie being originally filmed in a different ratio known as 2.35:1.
16:9 widescreen
Alternatively, should your projection system be a dedicated space for watching movies, then a 2.35:1 projection screen would be more suitable as this is the same format that most films are produced in, thus eliminating the top and bottom black bars seen on a 16:9 screen. Whilst this results in a wider projection screen, the imagery becomes a lot more immersive and enables films to be viewed exactly how the movie director intended. 16:9 sources can be shown on a 2.35:1 screen, however this does result in black bars being shown on the left and right hand side of the picture.
2.35:1 cinemascope
Can I have a screen system that has both aspect ratios?
Should you be wanting a projection screen that can be used in both 16:9 and 2.35:1 ratios, a ‘motorised e-masking’ version is available, thus enabling the screen to be in either mode by mechanically changing the aspect ratio with side masking borders. Book a demonstration in our showroom to see a screen of this style, as well as a 16:9 ratio screen, located in our dual purpose media room.
Inner white section is 16:9 then extends to 2.35:1
A great video clip explaining aspect ratios in more detail can be found at this link here
To find out which screen format is right for you, why not contact us to discuss your requirements so that we can make the perfect recommendation.
