Standard Definition (SD) video played on HDTV
Posted on Tue, Feb 02, 2010 @ 01:52 PM
Consumers are switching from 4:3 standard TV sets to 16:9 HDTVs for the larger screen and higher resolution. Due to the switch from standard definition to high definition consumers can be confused about the differences in aspect ratios and the HDTV video settings that have a direct affect on how the video is displayed. Aspect ratio is the ratio of the width of the TV picture to the height of the picture. Standard definition is 4:3 and high definition is 16:9. When a full screen standard definition video is played back on an HDTV the edges will be black or “cropped”, assuming that your HDTV video playback settings are set to normal so that your HDTV will display video at its original aspect ratio. When a letterboxed 4:3 video (black bars at the top and bottom) is played back on an HDTV with the video playback settings set to normal the video will appear to be squeezed. Change the video playback settings on your HDTV to 16:9 widescreen so that the video will playback full screen the way it was intended to be viewed.