# Cell phone video three panels **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 6, 2022, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546 "2022-03-06T03:05:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/1 "2022-03-06T03:05:36Z")
Cell phone video I’ve seen on the news and you tube have a focused picture in the middle, and out of focus pictures on either side. What causes that? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/2 "2022-03-06T03:23:25Z")
The video was taken vertical. They’re extend the edges and blurring them to fit the horizontal screen. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/3 "2022-03-06T03:26:31Z")
Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/4 "2022-03-06T03:30:54Z")
Cellphones, held normally are in Portrait, or vertical mode. Most TVs & monitors are in Landscape, or horizontal mode. They can either blur the extra space on either side or make it some solid color, like black or white. Some muckity-muck at some (probably national network) TV station decided we can’t see just a panel in the middle &, say, black space on either side so they overlay the blurred video on either side. Don’t know why every other news source thought this was a good idea. Personally, I think it’s probably a violation of the Geneva Convention ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/5 "2022-03-06T03:32:35Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Personally, I think it’s probably a violation of the Geneva Convention Undoubtedly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/6 "2022-03-06T03:41:55Z")
I can’t help but think there are gaddam Russians with RPGs hiding in the blurred sides. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/7 "2022-03-06T03:44:49Z")
Vertical Video Syndrome is still going, I see. (Funny take on the issue) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/f2picMQC-9E/maxresdefault.jpg "Vertical Video Syndrome (Clean Version)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2picMQC-9E) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/8 "2022-03-06T03:50:23Z")
Too bad this technology isn’t available in all video apps. > > > Capture horizontal videos & photos no matter how you hold your device... ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/9 "2022-03-06T03:50:44Z")
I choked on a glass of wine, darn your eyes! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/10 "2022-03-06T03:55:16Z")
I’d imagine that’d decrease the resolution, wouldn’t it? Like taking a vertical video and then cropping it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/11 "2022-03-06T03:59:38Z")
You are using less screen area to show video intended for full screen. It might look better that way. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/12 "2022-03-06T04:02:10Z")
OK, I must go play with my cell phone and take videos of the aquarium. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/13 "2022-03-06T04:05:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’d imagine that’d decrease the resolution, wouldn’t it? It depends on the resolution of your sensor, and the resolution of the video that you want to record. For instance, the sensor on my phone is 4096x3072 pixels. When I am recording 1920x1080 video, it samples from across the whole 4096 pixel width but only records it out as 1920 pixel width video. Horizon doesn’t sample across the sensor but picks 1920 “real” pixels from the center of the sensor and outputs those. With a 12 MP sensor, you have plenty of room at any angle to get a block of 1920x1080 “real” pixels. (What you do get is what is a true optical zoom in the framing.) A 48MP sensor would let you do this with 4k video. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/14 "2022-03-06T06:51:02Z")
I recall watching a video a while back. I was watching it on my phone, vertically, and at the time the YouTube app didn’t support vertical videos. So the video window itself was letterboxed (the comment section, etc. was below), but then the video itself was side-letterboxed within the landscape mode box. In addition, however, the video itself was filmed horizontally, but converted somewhere along the way to vertical. It ended up being letterboxed three times, and was very tiny by the end. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/15 "2022-03-06T08:54:11Z")
It does affect the field of view of the camera though - if you shoot landscape and your phone is sampling the whole sensor, that effectively makes the footage as ‘zoomed out’ as the camera can deliver. If you crop a landscape segment out of a portrait view, you’re zooming in. It might still be possible to get a true HD or 4K shot, but you might need to stand further back from the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/16 "2022-03-06T11:30:23Z")
In the year 2050, in one of the dwellings where humans still decide to live together in social groups, there is a room with a tall, narrow viewing screen, for the consumption of audiovisual content. A long lost, older relative has been in touch and suggested a ‘vintage movie’ for the group in this dwelling to watch together. The movie is called ‘2001 - A Space Odyssey’ One of the younger members of the group asks “Why is the picture just a narrow strip across the middle of the screen, with big black bars above and below?” A slightly older member of the group informs the younger one “Well, you see when Stanley Kubrick recorded this, he was probably holding his phone sideways, as they used to do in those days” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/17 "2022-03-06T13:08:28Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It does affect the field of view of the camera though Which is why I said that in my post. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/18 "2022-03-06T14:04:27Z")
I can see that it’s implied by your post, but you didn’t mention reduced field of view at all. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/19 "2022-03-06T18:27:59Z")
I said “What you do get is what is a true optical zoom in the framing.” You just didn’t understand that statement. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546/20 "2022-03-06T19:06:42Z")
I understood it. I think it’s a bit of an opaque and technical way to talk about the change to the practical field of view that will be experienced by the camera user. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-video-three-panels/960546.md?page=2)