# Why do wide-screen viewers insist on using fat-face mode? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-wide-screen-viewers-insist-on-using-fat-face-mode/523561 "2010-01-04T01:25:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-wide-screen-viewers-insist-on-using-fat-face-mode/523561/61 "2010-01-08T02:09:40Z")
> [@jebert](#): > > I don’t have a wide-screen TV, but other friends and family do, andeven though most TV content is 4:3, they all watch it in 16:9 format, which stretches the image horizontally. This is blatantly unnatural to me, but nobody else seems to notice. Either that, or they think they’re no getting full use of the wide-screen real-estate they paid for. > > What’s wrong with these people?!! > > :: leaves room, barely able to contain the urge to bitch-slap the guy with the remote :: It disturbs me a little, but not enough for me to adjust the format every time I switch channels. In any case, I think I can only adjust the format on the TV remote, which I rarely use, and not on the cable box remote, which we use much more often. So it’s actually a pain to make the picture look precisely right on every channel. So I just live with it. ---
**Author:** ![hobscrk777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-wide-screen-viewers-insist-on-using-fat-face-mode/523561/62 "2010-01-08T03:31:26Z")
> [@jebert](#): > > I don’t have a wide-screen TV, but other friends and family do, andeven though most TV content is 4:3, they all watch it in 16:9 format, which stretches the image horizontally. This is blatantly unnatural to me, but nobody else seems to notice. Either that, or they think they’re no getting full use of the wide-screen real-estate they paid for. > > What’s wrong with these people?!! > > :: leaves room, barely able to contain the urge to bitch-slap the guy with the remote :: I feel exactly the same way!! I know numerous people who do this. Upon asking them, everyone - without exception - justifies it by saying that they want to get the biggest picture possible, and that they don’t care if the image is distorted. It’s all I can do not to break down in a FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU!!! ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-wide-screen-viewers-insist-on-using-fat-face-mode/523561/63 "2010-01-08T19:01:34Z")
That bugs me too. I don’t have a wide screen TV yet, but the ones I’ve played around with seem to have various “zoom” modes, with different ratios, some of which have black bars, some stretch the picture, and others drop parts of the picture off the edges. However, there’s not a mode that says “just show me the picture at its intended ratio and use as much of the screen you can”. Am I just missing it? ---
**Author:** ![capeo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@capeo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capeo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-wide-screen-viewers-insist-on-using-fat-face-mode/523561/64 "2010-01-08T19:17:39Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Some HD channels (such as History Channel HD) broadcast non-HD content in stretch mode. It is not in my control to unstretch it. When that happens, I change to the non-HD channel, as it is preferable to stretch-mode. That’s the problem right there. It’s BS HD. All’s they do is take SD and stretch it to fit a 16:9 screen. My TV allows me to force it back to 4:3 so I’ll do that and still watch the HD channel because it still looks better than SD. A lot of cable channels do that crap. I’d rather they just leave it in 4:3 because even if it’s not an true HD program it still looks way better coming in on an HD stream than SD. ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-wide-screen-viewers-insist-on-using-fat-face-mode/523561/65 "2010-01-10T03:36:20Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > However, there’s not a mode that says “just show me the picture at its intended ratio and use as much of the screen you can”. Am I just missing it? My LG has it (the ‘set by program’ option) but Sony doesn’t. It’s Wide Zoom, Normal, Full, and Zoom. One of them stretches the sides more than the centre, so if you’re in the centre of the screen, you look fine. Fortunately the aspect ratio has its own button on the remote so you don’t have to root around in menus to find the ‘remove oompa loompa effect’ mode. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-wide-screen-viewers-insist-on-using-fat-face-mode/523561/66 "2010-01-10T05:09:08Z")
My Blu-Ray player does this for me. It is one of the reasons I am very happy. It’s called ‘telescope’ mode, if I remember right. 4:3 to 16:9. Even when the show changes ratio. (For example, watching an older TV show, the menu is in 16:9, the show is in 4:3.) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-wide-screen-viewers-insist-on-using-fat-face-mode/523561/67 "2010-01-10T06:56:55Z")
> [@Annie](#): > > …One of them stretches the sides more than the centre, so if you’re in the centre of the screen, you look fine. … My Hitachi has this and it works so well with 4:3 programming I hardly ever switch to something else. The middle third of the picture stays unchanged, the outer thirds are stretched out to the ends of the screen. It’s pretty unusual to see horizontal destortion unless you look for it. I find it far preferable to zooming andlosing the top and bottom of the image, especially when there are subtitles. There is a ‘plain zoom’ feature which works pretty well if your original material is in letterbox and the zoom basically eliminates the bars. Is this not a common feature? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-wide-screen-viewers-insist-on-using-fat-face-mode/523561.md?page=3)