# Widescreen TVs/ DVDs/ broadcasts- how do they work?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/widescreen-tvs-dvds-broadcasts-how-do-they-work/179611>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 4, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/widescreen-tvs-dvds-broadcasts-how-do-they-work/179611 "2003-06-04T14:59:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/widescreen-tvs-dvds-broadcasts-how-do-they-work/179611/1 "2003-06-04T14:59:34Z")

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I suppose my question really is: how can I watch genuine widescreen TV or films on my TV?

I live in the UK, and receive only analogue terrestrial TV- not digital/cable/satellite.

On UK analogue terrestrial TV, if a programme or film is broadcast in ‘widescreen’, am I right to assume that this _always_ means that it’s broadcast in ‘letterbox’ format (i.e. normal 4:3 aspect ratio picture with black bars top and bottom)

Similarly, if I buy a ‘widescreen’ version of a DVD, am I simply buying a 4:3 aspect ratio DVD with letterboxing? Or is there such a thing as a ‘genuine’ widescreen DVD, on which the picture is encoded in 16:9 format? If so, how would a ‘genuine’ widescreen DVD display on a ‘normal’ 4:3 TV? Would the DVD player ‘pad’ the picture with black bars to achieve a normal letterbox?

Now that digital TV has taken off in the UK, I’m also wondering if digital widescreen broadcasts are genuine 16:9 or letterboxed 4:3? Again, if the former, how does a digital widescreen broadcast look on a 4:3 TV?

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/widescreen-tvs-dvds-broadcasts-how-do-they-work/179611/2 "2003-06-04T15:02:37Z")

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Most DVDs _are_ encoded in 16:9 format. The DVD player itself will then convert that format to 4:3 letterbox if you have that setting selected, by adding the black bars to the top and botton of the frame.