FEATURE Aspect Ratio

Aspect Ratio –
Isn’t This Simple?
Jacek Pawlowski
Aspect ratio is the ratio of image width to image height.
Although over decades, many different values were in use,
ranging from 1.19:1 to as much as 4:1, we practically meet
only two of them in digital TV - 1.33:1 (or 4:3) and 1.56:1 (or
16:9).

Standard definition TV to know that Pan & Scan not

(SDTV) is mostly transmitted
in 4:3 format but sometimes
you may find the widescreen
SDTV signal which has 16:9
aspect ratio. The latter, despite
having the same aspect ratio,
is not equivalent to HDTV! This
is illustrated in figure 1. As you
can see, much more pixels
are transmitted for the same
screen area in HDTV in com-
parison with widescreen SDTV.
In other words, the widescreen
SDTV has the same aspect
ratio but much worse picture
resolution than HDTV. Moreo-
ver, while for the 4:3 SDTV and
16:9 HDTV a pixel is almost
perfectly squared, the wide-
screen SDTV uses horizontally
stretched pixels.
How signals of different
aspect ratios are displayed
on our TV-set?
It depends on
the setting of
the set-top-box
(STB) and the
TV-set itself.
Let’s examine
Figure 1. Aspect ratios of SDTV, widescreen SDTV and HDTV. different cases.
The magnified portion of a screen shows the size and shape of the
pixels.
necessarily shows the central
part of the original picture (as
show in figure 2).
While coding digital signal, it
is possible to include the coor-
dinates of the most important
part of the screen. So we may
see either a central part or a
part more to the left or more
to the right.
It works automatically – we
do not feel it.
However, if you do not believe
me, just put a 4:3 TV set over
the 16:9 set and observe both
while tuned to the 16:9 signal.
Of course it will be much easier
if both sets have exactly the
same picture height.
We are waiting for your
photographs of Pan & Scan in
action!

Figure 2. 16:9 signal seen on 4:3 TV-set.

16:9 signal to aspect ratio. So what we or Letterbox. Letterbox

on 4:3 TV-set
Traditional 4:3 TV-sets
usually do not have any
signal processing related
see depends on the incom-
ing signal and the setting of
the receiver.
Figure 2 shows the 2 set-
tings that we can make in
our set-top-box: Pan & Scan
results in black horizontal
bars above and below the
picture, while Pan & Scan
shows only part of the pic-
ture (but without those
annoying bars). It is worth

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www.TELE-satellite.com — 12-01/2008 — TELE-satellite & Broadband 19
 such signals. However, it hap-
pens that a widescreen cinema
movie is transmitted as the 4:3
signal. See figure 3. If a 4:3
signal already contains black
bars, we will see them on the
4:3 TV-set no matter what set-
ting we make in the satellite
receiver. You must have seen
this situation on analog TV
before. It is not quite fair of the
providers to serve such content

4:3 signal on 4:3 TV-set 4:3 signal on 16:9 TV-set

Why consider 4:3 on 4:3? Of course if the And now the trickier part. We have the
signal is really 4:3 – there is no problem. We modern flat screen one or not so modern CRT
see it properly on our traditional TV-sets. The type but with 16:9 aspect ratio and signal
majority of the satellite channels still transmit does not match it.

via digital TV but if the same

signal is still used for the ter-
restrial analog TV and retrans-
mitted digitally via satellite, we
may forgive them.

Figure 3. If a 4:3 signal already con-

tains black bars (after conversion
from a cinema movie), we will see
them on the 4:3 TV-set no matter
what setting we make.

20 TELE-satellite & Broadband — 12-01/2008 — www.TELE-satellite.com

 I tried to show the various
pictures we can produce by
playing with the receiver and
TV-set settings.
While the name of the func-
tions may differ from model to
model, basically every set-top-
box has 2 options: Letterbox
and Pan & Scan.
Some STB’s have the Full
Screen mode in which picture
is transformed in such a way
as to fit the whole screen; it is
squeezed horizontally (stream
aspect 16:9; TV aspect 4:3), or
it is squeezed vertically (stream
aspect 4:3; TV aspect 16:9).
Since this option is still not very
often used, I did not prepare a
drawing showing this.
Most commonly, a TV-set
can play the signal without any
processing (the second column
in figure 4) or stretch or zoom
it (the third column in figure 4).
Most of the users will probably
choose the Letterbox setting
in the receiver and non-linear
stretch in the TV-set. The pic-
ture will be distorted but mainly
on the left and right edges not
in the center.
However this will not be opti-
mal if the 4:3 signal is a con-
version of a widescreen movie
– see the bottom part of the
drawing. In such situation, the
most optimal setting is Pan &
Scan in the receiver and normal
mode in the TV-set.
Apparently the similar effect
can we get by using Letterbox
+ Zoom (not shown on the to time if the incoming
figure). But the picture quality signal changes. One gen-
will be worse. That is because eral rule that can be said
we first produce a small picture is: use as little as possi-
to enlarge it later in the TV-
set. It is always better to pro-
duce the bigger picture in the
receiver itself.
Figure 4. Playing 4:3 signal on
16:9 TV-set.
Conclusion
So, how should we configure
our receiver and TV-set? There
is not one perfect setting suit-
able for all signals. Moreover it
also depends whether the black
(or grey) bars annoy you or not.
For example, you may accept
them if the TV-set is really big
and your preference is to have
the picture as close to the origi- ble the processing of a TV- Fortunately, the HDTV sig-
nal as possible. After all, who set. Let the satellite receiver nals and HD TV-sets have the
likes to see a bloated and fat produce the picture as close matching 16:9 aspect ratio.
Miss World? Well, some women, to what you want to see as Once all the channels switch
maybe... possible. In this way, you will to HDTV, this problem will
We have to change the STB achieve better quality of the not exist any more. Let’s be
and TV-set settings from time picture. patient.
www.TELE-satellite.com — 12-01/2008 — TELE-satellite & Broadband 21