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Supernerd

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 19, 2012
57
0
Yo momma's house
I own the 2-disc edition of Apollo 13 on DVD, fantastic movie. Disk 2 contains the IMAX version of the film, and since we just got a new HDTV (with a 16:9 aspect ratio), we decided to try it out. The result was normal 2:35:1, but slightly stretched. My TV has three aspect ratio viewing modes, S.Stretch, which gives perfect 2:35:1 with this, Zoom, which fills the screen and Stretch, which I am not sure what it does (as well as a 4:3 mode which is of no use to me), so I changed the aspect ratio to Zoom so it filled the screen, which is what I would expect of an IMAX version (previous IMAX DVD's I have watched were 16:9) and this looked better, but still not perfect. I looked on the DVD and it said the IMAX version had a 1:66:1 aspect ratio. What kind of a ratio is that? I was wondering what was the best viewing mode on my TV for this ratio? I long to rip the DVD to compare it to 2:35:1 and 16:9 rips I have, but I don't have time right now. Can someone explain this 1:66:1 aspect ratio?
 

blackmoses

macrumors member
Mar 10, 2009
33
2
1.66:1 is the aspect ratio used instead of 1.85:2 for "flat" widescreen movies in Europe. It's a little less "long" than 1.85:1 or the 16x9 (= 1.777:1) ratio of your TV. Properly shown on a 16x9 TV, 1.66:1 movies should be slightly windowboxed on the left and the right hand sides.

See this diagram:
http://www.bgstudios.com/images/aspects.gif

I would choose viewing options until the picture appears as it should.
 
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