WHAT EXACTLY IS Hi-DEFINITION WIDESCREEN TV?

In the past few years the shape of television has changed dramatically. Since it's conception, TV pictures have been 'box shaped', with a 4:3 ratio (that means the picture is four units wide by three high). Our 625 colour PAL television system has been around since 1967, so it's no wonder that a lot of people are unsure about the current changes and what they really mean. We try to explain it here...

So, what exactly is Widescreen? Basically, it's a whole new television system for the 21st century, and in a few years time pictures filmed in the more traditional 4:3 box mode will look very old fashioned. The next big revolution happening right now is HIGH DEFINITION TELEVISION - with up to 500% more picture information, making for stunning colours and reproduction on the new large LCD & Plasma televisions that are becoming the norm in every household! Therefore, by having your wedding filmed in Hi-Definition, you'll be future proofing your memories.

Remember how quickly DVD replaced VHS tapes? Exactly the same thing will happen to DVD. Already films are being released simultaneously in Hi-Definition as well as standard DVD, at just a couple of pounds more than DVD. The film companies and the hardware manufacturers are pushing this technology, and with the implementation of Hi-Definition to Freeview for the 2012 Olympics, standard definition television will be history. Conventional television only has a few more years of life before the government turns off the old analogue transmitter stations and everyone will be watching television digitally, which means everyone will be watching Widescreen.

Widescreen television uses a 16:9 aspect, that is the picture is 16 units wide by nine units high, as opposed to the standard four units wide by three high of old conventional televisions. This allows for far more creative composition to shots in your video, and more of a true 'film look', as shown in Figure 1.

As you'll immediately notice, we were able to tightly frame the bride, groom and their two witnesses into a lovely composition. Don't worry if you don't have a widescreen television, because widescreen films can also be shown on conventional televisions, but to fit the picture perfectly, black bars are placed at the top and bottom of the picture to maintain the correct aspect ratio. All television programmes are now shot in widescreen, and you've probably noticed that most feature films are now shown on conventional television in widescreen, with the bars as in Figure 2. This means you can get the full impact of widescreen filming until such times (when inevitably) you will get a widescreen television, because the old 4:3 TV's won't be made any more!

Looking at Figure 3, you'll notice how the composition changes dramatically using the old standard 4:3 camera, and a witness is totally missing from the composition!

Some people believe they can use their widescreen televisions to successfully manipulate a standard picture. Unfortunately that's not entirely true. There are various things people try. Firstly, in Figure 4, they 'zoom' the picture so that the sides match the sides of the widescreen, which results in the top and bottom of the picture being cut off, and usually means a lot of heads get 'cropped off - and the second witness is still missing!

Another way people try and get round the problem is by 'stretching' the picture, as in Figure 5, which all widescreen televisions will do. Unfortunately, in doing so, everyone becomes a bit wider, and no bride wants to look fat on her special day - and the second witness is still missing!

You can choose the proper 4:3 aspect on a widescreen TV, and this is achieved by placing black bars at either side, as in Figure 6. More acceptable, but that second mum is still missing, and as the years go by the whole shape of the picture will look more and more dated!

WHAT MAKES BLU-RAY SO MUCH BETTER THAN DVD?

BLU-RAY is another revolution, which has dramatically changed the way we've viewed pre-recorded material. DVD is good and a huge step up in quality from VHS, but it's a technology that is over ten years old, designed for the older style Standard-definition televisions, not the new generation of Plasma and LCD TV's. The main difference is the resolution and the amount of picture information the disc will hold. Let me explain: A television picture is made up of 'lines'. These lines are made up of small dots, or 'pixels'. The more lines of information a picture has, the sharper it looks to us.

The new HD & HD ready plasma & LCD Television has an average pixel line ratio of around 1920 x 1080. DVD can only record an average of 720 x 576, only around a quarter of the information in a Hi-Definition picture. That's why when you watch a DVD on a new large FlatScreen Plasma or LCD television it never quite looks as good as if you were watching it on an older style standard definition CRT television.

The newer televisions compensate by stretching every one DVD standard definition pixel over four hi-definition pixels, making the finished image soft and smeary. With Blu-Ray, every pixel on your Plasma or LCD monitor id filled with a single Hi-definition pixel, giving beautifully sharp and crisp lifelike images, even on the largest screens.

However, as with any new technology, there are certain things you should be aware of. Blu-Ray is the same physical size as a DVD disc but will not play in a DVD player, as it holds a massive 25 gigabytes of data, as opposed to DVD's 4.7 gig, so needs to be read by a special Blu-Ray laser (hence the name!). You need a specific Blu-Ray player. Fortunately, a Blu-Ray player will also play DVD's, so you do not have to replace your old collection! The price of Blu-Ray players has dropped dramatically since their initial release and will only continue to fall as the format gains popularity. They also play on a Sony PlayStation 3.

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us