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What does aspect ratio mean? How to choose a good monitor? Screen resolution and aspect ratio

From year to year, monitors have improved mainly only in increasing the resolution of the matrix, and all this has become the reason for people’s desire to view content of ever better quality. Fortunately, production does not stand still, and more and more powerful and advanced computer devices are entering the world market. With their help, this high-quality content is created and broadcast.

Screen resolution 16:9, like 16:10, is the standard for modern times. In this case, the matrix resolution is 1920 x 1080 and 1920 x 1200 pixels, respectively. However, now you should not judge the size of the monitor by its size, since even some mobile phones with a screen diagonal of 5 inches have a matrix resolution greater than the FullHD standard (1920 x 1080 pixels).

Modern monitors from the middle price segment, having screen resolutions of 16:9 and 16:10, usually have 22-24 inches. But it was not always so. The optimal screen resolution has varied over time.

Short story

At the beginning of the history of content creation and playback, the screen aspect ratio was 1:1, that is, “square”. This solution was used only in photography and allowed the composition of the frame to be used both vertically and horizontally. Later, a similar format began to be used when creating films.

The “square” format was replaced by the 5:4 format, which was also called 1.25:1. It was used in some computer monitors and many people confused it with the more common 4:3 format. The only difference was the resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels. Some “experts” and “professionals” noted a more accurate transmission of geometry on this screen format, but not everyone agrees with this, and the debate is still ongoing.

Immediately after the “square”, in order to expand the visible scene and frame, a 4:3 or 1.33:1 format was created. This format first became widespread in photography and cinema, and then became the standard for analog television broadcasting. You can remember the period when every home had, first, huge wooden and later plastic flat-screen TVs with an almost square screen to receive that broadcast standard. Computer monitors also received this format and for a long time had resolutions of 1024 x 768, 1152 x 864 and 1600 x 1200 pixels. Subsequently, they were supplanted by widescreen devices with a resolution of 16:9.

There were also 3:2 and 14:9 formats. The first did not prove itself to be anything significant, but the second was an intermediate format for the transition from 4:3 analogue television broadcasting to widescreen and easily fit into the old format in the form of small black stripes at the top and bottom of the screen.

The modern 16:10 aspect ratio format has been adopted by computer monitors and a large number of laptops with resolutions of 1280 x 800, 1440 x 900 and 1680 x 1050 pixels per inch. The advantage of this format is a larger working space compared to the most popular one, which has a resolution of 16:9. This format is widely used in gaming monitors.

The transition to digital was marked by the creation of a unified high-definition television standard, HDTV, with a 16:9 format. The resolution of the screen matrix in this case is: 1366 x 768, 1600 x 900, 1280 x 720 and 1920 x 1080 pixels. Now there are much more capacious matrices of the same format. What is the difference for the user?

Screen aspect ratio at home and in the office

Nowadays, people use a lot of different computer devices, mobile gadgets and wearable electronic devices both at home and at work in the office. All these technologies are designed to simplify and speed up work, as well as entertain owners.

Screen resolutions of 16:9 and 16:10 are found both in a computer or laptop, and in a TV broadcasting digital content and digital television broadcasting. For fans of computer video games, both of these formats are ideal and they differ only slightly, but TVs usually do not use 16:10 formats.

For workers who deal with spreadsheets, text, or 3D modeling and drawings, having a slightly taller vertical screen (16:10 versus 16:9) allows for valuable additional work and viewing space, resulting in better work.

Content is important

Having a monitor with a 16:9 screen, you also need to have digital content itself. It is created both on video and photo recording devices, and on the computer devices themselves. In the modern world, the media world is being adjusted to FullHD and 4K standards with a 16:9 resolution, since, by unifying content, equipment and content manufacturers abandon non-standard solutions in favor of generally accepted standards. Such actions made it possible to reduce costs for the development of new formats and their implementation, as well as free up production resources for improving and improving products in other areas.

Outgoing signal

The video signal itself is generated in a special device (video card or video adapter, 16:9 ratio). The resolution varies within the limits selected by the user. The higher the resolution, the greater the load on the hardware power of both the video adapter and the entire electronic device as a whole. Modern video devices are capable of broadcasting video or game content in three-dimensional images with the highest definition (up to 4K and UltraHD).

For lovers of quality cinema and computer games

Modern monitors with aspect ratios of 16:9 and 16:10 for connoisseurs of gaming and film content do not allow you to fully immerse yourself in the digital world, since they are limited by the viewing width, and the human eye perceives much more with its own. For this, developers of monitors and televisions have created special series of their devices with a very large aspect ratio. They received an aspect ratio of 21:9 and resolutions of 2560 x 1080 and 3440 x 1440.

And of course, physical size.

The length and width of the display allow you to determine its diagonal and aspect ratio. These two indicators are basic and allow you to understand how the smartphone will fit in your hand and how convenient it will be to use. The length of the diagonal can be used to judge the size of the screen, but what does the aspect ratio indicate?

What is display aspect ratio?

Display aspect ratio is the proportional ratio of screen width to height, which determines the geometric shape of the image. Depending on these proportions, the screen may be more square or elongated in height.

Not long ago, when the ultimate dream was a phone with a 4-inch diagonal, the most common ratio was 4:3. This was enough for gaming, surfing or watching movies at the appropriate frame ratio. Gradually, with the development of technology, preference began to be given to the 16:9 widescreen screen.

What screens are used on smartphones?

Smartphone manufacturers have kept up with the trend, so the display has increased significantly in length. Now the vast majority of gadgets use this aspect ratio. Some manufacturers make the display a little shorter, and the aspect ratio is 5:3 or 16:10, but this has virtually no effect on the image format.

In this way, they managed to maintain the popular diagonal and make the new smartphone more ergonomic, and when surfing or viewing a news feed, more information was displayed on the screen. The only minor inconvenience was watching movies, since the leading position is still occupied by the 16:9 ratio. When viewing at 18:9 aspect ratio, small black stripes remain on the sides. This issue is successfully resolved by scaling the image.

New aspect ratios are gaining popularity, so hopefully we'll be getting a ton of new 18:9 content soon.

Frame boundaries can take on a variety of shapes. Screen aspect ratios range from 1.33 in The Child to 2.67 in Ben Hur. By aspect ratio we mean the ratio of the length of the frame to its height. There is Academy Standard 1.37, HDTV standard 1.78, Vistavision 1.85 and others. I'll tell you all about them so you can choose the aspect ratio that suits your story. And at the end of the article you will find a link to download FREE templates for various aspect ratios. You can freely use them in your projects and also share them with other filmmakers.

I decided to write this article after seeing a wonderful educational video from FilmmakerIQ.

They did an amazing job of communicating the aspect ratio of the screen and its historical context. After watching this video, I remembered the archive of wide-format templates that I downloaded earlier. They are no longer available anywhere online, so I'm happy to give them new life and put them online again. Now any current or future filmmaker will be able to access all forms of footage that have been used over the years.

1.33 - THOMAS EDISON STANDARD (1909)

1.37 ACADEMY ASPECT RATIO (1937)

4.00 - POLYVISION (1927)

2.77 - CINERAMA (1952)

1.75 - METROSCOPE (1955) Metro Goldwyn Mayer

2.55 - CINEMASCOPE (1953) 20th Century Fox

2.35 - REGALSCOPE (1956) 20th Century Fox

2.35 - PANAVISION (1966) Panavision

2.39 — SHOWSCOPE (CINEMASCOPE)

2.00 - PANASCOPE (1961)

2.00 - SUPERSCOPE (1954) RKO

2.35 - SUPERSCOPE 235 (1956) RKO

2.35 - WARNERSCOPE (1958) Warner Bros.

1.85 - VISTAVISION (1954) Paramount

White Christmas (1954)

2.20 - DIMENSION 150 (1966)

2.55 - CINEMASCOPE 55 (1956)

The King and I (1956)

2.76 - MGM CAMERA 65 (1959) Metro Goldwyn Mayer

2.20 - SUPER PANAVISION 70 (1959) Panavision

Big Fisherman (1959)

2.75 - ULTRA PANAVISION 70 (1962) Panavision

Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

2.35 - TEKNIRAMA (1956)

2.20 - SUPER TEKNIRAMA (1959)

2.35 - NIKKATSU SCOPE (1959)

The Stray Guitarist (1959)

1.43 - IMAX (1970)

Tiger Child (1970)

2.39 - FOR CINEMA AND BLUE-RAY DISCS (current standard)

Broadcast TV, cable TV and video cameras have their own aspect ratio.

1.78 - HDTV (1983) developed by Kearns Powers for SMPTE

and finally a return to Panaskope and Superscope from David Fincher...

2.00 — CAMERA RED (2013) frame cropped from 1.78

To try out over 70 aspect ratio presets, you can use this to download the template archive. There are two versions of PNG files in 1920x1080 and 1280x720. And also 2 PSD files that contain all these templates. This archive once resided at ehartfordstudios.com, but is no longer among us today. This is an amazing set of tools that allows the filmmaker to use the screen aspect ratio of almost any movie ever made. Thank you, ehartfordstudios.com, wherever you are...

Your Nedomansky, vashivisuals.com

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    Subtitles

    Hello everyone, today we will look at the largest, most sophisticated monitor that I have ever seen in my life. forty inch 4K (four ka) ice (LED) from Philips (Philips) but you know what I was thinking about? What is the secret of other tech bloggers? why are they viewed so well? maybe it's because of their hype scandals? or maybe just because assistants are throwing packages into the frame? let's try? guys, drop it! *screams* aaaaaaaaaaa Or is that not the point? Doesn't matter! Let's take a look at this very monitor! Let's start with the classic unboxing. this is really the biggest crap... Well, okay, ONE OF the biggest crap that ever came to our studio! forty inch 4K (four ka) monitor. You can actually hide behind the box. coo coo Bear! (speaks to the operator). *Music* Well, the coolest moment of unpacking is, of course, the monitor itself! *surprised* Looks awesome in white. Yes? Package Contents *crunch of package* VGA cable 3.5 to 3.5 (adapter) Thunderbolt Power cable and disk. Probably with the drivers or what? maybe there is 4K (four ka) content? Motion users manual. No, this is a user manual on disk. 2018th year. Without further ado, let's do a cool cut to the music, shall we? Let's demonstrate what the monitor is capable of. after which I will tell you about it in even more detail. Let's go! The monitor is called PHILIPS BDM4037UW acronymic name panel size 101.6 cm that is 40 inches aspect ratio 16:9 resolution 3840 x 2160 at 60 Hz that is pixel density 110 PPI response time 4 ms brightness 300 candelas per square meter viewing angle 178 degrees supported by MHL 1080 P at 60 Hz on the back side there are analog VGA connectors 2 DisplayPorts 1 HDMI standard 1.4 with MHL support and 1 HDMI 2.0 also with MHL support USB 3.0 4 pieces 1 of which supports fast charging the weight of the entire structure with a stand is 11.6 kg The monitor is mounted on a stand It can very easily turn 5-10 degrees only vertically, which is quite enough for work. Still, a monitor is a fairly static device and, as my personal practice with other monitors has shown, the function of torsion along all axes is not really needed. I won’t lie, and the entire StupidMadWorld team was very impressed by the monitor. he's really cool. looks even more epic in real life than the camera conveys. We've never seen anything cooler. The purpose of the matrix curvature is not entirely clear. but apparently there is some sacred meaning in this. There are small highlights on the matrix. if you turn on a pure black image. but this is a feature of all LED panels. I’ll say this about pixels: they are not visible at all! If you look closely, you can probably see them. But at a very close distance. After this monitor, I see all the dots on Full HD monitors and each monitor seems tiny to me. but this is more of a nitpick. What else did I notice while using this monitor, besides the fact that you quickly get used to a good thing: firstly, not every computer can handle smooth rendering of the interface at this resolution. for example, as an experiment, we connected my old laptop to it. If it runs a FullHD monitor without problems, then 4K noticeably loads it and even the mouse pointer is drawn jerkily. For a 4K monitor you need good stationary hardware, even for work, I’m not even talking about games. secondly, Windows and a 4K monitor are a pain. If you set the interface scale to 100%, then all the elements will become small, and if you set it to 300%, then they will be large, but a little grainy, and some are simply cloudy. many applications are simply not optimized for this resolution and Windows does not have any built-in tools to correct this. thirdly, the monitor has sound. built-in speakers with one emitter of 5 watts each. They sound mediocre, but the monitor is not required to produce 5-channel sound. Emitters are needed here only for those who do not yet have external speakers. So that before buying good acoustics, you do not watch silent movies, but have at least some kind of sound source. The built-in speakers sound very loud, but very dry. Well, the last thing I noticed is that a monitor can be not just a means of displaying images, but also an item of luxury and special pride of the owner. Imagine how crazy your guests will be when they see such a miracle in your house. Even I, a seasoned geek, am still impressed by its size and picture quality. what is it for, you ask? Naturally for installation. This unit is perfect for anyone who does graphics or works with small tables. Playing games on such a huge matrix is ​​also cool; watching movies and videos turns into a whole trip to other worlds. It seems to me that even if you run it like a skinny dog ​​pooping alone in the desert, it will be interesting to watch it because the picture is juice! What are the disadvantages of the monitor? Probably none for its price. At the start of sales, when 4K monitors were just beginning to appear on the market, such a solution could have cost 2 or 3 thousand dollars. Now, with the development and widespread introduction of 4K in all areas from video to games, the technology has become cheaper. and for 700-750 bucks you can easily find this monitor in new condition in your city. Well, the most offensive thing. 2 months ago I bought my wife a monitor for the same price only with FullHD+ resolution. Technologies are becoming closer and more accessible. This makes me happy. It will take a couple more years and 8K monitors will enter the market, and we will look at 4K as an atavism. Now is a good time to change your full HD screen to an excellent and affordable 4K. Believe me, it's worth it. What can I say in the end? Naturally, based on my first impressions, I liked this monitor so much, but oh well, why should I be the only one? My whole team just got together. She sat down on the sofa. I put on an 8K video and we looked at some views of Patagonia, at how colored birds eat colored flowers and it was so amazing. we looked at every pixel and it was really awesome. The pixels are not visible here, this is a very high quality, very cool monitor. If we talk about the cost, then 700 dollars is, in principle, not that expensive for a 4K monitor of a similar size, of similar design and of similar quality. I’ll make a reservation right away - I’m not a professional in 4K monitors, this is the first and only 4K monitor that I’ve seen live for so long, and based on first impressions, this monitor didn’t just surprise me. I'm FUCKED by how high-quality the image can be in general. The era of FullHD is slowly fading into the background. 4K video, 4K content. Games, movies. Everything is now in 4K and it's great. Because it's progressive. Fine. And this is a new word in content. If you can afford to take a 4K monitor, please take it. I'm not saying this is the best monique. But of all the ones I've ever seen, this is definitely a monitor worth considering. For example, it occurred to us to take a regular smartphone and a 4K monitor. and show what can be done from a combination of these two devices. For example, to make some kind of game console, it is possible to somehow connect this whole thing in a cunning way. What can be done from a combination of these two gadgets? If you are interested, please like this video. The more likes you get, the faster I will understand that this topic is more interesting to you. And the faster we will make a similar video. Be sure to subscribe to the channel. Join all our social networks. Instagram, telegram, VKontakte. There is very interesting movement there now too. Unique content that is not on the channel. Thank you all for your attention. Bye everyone!

Most common ratios

If for cinematographic systems the aspect ratio of the screen is a technical parameter that takes into account the size of the frame window and the anamorphic ratio, then for television systems and computer monitors this same value is directly tied to the standard of decomposition and resolution in pixels at a certain aspect ratio. However, in most cases the pixel is considered square. The vast majority of video content uses a horizontal frame, so the first number indicating the horizontal size is always larger than the second. The exception is mobile video with a vertical frame of 16:9, which has become widespread thanks to the Snapchat application. This is the only case where a large number indicates the vertical side of the frame.

1:1

Until recently, the square frame was used only in photography. The advantage of this aspect ratio was the ability to design equipment that did not require rotation to select a vertical or horizontal frame layout. The most well-known square frame formats are medium format 6x6 centimeters and small format type-126 with a frame of 28x28 millimeters. Much more widely known is the square format of 7.9 × 7.9 centimeters of integrated kits for instant photography of the Polaroid “SX-70” and type-600 series. It is believed that the features of these technologies and the frame format became the basis for the square images of the social network Instagram. In cinema, a square frame of 18.67x18.67 millimeters was used for film copies of the Superscope system, which, when projected, gave a widescreen image. Currently, the square frame has become widespread in mobile video. The social network Instagram with its square photo format played a big role in this.

1,25:1 (5:4)

Early models of computer monitors with a resolution of 1280x1024 pixels had this aspect ratio. In everyday practice, they are often attributed a 4:3 ratio, which is not entirely true. In the 2010s, they are gradually being replaced by 16:10 and 16:9 widescreen monitors.

1,33:1 (4:3)

1,375:1

1.66:1; 1.85:1 (Flat)

1,78:1 (16:9)

2:1

One of the standards for cassette films and the image format of the contact film copy “Vista-Vision” with a frame size of 18x36 mm (according to other sources, the film copy frame had a ratio of 1.96:1). The Superscope film system was based on a square frame of film print, which was projected onto a screen with double anamorphicity, giving an image with 2:1 aspect ratio. The same aspect ratio is considered standard for modern widescreen film formats “Univizium” and “Maxivision” (English: Univisium, Maxivision) with a shortened frame pitch and without an analog optical soundtrack.

2,2:1

The aspect ratio of most wide-format cinema systems based on the use of wide 70 mm film and spherical optics. The first of these systems was the American “Todd-AO”, on the basis of which the Soviet wide-format cinema system NIKFI (Sovscope70) with the same aspect ratio of 2.2:1 was developed. Currently, it exists only as a format of film copies printed from a negative shot in the Super-35 format or, less commonly, in one of the anamorphic formats.

2,3:1 (21:9)

Screen format of LED TVs produced by some manufacturers. For the first time such a 56-inch diagonal screen was created by Philips in 2009. This aspect ratio is best suited for watching movies shot in CinemaScope or its modern versions with a 2.39:1 frame. However, such screens have not become widespread due to difficulties in coordinating with existing digital content. High-definition video of the 1920x1080 standard is displayed on such screens with a black mess on the top, bottom and sides in Windowbox mode. Fitting a widescreen frame onto a screen without black margins is only possible through interpolation with loss of clarity. The screen format, contrary to expectations, was not included in the options of the new Blu-Ray Ultra HD standards, which sharply reduced the demand for monitors of this format. As a result, most home appliance manufacturers abandoned their release, with Philips being the first to do so in 2012.

2,35:1

2,55:1

Aspect ratios of early anamorphic formats, including Cinemascope and Cinemascope-55. This screen aspect ratio existed until 1954, when a standard optical one was added to the four-channel magnetic phonogram, which occupied part of the film copy space allocated to the image. Currently not in use.

2,6:1

To increase the horizontal field of view and enhance the perception of the film, the film company Cinerama (eng. Cinerama) invented and commercially introduced a panoramic system of three-film filming and film projection on special, highly curved huge screens up to 30 m wide with a frame width-to-height ratio of 2.6 :1 . The Cinerama system provided a high-quality method for recording and playing back seven-channel surround sound from a separate 35 mm synchronized magnetic phonogram. With this system, the sound followed the image on the screen through playback by different speakers located around the audience.

The first film shot using the Cinerama system - documentary-video (English travelogue) “This Is Cinerama” (English “This Is Cinerama”) was first shown to the public in 1952 in a specially built and equipped cinema. The success of the film was so great that it did not leave the screens for two years. Despite the complexity and cumbersomeness of the Cinerama system, 7 more films were created, including three feature films: “How the West Was Won” and “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” (Eng. "The Wonderful World Of Brothers Grimm") (both in the city) and “Sailboat: The Voyage of Christian Radick” (eng. "Windjammer: The Voyage of Christian Radich"- filming using the “Cinemiracle” system, rental in halls and using the “Cinerama” system. The Soviet Kinopanorama system was developed based on and taking into account the errors of Cinerama. The image has the same aspect ratio of 2.6:1.

2,75:1 (11:4)

In 1959, Panavision acquired the motion picture equipment department of MGM studios. In the same year, the Super Panavision 70 system appeared, which was practically a copy of Todd-AO, but used much more compact cameras.

Other aspect ratios

There are movie attractions with a different screen aspect ratio (for example, a circular panorama with a 360° view). All this is designed to immerse the viewer in the atmosphere of the film and enhance the viewing experience.

see also

Notes

Sources

  1. , With. 36.
  2. The Rich Man"s Poor Man"s Version of CinemaScope(English) . The American WideScreen Museum. Retrieved August 3, 2012. Archived September 7, 2012.
  3. Sergey Asmakov. Wide format: pros and cons (Russian). Reviews. Computer Press (July 2009). Retrieved March 16, 2015.

In the previous post we already talked about this briefly, but I think this issue is worth covering in more detail...

So, there are two common monitor formats today: 4:3 (or 5:4) - i.e. classic, and 16:10 - widescreen. Let's see what these formats are intended for.

P.S. Although, as I already said, you should choose a monitor based on your preferences (so that YOU would be comfortable), but the COMFORT criteria differ based on the tasks in which the monitor and the computer as a whole are used... Let's continue about the formats:

4:3 (5:4) - classic monitor aspect ratio, example:

Traditional screen format, suitable for ordinary (or rather ordinary) computer work (office tasks, Internet surfing, mail, etc.). Not suitable for watching movies, because... Often all films are in widescreen format, and the picture is displayed on the monitor as a narrow stripe in the middle.

It is also not suitable for computer games, because... In dynamic games, coverage in width is mainly valued rather than in height - hence the inconvenience.

Also not entirely convenient for serious computer work. Working with several programs at the same time, editing audio and video, working with several documents, etc.

16:10 (16:9 – modern standard)- widescreen format.

Wide-format monitors today are steadily pushing the classic 5:4 ratio out of the market, for many reasons...

Firstly: a wide-format monitor is very well suited for watching movies, working with photos and videos, as well as with 3D graphics, and is good for computer games - the viewing width is sufficient. It's also just great when you need a lot of desk space.

Often, width space is more important than height space. A widescreen monitor has significantly more space in width.

And secondly, such a monitor also adds convenience to simple office work and browsing the Internet. The reasons - again, a sufficient amount of space in width: useful when working with several documents (you can, for example, keep two windows open on the screen at the same time) - a big advantage, especially when you consider that even simple office work often involves MULTITASKING, and accordingly - parallel work with several documents or files.

But a particular user needs to CAREFULLY choose the format of the monitor he purchases.

To do this, you need to determine the tasks that are set for the computer, as well as personal preferences - the space occupied on the table (dimensions, picture quality, etc.) plus you MUST take into account the technical parameters of the device (and this is a separate and very voluminous question), therefore , specialist help is needed.

Personally, at first I worked on a monitor with a classic aspect ratio, I got used to this ratio, but then I decided to buy a widescreen one.

At first it was unusual (the monitor seemed somehow “wrong”), but then, after working for 3-4 days and getting used to the new one, I appreciated all the advantages of a wide screen - the convenience of work and entertainment.