or 1.85/1
ratio of width to height. A television screen is 1.33/1.
So in order to see a movie that was filmed in a widescreen format (2.35 or 1.85) on a 1.33/1 screen they either need to add black bars to the top and bottom of the movie
or zoom into the middle and lose the picture on the left and right sides. BR>
The reason some people don't like the full screen version of movies is that you are, in fact, missing some of the movie which can change the feel and character of the movie. Here's an example from A Few Good Men: BR>
In this scene, Kaffee (center) is pressing his case against Colonel Jessep (Jack Nicholson - right). The widescreen image provides a fine example of how a film technique called "deep space" has been used to increase the dramatic tension in the scene. Notice that Kaffee (in the midground) is locked in a staring match with Jessep (foreground). Meanwhile, Ross (played by Kevin Bacon - background left) is objecting to Kaffee's argument.
But in the full frame version, we lose Jessep completely, along with much of the tension.
A new filming technique called Super 35, which uses 1.33/1 film stock, has been used by a few directors to mitigate the problems associated with converting a widescreen movie to fullscreen. It involves filming a movie at 1.33/1 (as in this shot from Air Force One).
In this shot, the entire frame is shown on the fullscreen version of the DVD, while just the area in the white box is shown on the widescreen version and theatrical releases. Like so:
So you actually see more on the fullscreen version of Air Force One instead of much less like other films.
Personally, I hate missing some of the movie so I'll go with Widescreen on normal releases and Fullscreen on Super 35's. By the way, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was shot in Super 35 so you may actually see more in the FS release.