AYRE DX-5DSD - Manual (Page 46)

image. On a standard display, additional black bars
will be added by the video disc player (or much less
commonly by the display itself). The end result will
be thick black bars at the top and bottom of the
screen. Again this is perfectly normal.
Pan and Scan Discs
Sometimes when a widescreen film is transferred to
video disc, only the center portion is scanned. This
process is called “pan and scan” and changes the
aspect ratio to 1.33:1, allowing for viewing on
standard displays without the use of black bars.
However this not only changes the film director’s
original visual composition, but can even lead to
critical elements being left out of the picture
entirely.
These discs are often euphemistically called
“fullscreen”. Most film enthusiasts prefer to watch
the film’s original aspect ratio and therefore avoid
these discs. As far as compatibility with either
widescreen or standard displays, pan and scan discs
will work in the same way as standard 1.37:1 films.
Letterboxed Discs
Since all DVD players can convert a widescreen disc
to display properly on a standard video display,
there is no technical reason to make a “letterboxed”
disc. However in the very early days of DVD, movie
studios were selling to a much smaller audience of
DVD player owners. Instead of making a new
transfer to DVD in widescreen format, to save
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