Learn the different kinds of DVD aspect ratio.
Movies and television can be displayed in a variety of height-to-width ratios, known as the aspect ratio. The most commonly used ratios today are 4:3, 16:9 and 221:100. The ratio 4:3 is a "standard" television size, almost square. 16:9 is "widescreen" TV, about half as tall as it is wide. Theatrical movies are usually even wider than widescreen, with images as large as 24:10. DVD releases can use any of these ratios.
4:3 Ratio - "Full Screen"
The 4:3 aspect ratio was used mainly by television shows from original broasdcasts in the 1950s until the beginning of digital television in the early 2000s. The picture is roughly square, and corresponds with the screen shape of older "tube" televisions. Before DVDs became popular, most VHS movies and TV shows were released with a 4:3 aspect ratio to fit televisions, cropping theatrical movies down in order to fit inside the restricted 4:3 frame. If you have an older television with a square screen and want your DVDs to fill it entirely, you should buy "fullscreen" DVDs.
16:9 Ratio - "Widescreen"
The 16:9 aspect ratio is the standard shape for HDTV televisions and broadcasts. It's a rectangle about twice as wide as it is tall, and it approximates the natural vision of most humans -- your eyes also see about twice as much on the horizontal axis as they do vertical. All high-definition TV broadcasts and most DVDs are released in 16:9, usually identified as "widescreen." If you want to see more of the original theatrical movie frame, or your television is a widescreen HDTV, you should buy widescreen DVDs.
Theatrical Ratios and Conversion
Movies made after the 1950s use a very wide frame, sometimes almost three times as wide as it is tall. Even for 16:9 "widescreen" DVD, some of the image must be cropped to compensate for a smaller frame. In the last few years, some movies have been released in their original aspect ratios, so even on a 16:9 HDTV, black bars on the top and bottom of the screen are used to compensate for the size difference.
Your DVD Player's Zoom Feature
Most modern DVD and Blu-ray players will work with either 4:3 televisions or 16:9 HDTVs. In addition, players can artificially "zoom in" on the digital picture, cropping it to fit the specific screen it's being displayed on. Using these tools, you can display a wide cinema formatted DVD on an HDTV or even an older television without black bars by cropping the picture in the menu. For this reason, you may want to buy widescreen DVDs even if you use an older television -- you can use the DVD player features to crop the picture now, and if you upgrade to an HDTV later, your movies will still be properly formatted.
Different Ratio Standards
It's almost impossible to perfectly match a screen with all video standards. Most households have 16:9 HDTVs, but black bars are still displayed on standard-definition TV broadcasts and pre-2000 TV show DVDs. Not even all theatrical movies are widescreen: even a brand-new DVD copy of Gone With The Wind or The Wizard of Oz uses the square 4:3 picture, because that's how the movies were originally filmed. Remember to consider the source when buying new DVDs and using your DVD player's zoom feature.
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