4:3 vs 5:4 LCD

Stickx

Distinguished
Apr 12, 2004
3
0
18,510
I am thinking of getting a 17" to 19" LCD monitor and want to edit home movies and watch TV at times (time shifting). All the TV and camcorder video that I have is in 4:3 format. Does anyone know what will happen if I use the 5:4 format 17" panels to watch 4:3 video sources and edit them? Will I get black borders on the top and bottom of the screen, or will the picture be stretched and distorted to fit the whole screen?

As far as I can tell, the LCD monitors have the following ratios:
15" - 1024x768 = 4:3 (too small)
17" to 19" - 1280x1024 = 5:4
20+" - 1600x1200 = 4:3 (too expensive)

If the video card makes a difference, I have an ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon (an oldie), but I can upgrade if needed. Any advice would be appreciated before I spend the $$ and end up unhappy. :smile:
 

FiL

Distinguished
Feb 4, 2002
5
0
18,510
well it depends what you are shooting in, and making sure that you DV software knows how you are shooting.

Do you shoot in NTSC or PAL?

i suggest your learn your pixel aspect ratio and your frame aspect ratio. the video can appear to have 4:3 ratio with regard to resolution, but actually have non-square pixels for example.


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Athlon 1900+ (Palomino)
Soltek SL75-DRV2 KT266A mobo
768Mb RAM
GF4 Ti 4200 128Mb