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Opinion
Managing Aspections
9/18/2006
By Will Craig, CTS-D CDT, Elert & Associates
The proliferation of wide-aspect monitors has put new burdens on those who support and train end-users who make presentations in classrooms, lecture halls, and boardrooms. As projectors increasingly are built into widescreen applications, these burdens will only get larger. Preparing and managing the expectations of end-users who are jumping into wide-aspect (or who are having it forced upon them) is vital to smooth(er) relations between presentation system users and those who support them.
Widescreen is not a monolithic standard. There are an enormous number of wide-aspect resolutions in the marketplace – everything from 852x480 to 1920x1200 and even higher. Investigation and calculations of the monitor selection at your local big-box retailer will reveal 16:9 aspect monitors, but also 15:9, 15:10, and some other similar shapes. Pixel count seems to be related to size; 15:9 seems to be more prevalent in the smaller (<20”) desktop wide-aspect monitors, while 16:9 is more common in the larger sizes of monitors.
Projector resolutions are divided more along application type than by size. Inexpensive home theater projectors are often 1280x720, which is 16:9 aspect but has fewer vertical pixels than XGA (1024x768), so most computer images will be scaled/squeezed vertically in order to appear on these projectors. Larger/heavier/expensive wide-aspect projectors tend towards 1365x768 or higher resolutions, so there are fewer issues with image scaling.
Display aspect ratios are commonly referred to as the ratio of the width to the height. This is not a universal standard, so it never hurts to confirm with your architect or screen supplier that you and they have a common understanding of the screen size and shape.
Below are some common scenarios that involve widescreen adaptation, along with an explanation of what may happen and why.
Scenario #1: Widescreen source on conventional (4:3 aspect) display.
An instructor connects their wide-aspect laptop to a presentation system and the signal is displayed through a conventional monitor or projector in the wide-aspect format. The limiting factor in displaying this image is the width. Because the image is wider than the display’s number of lines or pixels, the image appears relatively uncompressed but will leave blank areas above and below the image on most displays.
Figure 1a
Figure 1b
Figure 1a assumes that the display device (monitor or projector) is able to display a wide-aspect source. Many 15”, 17”, and 19” 4:3 aspect LCD monitors are not – they will give you a blank screen and inform you through the on-screen display that the signal is not valid (Figure 1b).
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