The two commonly known TV screen shapes that most people around the world recognise are the squarish shapes of the conventional TVs and the Widescreen TV shapes of the latest HDTV models of today. Though the conventional CRT televisions had a 4:3 screen aspect ratio, today’s HDTVs have a 16:9 screen aspect ratio. Comparatively, the widescreen images are definitely a distinct improvement as it offers those larger images that are more akin to how your eyes view objects next to each other in the horizontal orientation aspect rather than one above the other vertical orientation aspect. Simply put, the aspect ratio of images is the comparative ratio of the image width to that of the image height.

Both these aspect ratios are a treat to watch and work perfectly well. But, the moment you start watching 4:3 content on a 16:9 format television, you need to compromise on some significant viewing factors. The difference in shapes between these two aspect ratios result in black bars, a kind of picture distortion towards the right and left side of images. You may, of course, choose to stretch or zoom 4:3 ratio pictures, if you prefer to do so. But you need to have a television that has aspect ratio controls and get familiar with the different control modes your TV has to offer, in terms of adjustments.

Television programs are not the only ones to have the aspect ratio problems. Even devices such as your DVD player or the cable box can have their own settings. Watching 16:9 images on a 4:3 screen is also abnormal, but is not like the previous case, since whatever be the proportionate sizes, at least they will fill up the screen space. Leaving the black bars as such for extended time periods may cause permanent damage to your screen displays, especially if you happen to have a Plasma TV. Therefore, it is in the best interest of your Plasma TV that such static images are avoided, in order to avoid burn-in. The world over, 16:9 is the adopted standard for broadcast formats for digital as well as HD TV.