Watching movies on an iPad: What you see is what you get
Watching a movie on the new iPad will not as pleasurable experience as you might think. The screen being 1024x768 pixels is in a 4:3 ratio which is the exactly the same as an old CRT television set. Many of us are have gone on from there and are luxuriating in the glory of our 16x9 aspect HDTVs.
It turns out that 16x9 will give you big honking black bars at the top and bottom of your screen as you can see by the green bar in the image above, and anything above or below it will be displayed as black bars.
It gets worse, lots worse. Let's say you're playing a regular, non-widescreen movie which has an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. In that case anything above or below the blue area will be black bars.
Now we get to ribbon-vision. Most widescreen films, from Star Wars to the new Star Trek were filmed in 2:35:1. This and all other resolutions mentioned refer to how wide the screen is as compared to how high. So these films are 2:35 times wider than they are high, and result in a mere ribbon on the iPad screen. Without measuring, it seems to me that a full half of the screen in landscape mode will be filled with black bars.
One last kick in the pants. Having a resolution of 1024x768 pixels there is no way that you can display the gold standard of today's high-definition of 1080p. There just aren't enough pixels.
So iBooks make sense, but movie watching will be somewhat limited. People frequently say that they really can't watch movies on an iPhone or iPod touch, since the resulting display is so small. The iPad will absolutely be better, but still at a trade-off.
Thanks to Blake Walters for creating the chart and tipping us off about this.
Note: Some users have questioned the graphic, so I'm posting a revised version by Arash Ayrom which is correct.
Here is Arash's graphic:
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Timm said 9:50PM on 1-27-2010
That first paragraph is horrible! It almost makes no sense at all.
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darth_nazgul said 9:56PM on 1-27-2010
"Many of us are have gone on from there and are luxuriating in the glory of our 16x9 aspect HDTVs."
lolwut?
Joseph said 4:08AM on 1-28-2010
since when are CRT televisions 1024x768??? 1280x720 = hd. nice boner maneuver
bioadam said 10:22AM on 1-28-2010
Did it ever dawn on David Winograd (if that is his real name) that a 2.35:1 screen would be utterly stupid looking and have huge black bars for 4:3 movies (like say, "Bambi") or that 1080p and 720p are indistinguishable on a 9.7 inch screen. Luxuriate on that!
brian said 10:32AM on 1-28-2010
The sentence is badly phrased. The second half on its own is correct: "...a 4:3 ratio... is the exactly the same as an old CRT television set."
sodapop said 3:41PM on 1-28-2010
CRT tv is 648x480
Zactu said 9:58PM on 1-27-2010
The 4:3 ratio is fine. This is not just for watching movies, you need a ratio that suits other types of content. Correct decision, no whinging from me.
However: it should have a web cam, a mini USB port, an infrared detector so the Apple remote can be used that maybe work other appliances and an in-built kick stand.
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penguin.balances said 11:18AM on 4-21-2010
from official iPad webpage:
"the best way to experience the web, email, photos, and video. Hands down."
it can't render 75% of the pages on the web (statistic of pages that contain Flash content), and it has neither the resolution NOR the ratio suited for video.
how is that "best...hands down" ?
Brian said 10:00PM on 1-27-2010
The problem with what has been said is that my MacBook Pro 15" is still only 1440x900... That is still less than 1080p too.
I watch movies all the time on my 15" without problems. If you scale down the pixels vs size of the screen, I don't think it will make that much of a difference. Yes, it can't do 1080p but when you are watching a 10" screen can you even tell? I remember reading when 1080p first came out that you wouldn't notice the difference on a 42" screen. It is close enough to 720p. That makes a pretty good screen for watching movies if you ask me.
Excarpi out
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Rhys said 3:57AM on 1-28-2010
Amen. 1080p is pointless on such a small screen. Unless you're holding an inch from your nose (even then it'd be difficult to tell), you would not see the difference. 1024x768 is huge for a screen that size. Most portable DVD players don't come even close to that resolution. Panasonic's portable Blu-ray player has a resolution of 1024x600, and that's crystal clear on the 8.9" screen.
This article is somewhat pointless. Whilst valid for pointing out the aspect ratios, it doesn't seem to accept the fact that the iPad is designed for MANY things, not just movies.
Maxintech said 7:01AM on 1-28-2010
I agree with @Rhys. It's a tablet!
SophT said 6:29PM on 2-01-2010
that may be true- but it can't handle 720p either, seeing as that's 1280x720. They should have pushed for 1280x1024 (4:3) resolution. As it is- there's no support for any HD content. But hey, I guess that's better than the 320x240 you have on the iPhone (or whatever horribly low res it has)
Phillip platz said 10:01PM on 1-27-2010
Thankfully, tv has been shooting in 4x3 center cut safe for years, and won't be affected when double-tapped to fill the display.
Silver lining.
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JDog said 2:28AM on 1-28-2010
Unfortunately, not anymore - I still have a 4:3 TV, and I often see text or people's faces that are cut off the sides of the screen now.
Helvetica said 12:50PM on 3-09-2010
I like the 4:3. It is good for a lot of things on the iPad (Word Processing, Webpage viewing, etc). Take a look at the shape of the 16:9 ratio drawn on your image above and you will see the issue. It is too thin and long ... that's what she said.
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James Troi said 10:02PM on 1-27-2010
C'mon don't be silly, how could it possibly accommodate a 2:35:1 aspect at full screen and still be usable for anything else. Surprise, even your local cinema has bars at the top and bottom when watching a "ribbon vision" movie.
Just like there and when you're watching a 2:35:1 at home on your 16:9 TV you won't even think about the bars when you're watching the video.
Why is everyone complaining about this? It's a ridiculous ask to have the device meant for many things to be perfect for every one of those things. We don't have anamorphic technology just yet.
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Kerp said 10:05PM on 1-27-2010
So what would you have to say about the web browsing or iBook reading if the iPad screen was 2.35:1? It's a multi-use device right? Most of the web is still designed to fit in the space between the blue on this page right here, which will fit pretty nicely on that iPad aspect ratio.
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radj said 10:13PM on 1-27-2010
You can double tap on a 16:9 movie and it will zoom to fit. The 4:3 screen will be filled, you will just not see the far sides.
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caricaturesbydave said 10:10PM on 1-27-2010
The same lame thing can mostly be said about my 13 inch Macbook Pro - black bars above and below, sup-par viewing experience, blah blah blah...
HOGWASH! So the iPad isn't the 'vuuurry best' movie watching device, fine, neither is any shipping Macbook Pro except possibly the 17 inch model...
Strangely enough, though my pixel count is quite low, gosh, movies still look AWESOME on this Macbook and those same movies will still look AWESOME on the iPad... Super hi-def? Of course not. Go watch your TV if you want that.
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penguin.balances said 11:35AM on 4-21-2010
"So the iPad isn't the 'vuuurry best' movie watching device, fine, neither is any shipping Macbook Pro except possibly the 17 inch model..."
do Apple advertise their desktops as the best experience for video hands down? because Apple does on the official iPad site.
simply put, Apple are deceiving it's customers and bluntly lying about it's abilities. this is behaviour that worries those of us that prefer our products to be at least *close* to what they are advertised as.
but when Apple has the official iPad page claim "the best experience for the web, email, photos, and video. Hands down", we take exception and wonder if Apple hasn't started selling their products on cable accesses infomercials. the quality of the claims is outlandish, not what you expect from a high-profile company like Apple.