Finally found a good way to remove letterbox...

[Dave A]

This thing is a rudimentary processor from the early 90's. I don't even see where it can mix between sources. It looks like it only copies A-B or B-A. The "Picture Effector" just takes the A or B source to black, blue, yellow, etc on the color selector or whatever else it can do on A or B. The size controls only size inwards from whatever the source is...4x3 in its day. A letterbox would only get new letterbox stripes.

tI may have a VHS camera connector on the back we cannot see if you want to power an old camera. There is a button for "camera-A/B".

[ChrisW6ATV]

As Dave A said, that device looks like a variation on the ones that Panasonic made in the late 1980s or early 1990s, such as the WJ-MX10 and others; basic video effects generators with some ability to do A/B wipes and audio mixing of a couple of signal sources. I use one in my ham radio "amateur television" (ATV) station here, for fun. No, they would not do anything related to zooming or changing the aspect ratio of video signals.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Now to comment on the idea of "removing letterboxing" at all: I find that whole idea to be lousy.

There is nothing worse than mutilating the original composition of a movie (or even a wide-screen TV show) and chopping out parts from the sides, just so "the whole TV screen is lit up with a picture".

Chopping up movies and TV shows to make them all appear the same size (whether on 4:3 screens that we all collect, or on 16:9 wide-screen sets when watching old TV shows or pre-1953 movies) is no better than cutting off the head on the Mona Lisa because "its frame is taller than the picture next to it". Would you really want EVERY picture in an art museum to be the same size and shape? Movies and TV shows are no different; they exist in a number of widths (or heights) and aspect ratios.

There are plenty of TV channels and DVDs with 4:3 shows that can be watched "full screen" on our old sets very nicely.

[Dave A]

Yay Chris. 16x9 letterbox is put out there to show the original intent of the director using a wide screen and most channels now honor that. And I speak as a tv director. Just watch Laurence of Arabia in 4x3 to see how the wide-screen vision of a director is squashed.

If you have to have the CRT filling version in 4x3, the best bet...and cheapest, is to find a VHS/LD copy of the film from the 80's in 4x3. Also known as "center-cut" or "pan-and-scan". Besides, this version gets you in to another form of tv history preservation.

[Dude111]

I hate letterbox!!!!

FULL SCREEN for me

[Jeffhs]

I don't "hate" letterbox, but I don't like it, either. Fortunately, my flat screen TV has the zoom feature that allows me to fill out the screen when watching channels, such as USA network, that carry much of their programming in letterbox format. I don't have this problem with the local network stations, whose digital feeds always fill my screen. With my Blu-ray player, there is a menu option to switch between 4:3 and 16:9. I set it for 16:9 and it works perfectly with most DVDs--my own and those I rent from Netflix.

[centralradio]

I have nothing against letterboxing but I hate it when You Tubers stretch the daylights out of a classic TV shows do it.I watched some of I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners that were stretched to kingdom come.

Its great for movies of any era.

Some computer video editing software can crop out the letterbox and fix the video back to normal.

I know my DVD player has options that can have letterbox or 4.3 to be selected.And the same for the cable box and the DTV converter as I can remember.

[Electronic M]

4X3 content on a 16X9 screen produces black bars at the sides, and is called 'Pillarbox'.

[etype2]

I just don't see a problem. I definitely want letterbox so I can see the entire movie as the Director intended me to see it, to cite Dave's example of Lawrance of Arabia. The only way one could view Lawarance of Arabia without letterbox is if one purchased a 21x9 aspect ratio monitor/TV.

On "old" 4x3 TV's, ME TV will look okay, but today's 16x9 telecasts will be cut off (missing part of the image) unless one sets the TV to letterbox.

I do understand the undersiable look of watching letterbox on a 4x3 set and the possible burn in on CRT sets. Just reset the aspect ratio on the converter box, but understand you won't see the entire image.

Before the DVD and BluRay was invented, the state of the art was LaserDisk championed by Pioneer. That format gave us the best image and sound with rock steady freeze frame. We demanded letterbox on our LaserDisks because of the expense of the disks and we began watching on projection television. The movie studios complied, there was a big demand for letterbox LaserDisks.

[Electronic M]

I understand and like letterbox on programs and movies that were meant to have it, but what ticks me off is when a 4X3 program is pillar boxed at the network (I know this because the pillar box is filled with the network art) then sent to the cable co as 16X9 by the network, and then that image gets pillar boxed to give me a 4X3 content with a big rectangle around it effectively decreasing my screen size.

I can't do a damn thing about it since it is analog cable (short of breaking in to buildings, or writing complaints).

Also some DTV stations send signals to block aspect ratio changes at the converter box.

[maxhifi]

Watching Lawrence of Arabia on a 21" Sony Trinitron was my first experience with letterbox. That movie is a great example of why in my opinion watching a movie on any sort of TV is nothing but a giant compromise... movies are simply not made to be watched on a tiny screen across the room. You miss details left right and centre, and the sound is totally inadequate too.

I have A 120" wall mounted 16x9 screen with a 3 CRT Runco HDTV projector mounted on the ceiling, and the amount of detail I notice in movies has increased exponentially over watching movies on TV sets. It has been a bit of a bitch to keep it alive, the convergence ICs have failed twice, but since installing an additional fan they seem to be hanging in there.