Today's Challenges

Until a few years ago, there were only two options for achieving a CinemaScope image: • The anamorphic lens route, in which an externally mounted lens slides in front of the projector (and back out of the way when not needed).

• Or the second option, often called ‘overshooting’ or ‘constant height’.  The premise of a zoom option is that the projector needs a zoom range that can accommodate a 16:9 film and then a 2.39:1 movie by zooming the image as far as the edges of the black bars.

Installers today offer both options, but they have three drawbacks: • Anamorphic lenses and the ‘constant height’ option are more problematic now, because the integrator has to return to the site to adjust the inaccuracy in the anamorphic lens or the lens memory positioning. • The quality of the image is the second drawback. A lens with the amount of zoom to support both 16:9 and 2.39:1 is expensive, if the quality should be as good as that of a lens without that zoom range. • The third drawback is that you actually increase the pixel size by zooming the image 34.4% (from 16:9 up to 2.39:1). And an image with larger pixels is less sharp and has geometric distortions (such as pincushion). So, many installers have often thought: wouldn’t it be great to have a projector that could just switch between formats – with no extra lenses, no fuss, and no need for return calibration checks?

Formats and resolutions

Most movies that are released in commercial theaters today are in 2.39:1(2.40:1) format. (People still often call this format 2.35:1 but in fact that format has not been in use since the 1970s when the standard was changed to 2.39:1).

The term ‘CinemaScope’ is used for all of these different versions, despite the technical differences. Important for the home market, of course, Blu-rays are released in 1920x1080 (4K Blu-rays are 3840x2160, with an aspect ratio of 16:9 (1.77:1)). 

Auto aspect ratio detection

The CinemaScope series projectors have a unique automatic aspect ratio detection function, which checks for 2.39:1 content and automatically scales the image to fit the 2560x1080 (5120x2160) resolution (and, of course changes back to 16:9 1920x1080 (3840x2160), if you have content in that format). 

This function also changes the aspect ratio when a 2.39:1 format movie has menus outside the active picture frame (as shown in the illustration on the right). When hitting the menu button, or changing to 16:9 movie content, the projector automatically adjusts the image shape. You can also switch manually between the different formats through onscreen or remote control commands.