Windowbox (film)

Windowboxing (also called the "postage stamp effect") occurs when the aspect ratio of a film is such that the letterbox effect and pillarbox effect occur simultaneously [ [http://www.jeremymoore.com/AdobePremiere/PAR_Displays/ A visual reference to common Pixel Aspect formats ] ] [http://www.theperfectvision.com/articles/glossary/w.html] [ [http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/hometheater/glossary/glossaryw.php Home Theater: Audio & Video Glossary - ACME HOW TO.com ] ] . Sometimes, by accident or design, a standard ratio image is presented in the central portion of a letterbox picture, resulting in a black border all around. It is generally disliked because it wastes much screen space and reduces the resolution of the original image. It can occur when a 16:9 film is set to 4:3 (letterbox), but then shown on a 16:9 TV or other output device. It can also occur in the opposite direction (4:3 to 16:9 to 4:3). Few films have been released with this aspect ratio -- one example is "", which had numerous scenes with Steve & Terri Irwin using widescreen pillar boxing.

Deliberate Windowboxing

On rare occasion, a picture will be windowboxed on purpose. During the opening, documentary-style sequence of "Rent" on the Widescreen DVD release, the picture is windowboxed to suggest an older camera meant to present at a 4:3 aspect ratio; as the movie transitions from that segment, it then expands horizontally from a windowboxed 4:3 to a letterboxed 2.39:1 aspect ratio.

Windowboxing has also been used in the instance of transferring films with the academy ratio of 1.37:1 to video, as evidenced in recent DVD releases of older films shot in this standard. [http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/sd-dvd-film-documentary/233943-criterions-1-33-1-windowboxing-practice-why-please-help.html Criterion's 1.33 windowboxing pratice - why? (please help) - hometheaterforum.com] ] This is to compensate for the overscan on many 4:3 TVs which cuts off part of all four sides of the image. Windowboxing insures that either more or all of the image is visible on these TVs; in a best case case scenario the TV overscan cuts off nothing but the windowbox borders. It originally was used only for the credit sequences in 4:3 films, where the text could extend out to the very edges of the image, and then gradually was adopted for use throughout the whole film.

Critics often argue that windowboxing of this ratio is unnecessary due to the image loss caused by overscan being negligible. Moreover, for those who watch such films on computer monitors or newer TVs, both of which have less to no overscan, the black borders around all four sides of the image are visible, effectively shrinking the image on those displays. Windowboxing on video also reduces the total amount of resolution the image effectively uses, although defenders of the process argue that the lost resolution is negligible.

Defenders also argue that the prevalence of credit sequences being windowboxed on recent DVDs suggests a natural progression towards the full presentation being windowboxed, just as widescreen presentations progressed. However, letterboxing never insured that the TV displaying it was showing the full image, just that it was present in the signal, while anamorphic enhancement on DVDs was designed to maximize the resolution used by widescreen films on the format, again with no compensation for overscan.

Defenders further argue that the traditional method of cropping 1.37:1 aspect ratio films to fill the 4:3 (1.33:1) ratio of standard definition video causes visual information, however negligible, to be permanently lost from the film. However, critics point out that this situation could be remedied by letterboxing the 1.37:1 image instead of windowboxing, while windowboxed images are often still in a 4:3 aspect ratio, meaning the lost image information wasn't restored by the process. Furthermore, DVD video has slightly more horizontal resolution than analogue video, giving it an effective aspect ratio of 1.38:1 which allows for a nearly full-screen 1.37:1 image to be stored without cropping, although whether this extra image information can be properly displayed depends on the equipment used. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tvbranding/picturesize.shtml A Guide to Picture Size - bbc.co.uk] ]

Ultimately, the use of 4:3 windowboxing on video is dependent of whether or not one feels the issue of overscan is best solved via hardware (through the use of newer equipment, to the detriment of those with older displays) or via software (through the use of windoboxing, to the detriment of those with newer displays).

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