Ĭurrent high-definition television (HDTV) systems use video displays with a wider aspect ratio than older television sets, making it easier to accurately display widescreen films. In addition, recent years have seen an increase of 'fake' 2.35:1 letterbox mattes on television to give the impression of a cinema film, often seen in adverts, trailers or television programmes such as Top Gear. When using a 4:3 television, it is possible to display such programming in either a letterbox format or in a 4:3 centre-cut format (where the edges of the picture are lost).Ī letterboxed 14:9 compromise ratio was often broadcast in analogue transmissions in European countries making the transition from 4:3 to 16:9. Most television channels in Europe are broadcasting standard-definition programming in 16:9, while in the United States, these are downscaled to letterbox. On television ĭigital broadcasting allows 1.78:1 (16:9) widescreen format transmissions without losing resolution, and thus widescreen is the television norm. The image is produced by using a map projection-like technique to approximate how the picture might look if projected onto a curved Cinerama screen. The term 'SmileBox' is a registered trademark used to describe a type of letterboxing for Cinerama films, such as on the Blu-ray release of How the West Was Won.

Each disc contains a label noting the use of 'RCA's innovative wide-screen mastering technique.' In cinema and home video The first fully letterboxed CED release was Amarcord in 1984, and several others followed including The Long Goodbye, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and The King of Hearts.

Initially, letterboxing was limited to several key sequences of a film such as opening and closing credits, but was later used for entire films. The first use of letterbox in consumer video appeared with the RCA Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) videodisc format. The term refers to the shape of a letter box, a slot in a wall or door through which mail is delivered, being rectangular and wider than it is high.

Smilebox video format