I thought i was up with all these aspect ratios 1.85,2.35,1.78
But what is 2.40:1?

I was recently watching "national treasure" on a laptop and it seemed to be 2.35:1 with letterboxing on top of the exisiting black bars. (The laptop was widescreen display, maybe it affected the aspect?)

Anyway im sure if i want an answer, this is the place.

Cheers,
Ben Gurvich

DVD's are only 16:9. Most movies are shot on 1.85 or 2.35, both have bars,
2.35 a lot more than 1.85 (barely noticable since 16:9 already is 1.78).

So if National Treasure is 2.35/2.40 you will see black bars on a DVD. If you
project such an image it is less noticable.

Basically with film they can use any aspect ratio (ie, cropping) they'd like
to use. There are numerous ratios that have been used throughout the years.
Just another creative decision!

This is one of my favorite websites. Spend a few minutes browsing around, it will tell you all you ever wanted to know about the different widescreen formats...

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/index.htm

Didn't Ben Hur even used 2.70:1?
Could be wrong though.

Ben Hur seems to have been released in a variety of formats...

http://imdb.com/title/tt0052618/technical

Ow, thanks.

Well look, even 2.76 is mentioned :-D

If I'm a filmmaker I will shoot in an aspect ratio of 3.56, I'm sure of it ;-) Héhé

thanks for the info .