How to Set Aspect Ratio on a Westinghouse Smart TV

Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team

1. Introduction

Movies and television shows can come in a huge variety of different resolutions and aspect ratios. With the advent of high-quality digital video, certain content can end up looking odd, with black bars and/or stretching.

Your Westinghouse TV has options to help you adjust the image on your screen to your liking.

2. Black Bars

In most cases, black bars to the left and right, or top and bottom, are normal.

Most high-definition televisions have a 16:9 aspect ratio, how high and wide the screen is. Most standard-definition televisions have a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Most Blu-Ray disks will have an information line on the back cover of the box detailing what resolution and aspect ratio the movie is in.

Example movie information from back of Blu-Ray movie.

Detail of movie information showing the main feature resolution.

1080p High Definition1,080 pixels high, the same as most modern televisions.16x9The aspect ratio that is encoded on the disk. Since we know the height (above), a little math shows the width is 1,920 pixels wide.2.4:1The actual frame the movie shows at.

Common aspect ratiosStandard TV (4:3) will show black bars on the left and right

Example of standard definition teleivison being shown on a modern high definition television.

A slightly older widescreen format, created by Paramount (5x3), used in Europe more frequently, will show slight black bars on the left and right

Example of Paramount Widescreen being shown on a modern high definition television.

Full HD Widescreen (16x9) is the aspect ratio most TV is produced for today and will take up your whole screen

Example of modern high definition being shown on a modern high definition television.

Cinema (2.4:1) movies may have a wider format, showing black bars on the top and bottom

Example of cinema movie being shown on a modern high definition television.

Ultra Panavision (2.76:1) is a very wide formatted movie, and tends to be more common in westerns

Example of Ultra Panavision being shown on a modern high definition television.

3. Aspect Ratio

There are 2 areas to check to be sure the resolution is set properly.

Television Settings

Push the Home button on your remote.

Select Settings from the menu at top.

Select Display & Sounds.

Settings menu with Display and Settings highlighted.

Select Display.

Display and Sounds Settings with Display highlighted.

Select Video Resolution.

Display with Video Resolution highlighted.

Use the Up and Down keys on your remote to make sure you can just see the ends of each arrow. When complete, select Accept.

Screen adjustment with Accept highlighted.

During Playback

While watching a movie or television show, push the Menu button on your remote.

Select the Display menu, the icon looks like an eye.

Select View mode.

Video Settings with View mode highlighted.

Here you'll see a few choices to make your picture look better. Try Normal and Original size first. Sometimes, if a video is not encoded properly (common on older DVDs), the other settings may be appropriate.