What is a letterbox movie?
The shape of a theater screen is wider than the shape of a TV screen. So, when movies appear on TV, the left and right sides of the image are usually cut off and you miss about 30 percent of the film’s original picture. The letterbox format, preferred by many film buffs, displays movies on a television screen as originally intended by the films’ directors. That’s why you see black bars at the top and bottom of the screen when you watch a letterbox movie on your television. The TV screen has been adapted to accommodate the film’s entire picture. In order to fit the whole picture on the screen, the image has to be reduced. There is no extra charge for letterbox movies from DIRECTV® Pay Per View.
