Aspect ratio

[Denisse]

Hello Everyone!
I have a question about aspect ratio. My Camera shoots in 24f mode 16:9 native and I've been using that combination. It's my first time seeing what the 16:9 looks like. When I play back the footage on my TV set, the images are kind of elongated. Not terribly so, but enough where I notice a diference. When I do ECU shots I don't notice it, but I'm sure that's because it's so close.
Is it the 16:9 aspect ratio that's causing that? What is the standard 4:3 right? I am a newbie, so please bear with me.
I took a class, and sadly to say all that was mention about 16:9 is that it's wide screen, and there was mention about an anamorphic lense that squeezes the image then upon editing it releases it. Well I am not using that lense, so I guess that's what native means. But is it posibble that the image is sligthly squeezed and that's why it looks long, because it's unedited?
Also, which aspect ratio is considered standard, and if there is no standard perse, then from your experience when do you suggest I use each?

 

[movingyourvision]

Within the motion picture industry, the convention is to assign a value of 1 to the image height, so that, for example, an anamorphic frame is described as 2.40:1 or just "2.40" (pronounced "two four oh"). The most common projection ratios in American theaters are 1.85:1 and 2.40:1. Some European countries use 1.66:1 as a widescreen standard. 1.33:1 was used for all theatrical films up until the 1950s when 1.85:1 became the standard for US theatrical projection.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_Ratio

Do you have a widescreen tv? If not: Do you have letterboxing (black bars at top/bottom of screen)? Or does the picture even fill the full screen? How do you play back your footage? Directly from the camera? Or do you burn a DVD?

 

[Denisse]

Re: Aspect Ratio

Re: Aspect Ratio

No I don't have a wide sreen tv and I played directly from my camera to the TV. I was told that's the problem, and that once I burn a DVD of the footage the DVD player will automatically do the conversion to 4:3. Thanks everyone for your help. Guess I need a new TV.