I'm confused so I hope someone can help me out. When I read DVD reviews on this webiste it will state if the DVD is in either an anamorphic or non-anamorphic widescreen version. I know what that process means in terms of feature films, but not when it comes to DVDs.
If a DVD is a widescreen non-anamorphic DVD it's still widescreen isn't it? What's the difference bewteen say a anamorphic 2:35 DVD and a non-anamorphic 2:35 DVD. The image is exactly the same isn't it?
Could someone clarify this for me?
Skyler
09-01-04, 06:45 PM
Non anamorphic will have bars on all 4 sides. If you have a widescreen, you need anamorphic. If you have a bunch of non anamorphic DVD's, get a Panasonic DVD-RP91.
Originally posted by Skyler
Non anamorphic will have bars on all 4 sides.
Only on a 16:9 set. On a 4:3 set, both will look about the same. On page two of the link Johnny posted, you can find links to screen shots that explain it better than words ever could.
THORN
09-01-04, 11:41 PM
an anamorphic dvd will (in theory) have a higher level of detail. the anamorphic disc will use EVERY line of resolution for picture detail. the player will insert the "black bars" onto a 4:3 screen.
on the other hand, a non-anamorphic disc the "black bars" are in the frame. they eat up precious line of resolution there by reduceing the possible detail. a non-anamorphic disc played on a wide screen display 16:9 will usually distort the image or need to be zoomed to look correct
thats why most of us with 16:9 displays ONLY buy the anamorphic versions
hope that helped
Mike Lowrey
09-02-04, 12:14 AM
Originally posted by SergioM
I'm confused so I hope someone can help me out. When I read DVD reviews on this webiste it will state if the DVD is in either an anamorphic or non-anamorphic widescreen version. I know what that process means in terms of feature films, but not when it comes to DVDs.
If a DVD is a widescreen non-anamorphic DVD it's still widescreen isn't it? What's the difference bewteen say a anamorphic 2:35 DVD and a non-anamorphic 2:35 DVD. The image is exactly the same isn't it?
Could someone clarify this for me?
Basically, a widescreen (16:9) TV automatically stretches an image to the side edges of the screen. But if done with a non-anamorphic source, beit a DVD or TV broadcast, the image will look stretched sideways.
An anamorphic source, has pre-stretched the image vertically, so that when the widescreen TVs stretch the image horizontally, the image won't look stretched.
And as THORN has pointed out, by having the anamorphic source prestretched vertically, by logic would require more lines of actual visual information there.
On DVDs that have 1.78 (16:9) or 1.85 transfers, the only information that the DVDs contain is picture information. 2.35 transfers have a bit of black bar within the picture information. (I think that's right, someone please correct me if I'm wrong.) This is why you still see a bit of black bar on a 2.35 film on a widescreen TV, while a 1.78 or 1.85 DVD will fill up a widescreen TV.
SergioM
09-02-04, 10:29 AM
My thanks to everybody who has resonded to my original question. Now I understand...
Big Worms
10-07-04, 02:28 PM
I just resently began getting serious about collecting DVD's and this was the one question that I had. Now I know the difference. Now I want to make sure that my collection is anamorphic. Is there an easy way to do this using say DVD Profiler and do I just do it the manual way?
Adrenaline
10-07-04, 02:44 PM
If you have all your dvds in dvd profiler just goto Tools->Charts & Graphs then Satistics->Video->Formats.
If you're a 100% anamorphic you will have equal Widescreen and 16x9 Enhanced bars.
Big Worms
10-07-04, 02:54 PM
Thanks! 10 of them are not. :( I will have to find out which ones are not.
Drexl
10-07-04, 03:15 PM
Originally posted by Big Worms
I just resently began getting serious about collecting DVD's and this was the one question that I had. Now I know the difference. Now I want to make sure that my collection is anamorphic. Is there an easy way to do this using say DVD Profiler and do I just do it the manual way?
Here are the 10:
Armageddon
Titanic
True Lies
The Princess Bride (SE is anamorphic)
What About Bob?
Hercules
Spaceballs
Office Space (SE rumored for next year should almost certainly be anamorphic)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (not sure about this one though)
Good Will Hunting - the Canadian Alliance version was anamorphic, but not the one you have (even if the packgaing indicates otherwise). I don't know about other regions, but this and The Princess Bride are the only ones you can "upgrade" to anamorphic Region 1 editions at this time.
Big Worms
10-07-04, 03:22 PM
Wow you were fast! I was just working on that as well. How did you do that? I took the XML export and did some filtering with that. Came back with the same list.
ThatGuamGuy
10-07-04, 03:37 PM
Originally posted by Drexl
I don't know about other regions, but this and The Princess Bride are the only ones you can "upgrade" to anamorphic Region 1 editions at this time.
True. 'Titanic' will be re-issued in the near future (no date announced, but it was on a list), and 'True Lies' has been supposed to be upgraded forever.
Also, I would assume 'Spaceballs' will be re-issued if Mel Brooks actually does do a sequel (or is it a prequel?), as he's recently indicated.
This sort of thing always seems weird to me ... I understand wanting to understand the anamorphic thing, but the only way it matters at this time is if you have a 1.85 TV, and if you have one, you'd already know what the problem discs were (or, at least, some of 'em).
This is why I only have one non-anamorphic widescreen DVD.
lordzeppelin
10-07-04, 04:30 PM
I have a few non-anamorphic DVDs, and I really don't even notice any stretching anymore. even on regular tv I don't notice it on the 57". I think once like the hour I got the TV, I was like "that looks a little stretched" and I've never noticed it since.
Mike Lowrey
10-07-04, 08:53 PM
Originally posted by lordzeppelin
I have a few non-anamorphic DVDs, and I really don't even notice any stretching anymore. even on regular tv I don't notice it on the 57". I think once like the hour I got the TV, I was like "that looks a little stretched" and I've never noticed it since.
Just a joke here, but do you normally see things through "walleye vision"?
Big Worms
10-07-04, 09:34 PM
I know Thorn mentioned, but does everybody skip non-anamorphic dvds and buy anamorphic?
Drexl
10-08-04, 02:23 AM
Originally posted by ThatGuamGuy
This sort of thing always seems weird to me ... I understand wanting to understand the anamorphic thing, but the only way it matters at this time is if you have a 1.85 TV, and if you have one, you'd already know what the problem discs were (or, at least, some of 'em).
It also matters if you have a 4:3 set capable of the vertical squeeze, or if you watch DVDs on a computer monitor (which is capable of showing the extra detail in anamorphic transfers even though it's 4:3).
Also, the process of transferring a film to video has improved a lot over the years. Some non-anamorphic DVDs have old transfers. If the transfer on a DVD is anamorphic, it's almost certainly a recent transfer using modern telecine technology, and not taken from an old laserdisc master.
DivxGuy
10-08-04, 03:57 PM
SergioM: I put together a backgrounder (http://www.dvd-b.com/Pages/FullLock1.html) with info on how DVD images get reformatted for widescreen displays, if you're interested.
chowchris13
10-08-04, 06:59 PM
Four Weddings and a Funeral? anamorphic or not?
Playitagainsam
10-08-04, 10:50 PM
I have a question here, as well as a piece of advice...
First, what does Panasonic RP-91 do that is good for owners of non-anamorphic DVDs? I have the RP-82, by the way, so I'd like to know if there are any features as yet undiscovered :)
Second: I found that DVDShrink is an excellent tool for telling whether a DVD is anamorphic or not. Just load the disc in the program, and the Preview box in DVDShrink will display images according to what DVD-ho78(DTS) has posted... Really useful little tool :)
Kevin Phillips
10-09-04, 09:19 AM
I have found both imdb and widescreenreview are sites that can tell you whether a DVD is anamorphic or or not.
Four Weddings and a Funeral? anamorphic or not?
Acording to the sites I mentioned, it's not.
If you already have the DVD, but don't have a widescreen TV, you can find out if its anamorphic if you have a computer with a DVD player. Watch the DVD on your computer with something that displays the video in a window. If the window is 16x9, its anamorphic. If the the window is 4:3, its not.
geekroick
10-09-04, 01:10 PM
Originally posted by DVD-ho78(DTS)
Non-anamorphic 2.35:1 on Widescreen TV:
your widescreen TV has no 16:9 zoom function then?
littlefuzzy
10-09-04, 01:25 PM
Most people without widescreen TVs can change the settings of their DVD player to "TV shape - 16x9." Non-anamorphic discs will look the same, while anamorphic discs will fill the picture, but be stretched vertically.
To change your DVD player back, go to the settings and change it to "TV shape - Standard (Letterboxed.)"
The setting "TV shape - Standard (Pan & Scan)" was for people who disliked widescreen films, but the discs have to be encoded with pan & scan information that will tell the DVD player exactly where to pan the letterboxed image. Most discs probably don't have this information, as there is either a pan & scan disc available, or the editors/directors/etc., don't wish to add this information to a widescreen film in the first place.
Originally posted by geekroick
your widescreen TV has no 16:9 zoom function then?
Why would you want a picture with half the resolution of a normal picture?
DVD-ho78(DTS)
10-09-04, 01:40 PM
Originally posted by geekroick
your widescreen TV has no 16:9 zoom function then?
Yeah, it does. Those pictures represent the default view that I pulled from the link above. The zoom on my Sony is horrible but the "full" mode is decent. I try to not watch either since they are distracting. The only time I use "full" mode is when I watch that one non-anamorphic DVD.
Most of my TV viewing consists of HD programming & anamorphic DVD viewing, so any alteration to the pircture is easily noticable. When I watch the regular news or ESPNEWS I watch it with the black bars on the sides and really don't notice them anymore.
Playitagainsam
10-09-04, 01:57 PM
Ummm... can someone PLEASE answer my question as well? As for "A Fish Called Wanda", if you have the DVD, the best way to check it is the procedure described in my previous post.
eXcentris
10-09-04, 02:52 PM
"Zoom" can have a different meaning. My Panasonic DLP has a zoom mode which zooms the picture in so there is some cropping involved and you lose some information. But when people talk about the "zoom" function of a DVD player they mostly refer to zoom/pan and/or x,y scaling capability which can be used to "zoom" a letterbox (non-anamorphic) transfer to it's proper aspect ratio, albeit with some loss of resolution.
Anamorphic transfers are not a panacea. You can have some pretty good letterbox transfers and some pretty crappy anamorphic transfers. While I prefer anamorphic transfers, I go on a case by case basis so I don't necessarily subscribe to the "it has to be anamorphic!" rule.
Shroud
10-10-04, 03:16 AM
There have been some really great non-anamorphic transfers like Criterion Collection Armeggedon, The Faculty, Strange Days. However when watching a movie on a 16x9 screen it is very annoying to see both letter box and pillar box together that gives that framing look. Then if the movie is filmed at 2.35:1 or more you lose even more of the screen.
I try to buy only anamorphic movies and have even ordered movies from other regions to take advantage of this. My True Lies and Scream are both from Spain and have excellent anamorphic transfers. Since I use a HTPC on a projector the PAL conversion and region locking is no problem.
Josh Z
10-10-04, 10:58 AM
Originally posted by Playitagainsam
First, what does Panasonic RP-91 do that is good for owners of non-anamorphic DVDs? I have the RP-82, by the way, so I'd like to know if there are any features as yet undiscovered :)
The RP-91 has a scaling feature that will zoom a non-anamorphic disc to fill a 16:9 display. This is useful for those TVs that lock into 16:9 stretch mode on all progressive scan sources regardless of whether they are anamorphic or not.
The RP-82 does not have this feature.
DivxGuy
10-10-04, 03:35 PM
This is useful for those TVs that lock into 16:9 stretch mode on all progressive scan sources regardless of whether they are anamorphic or not.
It's actually native widescreen mode, which displays any inputs as 1.78:1. Send it a 1.78:1 image and no stretching is done. It was years before I figured out that subtle difference, but when I did it was a big step towards getting the most out my Pioneer display.
The RP-91 has scaling, but only in a one-size-fits-all form that crops the top and bottom of non-enhanced 1.66:1 images. On features with subtitles, the subtitles can be cropped off, which can ruin the viewing experience.
I had an RP-91 for a while, but I switched to a home theater PC, which has offers both full aspect ratio control and a superior image. More cumbersome to use, though.
Regards, RD
aspikes
10-10-04, 06:41 PM
I buy only anamorphic DVDs. I have several non-anamorphic dvds that I will not replace unless the anarmorphic can be had for next to nothing. I would rather buy movies I dont have than replace movies I already own, particular when I may only watch that movie 1 or 2 times a year. While not ideal, I use one of the zoom function when watching a non-anamorphic dvd.
There was nothing worst than when I first bought my 16x9 tv (march 03) and put in a non-anamorphic dvd. Anybody with a regular tv(4x3 ratio), do yourself a huge favor and stop buying fool screen and non-anamorpic dvds! You will upgrade sometime in the future. Full screen is so worthless! Thankfully none of my dvds where full screen, but some of my early ones are non-anamorphic.
A quick way to know if anamorphoric is use your twin view. It's easy to tell. Btw, I try to watch most tv programs in HD. If on a analog channel, then I use the "normal" zoom function and keep the black bar on the sides of my widescreen tv. My sony sathd200 switches from 16x9 while on a hd channel to 4x3 when on analog automatically!
whoster69
10-10-04, 06:46 PM
I agree aspikes, but the problem I keep running into is that the DVDs don't always say if they're anamorphic or not. Many retailers, particularly online retailers, don't always list that info.
Does anyone have some good places to find that kind of stuff out?
DivxGuy
10-10-04, 07:23 PM
There was nothing worst than when I first bought my 16x9 tv (march 03) and put in a non-anamorphic dvd. Anybody with a regular tv(4x3 ratio), do yourself a huge favor and stop buying fool screen and non-anamorpic dvds! You will upgrade sometime in the future.
I was an early adopter of 16x9 (April 2000), and I once had problems with 4:3 and non-enhanced widescreen titles. However, use of an HTPC (which has full aspect ratio control) ameliorated the problem, to a large extent.
Note that buying 16x9-enhanced discs is no guarantee of flawless transfers, or that better versions won't come along. For example, I bought the Alien box set in 1999, and four years or so later, a "definitive" set was released with improved transfers (and more extras). And farther down the road, we can expect even better, when HD-DVD becomes popular.
Edit: Does anyone have some good places to find that kind of stuff out?
DVD Planet tends to have those kinds of details, if they carry it.
RD
whoster69
10-10-04, 08:29 PM
Originally posted by DivxGuy
DVD Planet tends to have those kinds of details, if they carry it.
Thanks for the info!
datagirl7
10-29-04, 05:29 PM
What happens to Full-screen things on an HDTV? I have tv shows that are Full screen - and they wont' ever be widescreen because they weren't filmed that way. How would a widescreen tv display them - are they banded on the sides only, or all around? I'd hate if all my tv shows on dvd looked like crap on my next tv.
Walter Neff
10-29-04, 06:34 PM
Originally posted by datagirl7
What happens to Full-screen things on an HDTV? I have tv shows that are Full screen - and they wont' ever be widescreen because they weren't filmed that way. How would a widescreen tv display them - are they banded on the sides only, or all around? I'd hate if all my tv shows on dvd looked like crap on my next tv.
They're displayed with bars on the sides -- either gray bars or black bars, depending on your TV. They don't look like crap, they just have bars on the sides, no different than when you watch a widescreen movie on a standard television and there are bars on the top and bottom.
MJKTool
10-29-04, 06:51 PM
Or the HDTV can stretch the 4:3 image to fill the 16x9 screen. Some widescreen sets do a very good job at this.
danicus007
10-29-04, 06:52 PM
Originally posted by Walter Neff
They're displayed with bars on the sides -- either gray bars or black bars, depending on your TV. They don't look like crap, they just have bars on the sides, no different than when you watch a widescreen movie on a standard television and there are bars on the top and bottom.
And you can always run in "FULL" mode which doesn't stretch too bad. I guess it depends on your set. I watch all of my 4x3 SDTV in FULL mode on my 16x9 Panny. It does a nice job and the images don't look very stretched.
datagirl7
10-29-04, 07:19 PM
Thanks for the answers. I'm happy I won't have to rebuy tv eps on dvd again to see them.
Qui Gon Jim
10-29-04, 08:35 PM
Originally posted by datagirl7
Thanks for the answers. I'm happy I won't have to rebuy tv eps on dvd again to see them.
I reccomend that if there is a TV show you reaalllyy want, to get it. It will be a long time before the studios do another major dump of their catalogs as is going on right now.
marioxb
10-29-04, 09:58 PM
I have a widescreen TV, but I really don't care, anamorphic, non-anamorphic, all the same to me. I watch all of my DVD and TV shows in Full mode. I don't like fullscreen, but I will buy it if it's the only choice. I really don't mind top and bottom bars (kinda like them actually, seems more "cinematic") but hate side bars. That's why I use the full mode, it stretches the picture to the sides of the widescreen TV. Actually I watch all my anamorphic discs in full mode and keep the player set to letterbox. It seems that on 1:85:1 movies like Resident Evil, if the DVD player is set to 16x9, a little bit of the top and bottom of the screen is cut off, no matter what mode my TV is in (Sony uh, don't know the model). Is there a way to not miss ANY of the picture on these movies in 16x9 mode?
Here is an example, Resident Evil Deluxe Edition on my 16x9 TV when the DVD player is in 16x9 mode (close representation anyway) and the bottom is on the same TV in letterbox mode (though there are bigger black bars).
http://img97.exs.cx/img97/4526/both.jpg
So why does this happen? Is there a way to see EVERYTHING in 1:85:1 in 16x9 mode on a 16x9 TV?
The Infidel
10-29-04, 10:42 PM
I'll give you an example of bad anamorphic: Almost anything from Warner Brothers.
I never noticed until the recent release of the SE of Purple Rain that WB uses matting, and considering some of the glaring cropping in Purple Rain, I now hate matting, since WB ruined one of my favorite movies from my teenage years.
DivxGuy
03-25-05, 04:46 PM
Here is an example, Resident Evil Deluxe Edition on my 16x9 TV when the DVD player is in 16x9 mode (close representation anyway) and the bottom is on the same TV in letterbox mode (though there are bigger black bars).What setting is your TV on? This looks like a mismatch between player and TV settings.
DavidH
03-25-05, 05:06 PM
Non-anamorphic, widescreen DVDs only exist because studios were too shortsighted. There was never a good reason not to make them anamorphic. The notion that DVD players had poor downconversion which is why they had to make them that way further proves my point. Obviously, downcoversion improved very quickly (even on lower end players) and widescreen TVs became more prevalent.
Furthermore, it's extremely frustrating they haven't re-released many of the non-anamorphic DVDs yet, even with HD-DVD on the horizon.
DivxGuy
03-25-05, 05:56 PM
Non-anamorphic, widescreen DVDs only exist because studios were too shortsighted. There was never a good reason not to make them anamorphic. The notion that DVD players had poor downconversion which is why they had to make them that way further proves my point. Obviously, downcoversion improved very quickly (even on lower end players) and widescreen TVs became more prevalent.
A "good reason" in the case of some catalog titles was that their potential markets weren't worth the expense of remastering (or producing extras for). It was non-anamorphic, no-extras or not at all.
DavidH
03-25-05, 06:10 PM
How much more does it cost to make a DVD anamorphic?
Mike Lowrey
03-25-05, 07:35 PM
How much more does it cost to make a DVD anamorphic?
Nothing. In fact, I heard/read somewhere that it's actually easier/cheaper to do an anamorphic transfer than a non-anamorphic one. It all has to do with just telling the DVD manufacturer to do an anamorphic transfer. It's not quite that simple, but just about.
DivxGuy
03-25-05, 07:51 PM
If I'm wrong, correct me, but I think that does not apply to old pre-DVD masters.
chente
03-25-05, 09:00 PM
your widescreen TV has no 16:9 zoom function then?
I know this wasn't meant for me, but I'll answer anyway. My widescreen tv does have a zoom mode. When I zoom in on non-anamorphic dvd's or my laserdiscs, I get a noticeable loss in picture quality. If the non-anamorphic source is 1.85:1 I usually just leave well enough alone and watch it unzoomed. It kills me to watch non-anamorphic 2:35:1 movies on my TV. In this case, I always just zoom in and live the the loss in picture quality. It usually isn't too bad with DVD's since the resolution is usually pretty good. Zooming in on a 2:35:1 laserdisc blows, so I try to avoid buying these unless I know the source is really good. I've found the the THX certified disc are very good and look pretty good even zoomed.
smurr5
03-26-05, 07:06 AM
I too went through the process of discovering how bad my non- anamorphic dvd's looked when I recently purchased my widescreen tv. I decided to dump all the non anamorphic titles and wait for re-releases in the future, if they are to happen. I found zooming in on either zoom mode I had,(14x9, 16x9), was not acceptable for watching these dvd's. I also happily discovered what everyone who had traveled this route had said, and that was you would not go back to non-anamorphic, after seeing anamorphic on a widescreen set! However I do use the 14x9 zoom for my regular directv viewing and even though I lose a little picture info, Its not distracting .and I like the 'widescreen' feel of watching my broacasts this way. I do intend to switch to HD Directv in the near future to take full advantage of the tv set. And now here comes HD-DVD...
"And the hits just keep on coming"
Smurr
SRotblat
03-26-05, 01:26 PM
I just resently began getting serious about collecting DVD's and this was the one question that I had. Now I know the difference. Now I want to make sure that my collection is anamorphic. Is there an easy way to do this using say DVD Profiler and do I just do it the manual way?
Wow you were fast! I was just working on that as well. How did you do that? I took the XML export and did some filtering with that. Came back with the same list.
In profiler, click on the A/V tab in the filters, you'll see 16x9 Enh(enced) with a box next to it with a green square. Click the box once (so there is a check mark in the box) and you'll filter out all the non 16x9 Enchanced (Anamorphic) discs, click it again (so there is nothing in the box) and you'll see just the titles that are non Anamorphic.
EDIT -- if you want to filter out any Full Frame/Pan & Scan titles if there are any clear the boxes next to both of those choices too and it'll show you JUST widescreen non-Anamorphic titles.
Josh Z
03-26-05, 01:49 PM
Nothing. In fact, I heard/read somewhere that it's actually easier/cheaper to do an anamorphic transfer than a non-anamorphic one. It all has to do with just telling the DVD manufacturer to do an anamorphic transfer. It's not quite that simple, but just about.
The point was that for many of these titles the studio already had non-anamorphic laserdisc masters available and was too cheap to spend the money on a new anamorphic transfer.
When transferring a new widescreen film, there is no excuse not to make it anamorphic. But some of these catalog titles have limited sales potential and the studio doesn't want to spring for a new transfer when they already have something ready.
Mike Lowrey
03-26-05, 11:39 PM
The point was that for many of these titles the studio already had non-anamorphic laserdisc masters available and was too cheap to spend the money on a new anamorphic transfer.
When transferring a new widescreen film, there is no excuse not to make it anamorphic. But some of these catalog titles have limited sales potential and the studio doesn't want to spring for a new transfer when they already have something ready.
Which begs the question why the new 2-disc Princess Balde - SE is non-anamorphic? And it's an ADV release. WHY??? The horror!
Buy: