Is Analog TV anamorphic?

[KillerQ]

Hey all,

I have a 65" Mits HD-Ready TV. Right now, I use it in the home theater for movies -- so I never paid attention to the TV stuff....

I have rabbit ears (non HD) that I am using now. Now, I always notice bars on the top and bottom during primetime shows that are in widescreen. Is that because they shows are not traditional 16:9, or is it because they are not anamorphic?

I use stretch mode to make fullscreen go widescreen -- and I want to know if some shows that are in widescreen, will allow me to put my TV in normal mode, and they will properly fill the 16x9 screen...


Thanks

Matt!

[Drexl]

No, analog TV is not anamorphic. However, I noticed in a commercial recently for Talladega Nights on DVD that the film footage was stretched. In that case I guess it would be anamorphic.

[Spiky]

Sounds like your TV is stretching sideways but not vertically. Gotta use a Zoom mode, not a Stretch mode for non-anamorphic stuff. I'm not sure what Mits terminology is.

[Ranger]

was wondering about something similar. i'm assuming that most / all hd video is anamorphic. for regular dvd, i believe anamorphic (16x9) at 2:35.1 would usually have an actual picture resolution of something like 853x363, with the smaller black bars taken out.

then what's the exact picture resolution for hd video (hd tv or hd dvd) when it comes to the various aspect ratios (2.35:1, 1,85:1, etc).

[Spiky]

817x1920; 1038x1920, respectively. Just need to calculate it.

[hdtv00]

you're confusing terms, just because something is widescreen doesn't mean its anamorphic, well not in the sense you're talking about from what I gather. Like dvds can be anamorphic or not, preferred method is anamorphic becuase you get 33% more resolution in the picture. But high def is not anamorphic in this way. As you dont need a set or device to compensate for the stretch.

High Def aspect ratio is 16:9

"and I want to know if some shows that are in widescreen, will allow me to put my TV in normal mode, and they will properly fill the 16x9 screen..."

Yes high def tv will fill your mits screen. Although some movies still wont because they were filmed at 2.25:1 but 1.85:1 will fill it.

[KillerQ]

you're confusing terms, just because something is widescreen doesn't mean its anamorphic, well not in the sense you're talking about from what I gather.


No, I understand that -- that's why I asked. I didn't know if the shows were anamorphic -- just like non-anamorphic DVD's which are useless (on a 16x9 set). The non-anamorphic shows don't fit properly. If the shows aren't sueezed anamorphically then they won't squeeze the image vertically to restore objects to their proper shapes.


Later,

Matt