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Avalon Reg 3 SE (Korea) - weird aspect ratio!

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Avalon Reg 3 SE (Korea) - weird aspect ratio!

Old 09-03-03, 05:17 PM
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Avalon Reg 3 SE (Korea) - weird aspect ratio!

Hi folks,

Picked up this release from YesAsia and found the aspect ratio really weird. Check this out ....



As you can see, huge black border around the image!

Now, the back of the case says 1.85:1 anamorphic, but I measured the image and it's actually 1.76:1! Now, a 1.76:1 aspect ratio would fit a 16:9 display nicely - so why they didn't just zoom the image up and get rid of the top and bottom borders is baffling me!! Also, since the original aspect ratio is 1.66:1 according to IMDB, it looks like they just kept the sides and slapped a black border across the top and bottom!!!???!!!!

Does anyone have any other versions of this release and would be willing to dump out a screenshot for comparison, e.g. the Hong Kong Region 3? the Jap Region 2? Or perhaps someone can confirm that the borders are as the director intended or something?

Thanks

Last edited by Squirrel God; 09-03-03 at 05:22 PM.
Old 09-03-03, 10:35 PM
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It's called windowboxing. The image is shrunk slightly, leaving a black border all around the image. The idea is to compensate for the overscan on most TVs; the black border will be lost to the edges of the screen, while the entire image is presented. When a movie isn't windowboxed, some of the image, typically 4% but perhaps more, is lost to the edges of the screen.

Why do TVs have overscan? In a nutshell, to hide noise that typically occurs at the edges of an analog transmission.

As for the aspect ratio, imdb isn't always accurate. AsianDB lists the aspect ratio as 1.85:1, and every DVD release of the film has had that aspect ratio, including the Japanese DVD release. However, most consider the Korean DVD to be a port of the Japanese DVD, so it's possible that Japanese DVD is 1.76:1 as well.
Old 09-03-03, 10:51 PM
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Found a site with screenshots from the Dutch DVD of this film:
http://outnow.ch/Media/Img/2001/Avalon/

These images are slightly letterboxed on the top and bottom, probably preserving the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Perhaps you can grab a screenshot from the R3 that matches up with one of these and see what, if anything, is missing.

Here are two reviews of the Dutch DVD, which again list the aspect ratio as 1.85:1
http://outnow.ch/dvds/2002/Avalon/

Edit: My bad, this review is of the French release, which has a DTS track as well:
http://www.fragland.net/index.php?page=dvd&dvdid=105

Last edited by Jay G.; 09-04-03 at 12:04 AM.
Old 09-03-03, 11:42 PM
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Thanks very much for your reply. I haven't heard of the term 'windowboxing' before but am familiar with overscan

I did as you suggested and grabbed some screenshots to compare against the Dutch DVD.

It appears that the Korean has slightly more image vertically, and is slightly cropped horizontally. It is very, very minor though and certainly not something that bothers me now I have compared.

I thought I would post these screenshots for the benefit of others...

Korean Screen #1


Dutch Screen #1


Korean Screen #2


Dutch Screen #2



I don't like the windowboxing however as it means less lines of resolution are available to use for the image. Oh well - it is worth putting up with to gain the DTS-ES soundtrack
Old 09-05-03, 09:15 PM
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Hmmm... I had the Japanese R2 DVD of Avalon and got rid of it and picked up the Korean release. I did have both DVD's for short time and compared the transfers (although I didn't take screenshots). The Korean DVD looked like a virtual port of the Japanese disc, all the way down to the chapter stops. If the Korean disc is indeed a little cropped in places, I didn't notice it at all.

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