On the back of the Young Guns SE, it says that it is presented in a matted format preserving the original theatrical aspect ratio. What is the difference between matted and anamorphic? Young Guns appears to be anamorphic on my tv.

The movie was filmed open matte or a 4:3 frame. During editing, hard mattes, aka black bars, are placed top and bottom to create a widescreen aspect ratio, 1.85, 2.35, whatever they want. Instead of hard mattes, soft mattes can be used at the time of presentation.

The transfer from whatever source to DVD is anamorphic by squeezing only the matted widescreen picture back into a 4:3 frame so none of the resolution is wasted reproducing black bars.

Now there is also the subject of anamorphic lenses on the camera equipment. I don't know all the pros and cons on these.

I think I got that right. Info from a more knowledgeable source is welcome.

"Matted" usually means that the film was shot with spherical lenses, and the 1.37:1 exposed negative area was matted to 1.85:1 for theatrical projection.

"Anamorphic" in the filming context means that the film was shot using anamorphic lenses that squeeze an image twice the normal width onto the film negative. To play back the film correctly, anamorphic lenses are needed for projection, and the projected image is usually about 2.35:1.

So, basicially, "matted" usually means "1.85:1" and "anamorphic" usually means "2.35:1."

The use of "anamorphic" in terms of DVD technology is something entirely different. "Anamorphic" DVD transfers mean that the video contains an image area designed for 16x9 TVs. This has nothing to do with filming using anamorphic lenses. A movie, for example, can be both "matted" and have an "anamorphic" DVD transfer.

DJ

www.widescreen.org

I can see the next confused user question already: "What's the difference between OAR and DTS?"

More specifically, see their What Is Matted Widescreen? Section.