Mike Lowrey

Also of note, because of the recent Robocop Trilogy release, you may be interested in picking up the 4-part Robocop: Prime Directives mini-series. The first two are clearly labeled with 16:9 anamorphic WS. The last two aren't labeled anything. Some e-tailers (DeepDiscount and others) show them as Fullscreen. However, you'd think that if they're a part of the same mini-series that they too would be in 16:9 WS, right? Well they are. So rest easy if you want to get them.

If you like Robocop, I highly recommmend this mini-series. It threw away the mid-'90s PC Robocop series and returned to the raw gritty style of the original movies. The effects are pretty good too. Some CGI effects, etc. The actor playing Alex Murphy/Robocop looks a bit like an older Peter Weller. (use your imagination a bit). The only problem is that the Robocop movements are a bit awkward. Not quite as robotic as Weller played them. But still passable.

Each volume is fairly cheap. None of them should cost over $10. Each episode runs a little over 90 minutes, so you can get a 370+ minute "movie" for around $40.

shill66

Many older Columbia releases are anamorphic, but are not labeled as such.

Here's my advice. If you need to find out if a title is or isn't, seek the info on the internet. If you find conflicting information, ask here for confirmation on which is right (but make sure you've done step one first).

Gamewatcher

Thanks for pointing the list out to folks. I actually was on a big non-anamorphic tear over the holidays. I had just gotten a widescreen TV and I went through and manually checked my several hundred DVD titles on it.

When I saw there was really no good resource for this info, I compiled the list and posted it. Thanks to this thread, I received my first update in months - I'll try to post the changes in the next 24 hours.

Thanks again, and please feel free to continue to point out shortcomings - it's my goal to make it as complete as possible.

Mike Lowrey

Luckily I got into DVD just as non-anamorphic DVDs were on their way out, and I managed only to buy a couple non-anamorphics. One was Fox's Volcano and Fox's Marked for Death. Hmm...two older Fox releases....just realized that. Speaking of which, isn't it interesting that the studio who released those special Widescreen VHS clamshells back in '97 and '98, released the same titles in Non-anamorhpic DVDs and they have still yet to release most of those title in anamorphic. Titles such as The Abyss, True Lies, Volcano, and a few others that I can't think of.

sparks

I just went thru all my DVD's and found about 65 that weren't anamorphic.

Some I kept because they won't be rereleased.

That void in my collection will now be filled with the 65 I haven't watched yet.

Now on to eBay and friends to get rid of them.

...so many movies, so little time!

icruise

I too recently bought a widescreen HDTV and have been replacing my non-anamorphic DVDs with new versions, when available. I always knew that anamorphic was preferable to plain letterbox, but most of the non-anamorphic movies in my collection didn't have anamorphic versions available (and most still don't). Still, I'm trying to keep an eye on which ones are going to be re-released so I can sell off the old ones beforehand.

I've found that Amazon.com's product information is usually pretty good about specifying anamorphic vs letterbox, so I usually use that as a first line of defense when buying an unknown DVD.

Gamewatcher

Hey, before you pitch them to eBay, can you compare them with my list and let know if I'm missing any? I just updated the list last night and plan to do another update soon based on some of the leads mentioned in this thread.

Thanks!

QuikSilver

Here's a list of dvd's in my collection that are not anamorphic.

Scream
Good Will Hunting
Pretty Woman
Top Gun (though a new SE is coming in Nov.)

sparks

Gamewatcher,

I just added 15 more!

bpatt

I have about 600 titles and it took me about two minutes to figure out which titles of mine are non-anamorphic. Here's how (if you use DVD Profiler):

First, be sure to clear all filters.
Under A/V tab, clear completely (may take two clicks) Pan&Scan, Full Frame, and the 16x9 Enh boxes.
Ensure that the Widescreen checkbox is dark-checked, as opposed to clear and lightly grayed out.
Finally, select the "And" choice at the base of the filtering.

The results should be all titles that you have in your collection that offer a non-anamorphic widescreen presentation, assuming the profiles are correct, and all of your titles are listed.