Neil White

Anamorphic 1.66:1 Question

When I play 1.66:1 anamorphic discs on my Denon DVM-2815 I get an image that fills my 16:9 widescreen (like a 1.85:1 disc would). Is that correct? Should I not expect some pillar-boxing? Am I losing top and bottom image?

I'm pretty sure that when I watch a 1.66:1 anamorphic disc on my Sony DVP-NC655P it looks like a 1.85:1 ratio on my Sony 4:3 high-scan direct view although I seem to remember seeing at least one disc that did look right.

Is it possible the discs are labeled wrong? The Lion King is one example.

When I watch a 1.66:1 non-anamorphic disc on my Denon/widescreen, I get a pillarboxed/letterboxed image as I would expect.

Someone put this ignoramous to rights please.

Thanks

N

My gallery: http://www.pbase.com/nezmo

Brian Gentry

What you should see is a *very* slightly pillar boxed image. Doing the math:

1.66 / 1.85 = 0.897

So, about 10% of the width of the image should be pillar boxed. Given an average 5% over scan (on each side) on most TVs, the pillar boxing may be out of the visible area. I think I remember seeing a little bit of vertical black bars on the sides when I last watched The Lion King, but it's been a few months so my memory is blurry.

I may check again when I get home.

Hope this helps.

Brian.

Neil White

Thanks Brian, I guess overscan would account for lack of pillarbox bars. But that would also mean I am losing quite a lot of info left and right on 1.85:1 and other widescreen formats. Looks like I may need to get my overscan checked.

I also need to recheck what happens on my 4:3 set. I would expect smaller letterbox bars on 1.66:1 material. However, this set does an automatic squeeze which I thought was a fixed squeeze of the raster at the 1.78:1 ratio or thereabouts. For 2.35:1 materials the player adds extra black bars. But for 1.66:1, should I not see again pillarbox bars (small ones) as the image is slotted-into the 1.78:1 window? Maybe overscan again is causing the cropping.

Hmmm,

N

My gallery: http://www.pbase.com/nezmo

Don_Berg

Typical factory setting of 5% overscan on each side of the TV's screen will prevent any visible black side bars for 1.66:1 AR movies, since thats only 3.3% on each side for display on a 1.78:1 (16:9) screen. Use an AVIA DVD overscan test pattern to check out your TV's overscan on all sides, you might be able to reduce it in the sets's service menu.

Brian Gentry

If your set is like mine (sony 4x3 RPTV with "squeeze" mode), then what you're describing is almost 100% correct. You'd expect to see the pillar box bars on that set as well. The only thing you're a little off on is teh 2.35:1 material. In that case, the player isn't adding anything. Those black bars are recorded on the DVD. They are the matting necessary to show a 2.35:1 picture inside of a 1.85:1 frame. Just a minor technicality, but I thought I'd point it out.



Yes, you'd expect to. You're probably right that the over scan is again preventing you from seeing them. I just put in my copy of The Lion King and watched a few minutes. There are no pillar boxing bars visible on my screen. I got very close to make sure.

I then put in Digital Video Essentials and showed the 1.33:1 overscan pattern. Both in "regular" 1.33:1 mode and in 1.85:1 "squeeze" mode my set is right at 5% on all sides, with the left and bottom sides even further off so the 5% line disappears. I guess that's why I don't see the pillars. I'd expect you to get similar results on both of your sets.

That was fun.

Brian.

Allan Jayne

The current system of labeling for aspect ratio is severely lacking and perhaps deliberately so. The DVD generally is labeled for (1) being 16:9 enhanced or not, and (2) the aspect ratio of the movie is generally stated. But they don't say (3) how much you are actually getting, that is whether there is a slight amount of pan and scan cropping or picture squeezing to make 1.66:1 or 1.85:1 movies actually occupy the entire 16:9 area, or larger aspect ratio movies have less black bar area. Then overscan loses even more picture content.

Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/vidwide.htm