Anamorphic DVD listing - where to look ? (1 Viewer)

where do you go to look for the (aboslute) truth on anamorphic/non-anamorphic dvds ?

I mean, I know I can go to Amazon, dvdempire, buy.com et.al. but where is really the best place to determine if a dvd release is anamorphic/non-anamorphic.

For example, and this is one of many, the movie Indecent Proposal is on my to-get list, but if its not anamorphic, I simply wont purchase it.

I routinely go to the digital bits, bargainflix, dvdfile.com but they dont necessarily list the info on upcoming releases.

Short answer is there really isn't one. The retailers almost all take their listings for specs from the keepcase, and if that's wrong (as happens so often) that's what shows up.

I believe that if you have DVD Profiler you can load your want list in and then sort anamorphic releases out (assuming it's a disc in their database, but most existing releases are), but that's a user-defined database and subject to its own errors.

98% of widescreen DVDs coming out today are anamorphic

Best bet is to post here and ask. You'll get an accurate answer pretty quickly. I know of no other comprehensive source.

This question guests asked alot

General rules of thumb:

Disney/Miramax/Touchstone- Nothing issued before March/April 2000 was anamorphic with the exception of Shakespeare in Love from Miramax (memory fuzzy, I could swear only the CE is anamorphic).

Fox- May 1999 was their first anamorphic discs, got regular mid-summer and by fall everything was anamorphic for the most part

Columbia- Anamorphic across the board with very few exceptions.

New Line- jumped on anamorphic bandwagon fairly quickly, early titles like Lawnmower Man, The Mask, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles not anamorphic.

Warner- Pretty solid on anamorphic for the most part, again mostly older titles from the first year or so of DVD, and even then most of those were anamorphic.

MGM- My best suggestion is to look at the box or post here if the disc was issued prior to late 2000. Even now they pop up non-anamorphic transfers way more often than they should.

Universal- Usually anamorphic, there are a few non-anamorphics out there

Image/Anchor Bay/Criterion- Pre-1999/2000 stuff tends to be non-anamorphic, since then they've really stepped it up.

http://www.dvd-basen.dk/uk/home.php3?soeg=r1&mvis=ok -- not a definitive resource, but if you search for DVD reviews, chances are a title has been reviewed somewhere, and any reviewer worth his/her salt will list if a DVD is anamorphic or not. At least, that's what I use as a reference.

ah...the IMDB has a DVD details section that displays info on the transfer of DVDs. It makes the distinction between anamorphic and non discs.

One reason I was asking was I am thinking of "upgrading" my Jack Ryan collection paramount discs (Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games) to the new releases coming out and I know at least one of those is non-anamorphic (the old releases...the new ones that come out 5/6 are all enhanced).

DVD Lister has always worked out for me.

Alex, IIRC all 3 of the older Jack Ryan movies were non-anamorphic.

Widescreen Review is pretty good. Search for a title. If it's P&S it usually will not even be found. If it's OAR it will come up and give details, including, (from what I've been told) measured Aspect Ratio and whether or not is is enhanced.

Widesreen Review