anamorphic dvd question on my 4:3 (1 Viewer)

[Jeremy Scott]

I have a 36" crt.
I have my ps2 set up for 16:9

Now when i watch widescreen dvds (anamorphic dvds). i have to press the 16:9 botton on my tv remote and it squeezes it even more. or else it will be distorted

does watching a anamorphic movie on a 4:3 tv suppose to squeeze the movie more?
sorry for the bad description

 

[Jonathan Dagmar]

yes. your alterntive would be to set your ps2 to 4:3, which woudl drop some scanlines and give you a worse picture. Be glad your tv has a squeeze mode and use it.

 

[Jeremy Scott]

now how come when i put a reg. widescreen dvd in and watch it, that i dont have to have 16:9 mode on.

i am talking about a letterbox ws dvd here??

this is all very confusing with having a dvd player set to 16:9 or 4:3

and with having anamorphic and letterbox dvd's.

and also having a 16:9 feature on my tv.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

It's really simple:

1. Always keep your ps2/DVD player in 16:9 mode. This ensures that the player passes whatever transfer is on the DVD straight to your monitor, without attempting to alter it in any way. (Otherwise, if your player is in 4:3 mode and you play an "Enhanced for Widescreen" DVD, the player will "downconvert" the transfer to make it suitable for display on a conventional 4:3 set. This will prevent you from enjoying the full resolution available on the DVD.)

2. Switch your monitor to 16:9 mode for "Enhanced for Widescreen TV's" DVD transfers, and switch the monitor to 4:3 for all other DVD's. In almost every instance in which a DVD is "Enhanced for Widescreen TV's", this condition is noted on the DVD packaging. Almost all widescreeen DVD's that have been released in the past two years have been "enhanced" in this fashion.

That's it!

 

[Stephen Tu]

Many discs are mislabeled in regards to enhancement. As Joseph says keep the DVD player in 16:9 mode. If objects are too tall & skinny switch on the 16:9 mode on the TV.

There are two types of DVDs, 4:3 & "enhanced for 16:9". The latter is also known as "anamorphic", but I hate this term because it is easily confused with the use of anamorphic (aspherical) lenses, to make the actual film, which is unrelated to whether the DVD is 16:9 enhanced or not. The pixels represent a 4:3 screen in one, 16:9 in the other. Within this shape, black letterboxing bars take up space to change the shape of the picture area to the proper aspect ratio. So a widescreen DVD could be either letterboxed within a 4:3 frame, or it could be letterboxed within a 16:9 frame. You need the TV set to 16:9 to deal with the latter.

 

[Jonathan Dagmar]

now how come when i put a reg. widescreen dvd in and watch it, that i dont have to have 16:9 mode on.

The future is widescreen 16:9 shaped TVs. Your TV has a feature that squeezes all the scanlines into a 16:9 shape, which in effect gives you a widescreen tv. Since the majority of good DVDs are widescreen enhanced discs, you want to ALWAYS have your DVD player set to 16:9. You then need to engage 16:9 mode on your tv to make your player and TV "match.

Occasionally, you will, as you saud, watch a DVD that is not exnhaced for widescreen tvs, such as TV shows on DVD, or some early widscreem "letterbox" dvds. IN this case, they will play in their correct ratio without you doing anything on your tv, just leave it in 4:3 moode.

But there is another wrinkle, and I don't know if this applies to the PS2 or not. some dvd players let you choose how "4:3" content will be displayed on a 16:9 tv. the setting is usually a choice between "normal" or shrink. SInce you have a 4:3 tv, you want to leave it on normal, and it will then use the entire screen. The shrink mode is to display 4:3 content on a 16:9 tv without distorting it.

To really see the differecne enhanced for widscreen DVD make, choose a recent dvd, like lord of the rings. set your dvd players for 16:9, and your tv to 16:9. Watch for a little but. then chnage both to 4:3 mode and see how much worse the picture is.