Anamorphic WS movies not fitting screen... (1 Viewer)

[Gregg_Fritz]

I have a 42" Samsung 16x9 and a Samsung progressive scan dvd using component video out.

For some reason LOTR SE in anamorphic is not fitting my screen 100%

Thoughts?

 

[Michael Reuben]

Variations of this question are asked so often that it's covered the Beginners Primer and FAQ:

If I buy a 16x9 wide screen TV, will I get rid of the black bars forever?

M.

 

[Gregg_Fritz]

I thought "Anamorphic Widescreen" means the picture morphs to fit your screen.

If thats not the case I need a link to an explanation of Anamorphic Widescreen.

I know about the higher aspect ratios leaving black bars, thats common sense... however an anamorphic DVD is supposed to eliminate that I thought.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Nope, an anamorphic transfer simply devotes all 480 lines to the picture to be displayed. In the case of a 2.35:1 transfer (i.e Lord of the Rings) some of those 480 lines are devoted to the small black bars. Contrast this with a non-anamorphic transfer, which would encode 2.35:1 picture with large black bars. Anamorphic (enhanced for widescreen, enhanced for 16:9) has NOTHING to do with the aspect ratio of the picture and everything to do with the resolution it is displayed at. An aspect ratio is an aspect ratio and a film should be viewed at it's OAR, so watch 2.35:1 films with the bars and don't worry about screen real-estate that's not supposed to be filled.

 

[Jack Briggs]

No!

First:

Any film with an aspect ratio wider than that of your 1.78:1 set will display a letterboxing effect (though, in the case of 1.85:1 films, the television's overscan might mask the letterboxing). All 2.35:1 films will exhibit the same amount of letterboxing regardless of the disc's being 16:9-encoded (i.e., "anamorphic") or not.

Think geometry: several film aspect ratios versus just two television-screen aspect ratios. Neither one can accommodate all film aspect ratios.

Second:

A so-called "anamorphic" DVD possesses the exact same number of lines of resolution as does a non16:9-encoded DVD. The 16:9-encoded DVD, however, renders those 480 lines in a 16:9 shape. That is all.

The confusion seems to result from people misunderstanding how a 16:9-encoded DVD is displayed. On a 4:3 set with no 16:9 mode, the DVD player must itself rescale a 16:9-encoded DVD to display it properly on the 4:3 set. Thus, the player's downconversion algorithms discard every third line of information in order to paint the letterboxing bars. This results in a net loss of 33 percent of useful picture resolution.

A 16:9 set renders in-player downconversion unnecessary.

 

[Michael Reuben]

If thats not the case I need a link to an explanation of Anamorphic Widescreen.

That's also covered in the Beginner's FAQ. I recommend spending some time with it.

M.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

The Ultimate Guide to Anamorphic Widescreen

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...c/welcome.html

 

[Daniel_BR]

Gregg,

I'm sure all of the above is right. One thing I'd mention is make sure your DVD player is in the right "mode." I spent a week watching DVD on my new TV before I accidently hit the menu button (for the Onkyo DVD player) and noticed that it was set up for standard (4x3) mode and not 16x9. I was watching them in a very narrow band across the widescreen (I was and am new to widescreen so I didn't know any better -- I thought that's what it was supposed to look like). Now the black bars are much smaller. Maybe you are having the same issue?

Dan