What's new

DVD format? (1 Viewer)

Joined
Jan 12, 2002
Messages
29
My recent HT upgrade includes my first DVD player, so I'm new to DVDs. I have a 27" TV. What format should I buy, Wide Screen or Full Screen? My player has the Pan & Scan feature if that matters. TIA...
 

MichaelGomez

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Oct 4, 2001
Messages
134
Depends on what you like. Pan and Scan stretches and then cuts out info. Usually not a good option. As for widescreen, that is the little black bars on the top and bottom. This is the best rendition of how the movie looked at the theater. On a 27" TV you loose a little bit of your picture but it is still my favorite. Some DVDs come with a Standard, which is where they cut the stuff for you.
 

Colin Dunn

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 10, 1998
Messages
741
Location
Indianapolis, IN
Real Name
Colin Dunn
In my opinion, widescreen is the only way to go. The only exception: When a movie was filmed in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio of the TV screen.

The pan-and-scan process chops off the sides of the picture. This can greatly alter the composition of the shot, and often will leave entire characters out of the shot.

Additional pans are also added that weren't in the original film, which can disrupt the flow of scenes.

It is true that the letterbox framing for widescreen doesn't use the entire display space of the TV. However, the framing/composition and flow of the film are preserved intact.

Just about everyone here strongly prefers to keep the film intact - it's a matter of artistic integrity that takes precedence over using every square inch of screen space. Now you know why HT fanatics want big screens or projection systems - to get the impact of a large picture AND keep the film intact.
 

Bill Catherall

Screenwriter
Joined
Aug 1, 1997
Messages
1,560
Don't worry about the "smaller" image of widescreen movies on your 27" TV. I have a 27" TV as well and you get used to it. If your TV is properly calibrated then the black bars will virtually disappear (because they'll really be black instead of grey).
Retaining the original picture proportion is critical to every film in order to preserve the director's intent when framing the scene. Much more important than filling your screen. When a photographer takes a picture they don't just point and shoot, they take careful consideration of the framing (where things are positioned in the frame and what is shown). The same goes with cinematography. After a while you'll learn to love those black bars.
AND later when you upgrade to a widescreen TV (because it's inevitable ;) ) you won't have to repurchase all your DVDs. Remember that the movie is more important than the TV. Pan and scan or full frame (open matte) transfers change the movie into something the director did not intend to be seen.
 

Denward

Supporting Actor
Joined
Feb 26, 2001
Messages
552
Mike needs to be put on HTF double secret probation for even considering P&S:D
Honestly, you won't find a more unanimous opinion on HTF than P&S sucks and OAR (original aspect ratio) is the way to go. As others have said, it's the only way to preserve the filmmaker's vision of the movie. From what little history I know, most/all movies made before TVs became commonplace were shot in the 4:3 (aka 1.33:1) aspect ratio. When TVs were introduced, they also used 4:3. Movie theater attendance dropped. One of the ways theaters tried to compete was to introduce wider screens and to this day almost all movies use some form of widescreen to better fill our natural field of vision. I've heard that the late Stanley Kubrick preferred 4:3 but studio and theater pressures forced him to release movies in a wider aspect ratio. Some HTFers will buy Kubrick movies in 4:3, even though that's not how it was presented in theaters.
The bottom line is look for OAR, which may be 1.33:1, 1.85:1, 2.35:1, etc.
 

Michael Reuben

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 12, 1998
Messages
21,763
Real Name
Michael Reuben
My player has the Pan & Scan feature if that matters.
That's not a "feature" you'll be able to use, because it only works with a disc that's been specially encoded to let the player do the panning and scanning "on the fly". Few (if any) titles have been released with such encoding.

M.
 

Dave Poehlman

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2000
Messages
3,813
That's not a "feature" you'll be able to use, because it only works with a disc that's been specially encoded to let the player do the panning and scanning "on the fly". Few (if any) titles have been released with such encoding.
I get "irked" everytime this topic comes up. Why aren't studios releasing P&S encoded disks? I would think they would want to release only one disk rather than two.

Sorry if I am getting off topic here.
 

Brian Johnson

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 21, 2001
Messages
739
Ok. I've been looking for a thread that was somewhat related to what I am looking to ask .

So. Here it goes

I have a 32 inch 4:3 tv. My dvd player has the options of widescreen,letterbox,& P&S. I know what pan & scan does and most of my movies are in widescreen.

SO. which option on my dvd player do I want to use to get the whole widescreen image. I noticed last night with Starship Troopers which is 1.85:1 that in widescreen mode it almost completely filled the screen. When I put it in letterbox i got the 'black bars'

My dvd also has a 'screen fill' which if turned on will take the widescreen image & stretch it to fill the screen removing black bars, however it often distorts the image.
 

nolesrule

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2001
Messages
3,084
Location
Clearwater, FL
Real Name
Joe Kauffman
I have a 32 inch 4:3 tv. My dvd player has the options of widescreen,letterbox,& P&S. I know what pan & scan does and most of my movies are in widescreen. SO. which option on my dvd player do I want to use to get the whole widescreen image. I noticed last night with Starship Troopers which is 1.85:1 that in widescreen mode it almost completely filled the screen. When I put it in letterbox i got the 'black bars'

You need to use 'letterbox' mode to get the correct aspect ratio. 'widescreen' mode is only for widescreen TVs or 4:3 TVs that can do the anamorphic squeeze.
 

Michael Reuben

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 12, 1998
Messages
21,763
Real Name
Michael Reuben
I get "irked" everytime this topic comes up. Why aren't studios releasing P&S encoded disks? I would think they would want to release only one disk rather than two.
There have been unconfirmed reports that the feature works much better on paper than in practice. I wouldn't be surprised, given the number of player compatibility problems that have cropped up on just about every disc with seamless branching.

Besides, I'm sure that encoding the P&S instructions would make disc authoring a lot more complicated and time-consuming.

M.
 

Vince Maskeeper

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 18, 1999
Messages
6,500
What format should I buy, Wide Screen or Full Screen?
Mike,
A good explaination of why widescreen is preferred by this forum is here:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/home/wsfaq.html
I would suggest reading both this link, and the Digital bits one listed above. The Digitalbits link above is part of a larger article, that should be required reading:
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...c/welcome.html
This should also answer Johnson's questions- as they relate to anamorphic DVD.
-Vince
 
Joined
Jan 12, 2002
Messages
29
Widescreen for Dummies, just what I need :D
Thanks everyone for the info. I'm planning on upgrading the TV portion of my HT in the near future, so I was wanting to buy the WS formats. I jsut wasn't sure what I'd lose out on with the 27" TV. I think I'm clear on the subject now, thanks!
 

Victor Y

Agent
Joined
Jan 15, 2002
Messages
35
I have the phillip 4:3 aspect HD ready TV and the TV automatic get into the widescreen mode when it detect progressive signal from DVD player. Can that be turn off or should I get another DVD player to scale the image to correct aspect ratio. I am watching Wizard of Oz last night and the picture look fat.
 

Vince Maskeeper

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 18, 1999
Messages
6,500
. I am watching Wizard of Oz last night and the picture look fat.
Because Wizard of Oz is not widescreen- it was shot 1.33:1.
So when your TV locked to wide mode on the progressive signal, it stretched out a 4:3 image to widescreen- thus it looked fat.
:)
Vince
 

Vince Maskeeper

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 18, 1999
Messages
6,500
I konw that, what's the solution. New dvd player?
Maybe- if you actually want 4:3 video in progressive, then you probably will need a different player or another way to format the image. This issue came up a lot when new HDTVs hit, because many first gen units did this (and angered everyone on the planet). I know the DVDO Iscan Pro offers a windowbox setting to fix the problem-- and I think a few newer DVD players offer formatting.

You can always lose progressive and then it won't lock to full.

You might want to post in Hardware> DVD players to find out what models offer such a feature to reformat the picture.

There might be a way to defeat it on the set, but I personally don't own that model-- so try a search or a post in RPTV.

-Vince
 

Seth Paxton

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 5, 1998
Messages
7,585
No Victor, you don't need a new player. There are many work arounds.
Your DVD Player probably has an "Auto" mode for the progressive output. In this mode the player sees if a disc is ANAMORPHIC or not, and will NOT send out a progressive signal to the TV if the video source is not ANAMORPHIC. That way you won't get 4:3 stretched.
Another method if the progressive output is hardwired (very uncommon now) is to also hook up the S-Video output to your TV from the player. Then you can switch to that for 4:3.
In both cases you are losing the progressive scan for non-anamorphic images. And it's not just 1.37 stuff like Oz. Things like the Abyss which are non-anamorphic will also be stretched out since they are LBXed images on a 4:3 "palette", meaning the picture is a 4:3 image with the movie image LBXed in it.
Now, your player MAY also have another option but it sounds like it doesn't, and that would be if you put it in "I have a widescreen TV" mode the player might ADD black bars to the side. I have a JVC that does this and it's becoming more common. That way you get a progressive 4:3 image.
 

Victor Y

Agent
Joined
Jan 15, 2002
Messages
35
Thank you, guys.

I try the S-Video route and it work but without the sound since I am currently still using the TV for sound. I guess I have to find an audio spliter to split the sound from my player into 2 and hookup to the TV.

The picture with the S-Video is definitely not as sharp. I am thinking to return the player to BB and buy another one with scaling/zooming features.

I have another question regarding HDTV signal. From what I read not all HDTV/DTV content is in widescreen mode. Is that mean that same thing will happen to 4:3 aspect ratio TV program like a football game? The football players will look extra, extra wide.
 

Brian Johnson

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 21, 2001
Messages
739
Sorry if I take it off subject. But was following up a previous post. Ok, now I know to put my dvd into letterbox mode. If I do this on my 4:3 am I getting the whole widescreen image(basically not cutting anything off?)

And if I am, I have a 'screen fit' button, by filling the screen with the picture in letterbox mode am I still getting the whole picture? It sort of distorts the image, but fills the screen. On some dvd's in letterbox mode I get 4 inches of bars on top & bottom. Some I get 2 inch bars.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,815
Messages
5,123,806
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top