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I Hate Non-Anamorphic!! (1 Viewer)

Matt Butler

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Matt Butler
I just got a 16x9 monitor (see sig). I started throwing some discs in after calibration. Seeing non anamorphic discs for the first time on a 16x9 tv sucked.

Now i know why everyone complains about these discs.

How do you view these discs? Or 4x3 material as well? Zoom mode or full?

Other than that complaint: I LOVE MY NEW TV! :D
 

Rolando

Screenwriter
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Feb 19, 2001
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I just don't. If it's not anamorphic I WILL NOT play it. Heck I will not buy it period. neither should you.

Of course 4:3 material is the exception to the rule. I would not want it cropped or stretched in any way. It would be as bad as a PAN and SCAN of a widescreen movie.

I usually try to watch 4:3 material on the 4:3 tv or leave it on regular with the grey bars on the side.

NO exceptions, ZOOM will crop and FULL will deform the image.

So welcome to the wonderful world of 16:9 TV and hope you join the boycott of non-anamorphic DVDs, at this stage it should be non-existant.
 

chris*b

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Dec 22, 2003
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I was going to ask this same question. Going through my collection it is disheartening to see how many nonamamorphic movies I have. The 4:3 titles I will watch in 4:3. If the zoom doesn't chop the top and sides off for the NA 1.85 and 2.35 titles I will use it. I guess it is time to get a list of all of my NA widescreen titles, and start looking to double dip them all with newer SEs or whatever.:angry:

BTW, I have the 56wx53 and love it as well. You should check out the XBox via a component cable. The 480p games look awesome. Unfortunately our TVs won't upconvert the 720p games for some reason.
 

Matt Butler

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Rolando,
Believe me you guys wont have any problems getting me on the anamorphic bandwagon. I have some non-ana titles; but I had a 4x3 tv before so it didnt matter to me.

Office Space, Ref, Thing, Abyss are the only titles I can think of.

Does watching 4x3 material cause burn in on the TV? I read somewhere that it did.

JohnnyHK,
I watched a few min of the Ref on Zoom and it cropped a bit of the picture and it looked like shit. It still is my best option though. *shrug*

Thanks for the tips guys.
 

Matt Butler

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Chris,
I have the XBox 5.1/S video kit. Id love to see Xbox via component.

I calibrated the TV with Digital Vid Essentials and it looks amazing. I also did a in-tv calibration. (Cant rememeber the feature though). My old 4x3 Tv was ancient. Im SOOO glad I upgraded.
 

greg_t

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Jan 18, 2001
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Having a player like the Panasonic RP91 will help non-anamaphoric images because it will scale the image and let you keep your TV in it's 16x9 mode. I use one and find most non-anamphoric titles to be easily watchable.
 

Marc Colella

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I use the ZOOM feature on the 1 non-anamorphic widescreen DVD that I own.

I was luck enough to think ahead during the early days of DVD, and only purchased anamorphic DVDs - thinking that within a couple years I'd have a widescreen set.

The only non-anamorphic DVD I own is Exotica, mainly because I highly doubt we'll see a re-release any time soon and because it was priced at only $9 CAD. I couldn't think of an excuse not to have this DVD in my collection.
 

Adam_ME

Supporting Actor
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May 31, 2002
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I hardly ever play non-anamorphic DVDs(4:3 programs excepted) on my 16:9 TV. The only ones I'll watch are the discs that are flagged to zoom in automatically.

That's not to say I won't purchase non-anamorphic DVDs. In fact, I just got Melvin Goes to Dinner last week and that's not enhanced for 16:9. I usually play those on my regular 27" set though.
 

Chad A Wright

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I didn't really care about anamorphic enhancement either until I bought an HDTV. It's a 4:3 TV, but it does the squeeze. There is generally a world of difference on these movies.

However, the once exception I've found is The Abyss. Being non-anamorphic, it still looks better than a lot of anamorphic titles out there.
 

Robert Dunnill

Second Unit
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Jun 16, 2001
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Non-enhanced became a non-issue for me after I switched to scaling players (first an RP-91, then a home theater PC.).

My preferences lean to catalog titles, and in my experience, the transfers of some non-enhanced discs are superior to those of many enhanced ones.
 

Qui-Gon John

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That's what I thought and what I do for the few non-ana titles I have. I really go out of my way to avoid buying any of these titles.
 

Andy_MT

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Jun 23, 2001
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i hate enhanced dvds that look like [scaled up] non-enhanced dvds.

prefer non enhanced to "standard" though. doesn't mean it's acceptable though.

plus, the abyss. looks ok on tv, but total crap on HTPC. mostly wish people would stop saying this was one of the best looking non-enhanced titles.
 

John Lloyd

Second Unit
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Feb 1, 1999
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Don't forget my biggest complaint: subtitles that become unreadable. Why do DVD producers assume they know what aspect ratio will be used to playback their movie? Play it safe and place the subtitles in the frame, just like at the movie theater.
 

Matt Butler

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John,
Youre in Roseville? Im in Citrus Heights. Im finding more and more HTF folk in the Sac area.

Also I was wondering of an example of the subtitle issue.


Im also pissed cause I found more NA titles in my collection last night. Escape From LA, Ghost and the Darkness, Beautiful Girls, Charade (Criterion), Primal Fear.

The 1:85 films look like shit zoomed. I can handle 2:35 films. Even though they look a little grainy there doesnt seem to be a pic loss unlike 1:85.
 

Chad A Wright

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Jul 22, 2002
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I think it's safe to say that it is one of the best looking non-enhanced titles as far as TVs go then. I've never viewed it on an HTPC, but on my set-up, it looks fantastic.
 

greg_t

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Jan 18, 2001
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Are you using the correct zoom modes? I don't know about your Panasonic, but my Pioneer has two different zoom modes, one for 1.85 (called Cinema Wide) and one for 2.35 (called Zoom). I would think yours should have multiple zoom modes as well.

Your best bet may be to pick up an RP91 and use it's scaling function for NA. It does a great job and should be much better than using the TV's zoom modes. My pioneer Elite has the best stretch modes in the business and they do a great job with NA, but the RP91's scaling does an even better job. Plus you can keep your TV in it's 16x9 mode where you have more scan lines that are closer together than in the zoom modes.
 

Matt Butler

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The RP91 does sound tempting but I just replaced my Pioneer DV626 with the Pioneer DV564. I dont feel like buying another one yet.
 

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