Some DVD Questions for you experts (1 Viewer)

[Dustin Harrison]

First question:
On some DVDs, in the menu section, some will offer the choice between widescreen and fullscreen on the same side of the disk. How does it do this? Is the movie encoded twice, once for full and another for wide? This would not seem likely due to disk size constraints. Or is the movie encoded in a widescreen formate and the DVD is encoded to do its own pan and scan (or zoom) to get the fullscreen effect?

Last question:
Are movies shot in 2.35/2.40 formate ever converted down to 1.85? If so, wouldn't this be considered to be a type of pan and scan?

Thanks for any input.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

In the case you state, the P&S and Widescreen versions are recorded on the same side of the disk. This is for shorter movies only and often the compression is increaased (bitrate is reduced) to fit the two versions. This results in a poorer transfer and lack of extras, which is one of the reasons people clamor for separate releases.

2.35:1 movies are very rarely reduced to 1.78:1. I seem to recall a couple, but I do not remember the names of the films. It is extremely rare (outside of HBO-HD) and would be considered pan and scan.

 

[Dustin Harrison]

Hey thanks for the quick responce Jeff.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

This does happen, sometimes, for HDTV. Since HD is 16x9 naive, some 2.35 films ave been "pan and scanned" down to fill the 16x9 screen-- HD HBO has been guilty of this, for example. It doesnt often happen on DVD, although the recent ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO did just that- showing theatrically at 2.35 and on video at 1.85-- although the argument was made that this was the directors intention from the beginning and shot with both aspects in mind, similar to Kubrick.

-Vince

 

[Dustin Harrison]

Great explanation guys.

 

[ChrisBEA]

Vince,
Regarding the OUATIM ratio, didn't the same thing happen with the Recruit too?

 

[Patrick McCart]

Some films are shot "full-aperture" which means that it's possible to take off the mattes for home video.

The Recruit was filmed for both 1.78:1 and 2.35:1 from the start, for example.