Anamorphic vs. Non-Anamorphic

[Sonnie Parker]

Since I'm just getting my new Toshiba Widescreen RPTV in I've been trying to understand a little more about Anamorphic and Non-Anamorphic DVD's.

Basically I know Anamorphic is better, but why?

I happen to be looking at 2 DVD's that are not on the Anamorphic database at dvdpricesearch.com, so I'm assuming they are Non-Anamorphic, as I can't find anything that says they are "Enhanced for Widescreen" or "Anamorphic".

One DVD just reads Letterbox. The other just reads 1:85.1.

These are older movies from the late 50's.

What can I expect to see on my new 16:9 RPTV?






SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

[David Meek]

Actually one says letterbox and the other 1.85:1

Generally those types of labels are just talking about the picture ratio. Look for labels saying "enhanced for 16:9" or "anamorphic" or "anamorphically enhanced". These will 99% of the time be referring to the actual visual methodolgy used and not the picture ratio. With non-enhanced/non-anamorphic images the vertical pixel count is spread across the entire TV screen. With an "enhanced" image, the pixels are squeezed into the physical area of the picture itself resulting in a higher quality image.

Hmmm, that sounds familiar




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[Pat]

Hey Sonnie,
Here is a great article on animorphic vs. non-animorphic DVDs
It is very in-depth look at it with some great visuals.
Hope it helps




Pat's Page

[Sonnie Parker]

Thanks David and Pat.

So bascially with non-anamorphic this is what I will get with a 1.85:1 :



Which if I use the Toshiba Zoom Mode it will pretty much fill up the screen but with loss of resolution.

If it's anamorphic the picture will look as below but better resolution:








SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

[Kevin P]

Looks like you have it down, Sonnie! On a Toshiba, you would use Full mode for anamorphic DVDs and Theater Wide 2 for non-anamorphic letterboxed DVDs. I think they still call it that on the current Toshibas.

Anamorphic (as used to indicate the format of a DVD) is a bit of a misnomer. The picture on a DVD is always a 720x480 pixel image, but that image may be in either a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio. "Anamorphic" discs have the image in a 16:9 aspect, which is why they look best on a 16:9 set. On a 4:3 set, the player has to downconvert the image from 16:9 to 4:3 by interpolating or dropping scan lines. A 4:3 DVD on a 16:9 set has to be either windowboxed, or zoomed.




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[Sonnie Parker]

"Anamorphic" discs have the image in a 16:9 aspect, which is why they look best on a 16:9 set.

So what about an Anamorphic 2.35:1 DVD? It won't be 16:9 will it? It will still have black bars right?

Even on an Anamorphic 1.85:1 there will be a tiny bit of black bars since 16:9 is 1.78:1 AR, right?

Or am I still confused?






SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

[Kevin P]

So what about an Anamorphic 2.35:1 DVD? It won't be 16:9 will it? It will still have black bars right?

I didn't get to that part in my last post.

Like I mentioned in my last post, a DVD can be encoded as 4:3 or 16:9 (anamorphic). Think of a DVD as a choice between two picture frames--a 4:3 aspect frame or a 16:9 aspect frame. The movie is the picture you're placing in the frame. If your movie is 1.78:1 it'll fit perfectly in the 16:9 frame, or in the 4:3 frame with small letterbox bars. 1.85:1 movies will have tiny letterbox bars in 16:9--in fact you probably won't see them at all due to overscan on your TV. 2.35:1 movies, being noticeably wider than 16:9 (and especially 4:3) will have bars in 16:9, though much smaller bars than in 4:3. Anamorphic encoding of a DVD doesn't change the size of the picture or the bars, just the way the picture is represented in terms of horizontal* resolution.

DVDs have 480 horizontal lines of resolution (which translates to amount of detail available in the vertical direction). Take a 1.85:1 AR movie encoded into a 4:3 frame with letterbox bars. The movie will occupy approximately 345 lines, the remaining 135 lines taken up by the black bars. Now take a 1.85:1 movie encoded into a 16:9 frame (aka an anamorphic DVD). Since the bars are smaller in a 16:9 format, 462 lines of resolution will be used for the image and only 18 lines will be lost to black bars. 462 lines is a lot more detail than 345 lines. With a 2.35:1 movie, non-anamorphic you get 271 lines of resolution, with 208 lines (almost half) eaten up by letterbox bars. In 16:9 anamorphic, you have 363 lines of resolution available for a 2.35:1 image, with 116 lines occupied by the letterbox bars. It's interesting to note that a 1.85:1 non-anamorphic image has about the same amount of horizontal resolution (horizontal lines) as a 2.35:1 anamorphic image.

KJP

* Horizontal vs. vertical resolution are confusing terms in TV lingo. Horizontal resolution refers to the number of horizontal scan lines or lines of pixels available. Therefore, increased "horizontal" resolution translates to greater detail in the vertical direction. Vertical resolution represents the maximum number of distinct vertical lines that can be displayed, hence the amont of detail in the horizontal direction. Clear as mud?




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[George Bellefontaine]

Well stated, Kevin.




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[Sonnie Parker]

Now Kevin, you mud ain't clear. :LOL:

I'm still reading it.... give me time.

It's interesting to note that a 1.85:1 non-anamorphic image has about the same amount of horizontal resolution (horizontal lines) as a 2.35:1 anamorphic image.

So ultimately a 1.85:1 non-anamorphic DVD would really not be all that bad in relation to an anamorphic 2.35:1 DVD?

OR,

Does the fact that when you zoom it up to fit the the width of the 16:9 screen cause the loss of resolution?






SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

[Pat]

Does the fact that when you zoom it up to fit the the width of the 16:9 screen cause the loss of resolution?

Bingo! we have a winner.
Sonnie, when you zoom it to fit the width the image also expands vertically. That means that the scan lines are farther apart.




Pat's Page

[Kevin P]

Pat sums it up nicely. Let's just say once that 16:9 set is sitting in your room, you'll be wishing all your widescreen discs are anamorphic. Fortunately the majority of newer releases are.

KJP




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