Originally posted by: RichKS
D.O, that sounds like a pretty damn cool setup to me.
Its nothing too spectacular, but I like it. HDTV is incredible to watch...sports are awesome in HD. I still don't have 5.1 set up yet with the set, budget restraints and all. I only told what my setup is so that others, like yourself, could see what I was talking about.
Exactly. That why when folks ask if something is anamorphic or letterbox I have watch it on my computer. On the Sony I really can't tell the difference.
But do me a favour and try this, hopefully you'll see what I'm getting at:
1) Get any anamorphic DVD. Preferably a well mastered one (Hellboy for example)
2) With you DVD player set to 16:9 display mode, watch a couple of minutes of it in Widescreen mode, taking advantage of the anamorphic-ness (I'm assuming this is how you're usually watching anamorphic DVDs)
3) Stop the movie and set you DVD to think you only have a 4:3 display.
4) Start playing again, with the TV set to 16:9 zoom.
Tell me you genuinely don't see a difference?
D.O, that sounds like a pretty damn cool setup to me.
Its nothing too spectacular, but I like it. HDTV is incredible to watch...sports are awesome in HD. I still don't have 5.1 set up yet with the set, budget restraints and all. I only told what my setup is so that others, like yourself, could see what I was talking about.
Just curious: What's the "full" zoom mode, as opposed to the "wide zoom"? Is this the usual thing where one is the 16:9 mode you use for anamorphic DVDs and videogames, while the other is a stretched and distorted image where the edges of the picture get squished out?
Exactly.
I think that you just taught me something here. I don't have the 14:9, but I believe that I can actually move the image up to allow subtitles to appear. I must have brainfarted for not seeing the use in this before. Thanks!
As far as I can tell, what you're saying is that an anamorphic DVD viewed on the Widescreen mode is the same aspect ratio as a non-anamorphic DVD viewed in 16:9 zoom?
That's what I would expect.
Exactly.
It's interesting that you don't have either 14:9 or what a lot of European TVs call "subtitle zoom". 14:9 is a halfway house between 4:3 and 16:9, kinda chops a bit off at the top and bottom and doesn't fill the screen all the way horizontally. We used to have a fair amount of stuff broadcast in that ratio, but that seems to have stopped now (at least, I don't see that because I have digital TV which is broadcast in 16:9). Subtitle Zoom is the same as 16:9 zoom, but the picture is moved up so that if you're watching a 2.85:1 letterbox DVD, the top of the picture is at the top of the screen and all the black is at the bottom. That way, if there are subs in the black, you get to see them. It's telling that the whole time I had a TV that did that, the only thing I ever watched on it that benefited from that was the original trilogy. Newer TVs appear to be able to mimic this by letting you move the 16:9 image up and down, which is how I watched the Phantom Edit DVD. Neither mode really gets a lot of use these days to be honest though.
I think that you just taught me something here. I don't have the 14:9, but I believe that I can actually move the image up to allow subtitles to appear. I must have brainfarted for not seeing the use in this before. Thanks!
As far as I can tell, what you're saying is that an anamorphic DVD viewed on the Widescreen mode is the same aspect ratio as a non-anamorphic DVD viewed in 16:9 zoom?
That's what I would expect.
Exactly. That why when folks ask if something is anamorphic or letterbox I have watch it on my computer. On the Sony I really can't tell the difference.
But do me a favour and try this, hopefully you'll see what I'm getting at:
1) Get any anamorphic DVD. Preferably a well mastered one (Hellboy for example)
2) With you DVD player set to 16:9 display mode, watch a couple of minutes of it in Widescreen mode, taking advantage of the anamorphic-ness (I'm assuming this is how you're usually watching anamorphic DVDs)
3) Stop the movie and set you DVD to think you only have a 4:3 display.
4) Start playing again, with the TV set to 16:9 zoom.
Tell me you genuinely don't see a difference?
I do have Hellboy and I will try that (the wife is watching a show right now or I would have done it already). I will get back to you on this.
First off, thanks for answering. I saw lots of people debating anamorphic versus letterboxed and I didn't see the difference myself. I just figured, and correct me if I'm wrong, that letterboxing would actually take up more disc space versus anamorphic. I mean, you have to encode the black bands at top and bottom...that must take up disc space, no?
Secondly, I appreciate the trick that you showed me about moving the image up for subtitles. I completely forgot that the set is capable of that. D'oh!
D.O.