Originally posted by: darkhelmet
Scruffy and THX: Wouldn't 4:3 TVs benefit from the anamorphic video ever so slightly due to the fact that the letterboxing is handled via the DVD player and not just a lower resolution letterboxed version being spit out natively?
Scruffy and THX: Wouldn't 4:3 TVs benefit from the anamorphic video ever so slightly due to the fact that the letterboxing is handled via the DVD player and not just a lower resolution letterboxed version being spit out natively?
The short answer is no. The majority of 4:3 TVs will actually produce a worse picture from an anamorphic DVD than a letterboxed one (as Skyranger stated above, there are some exceptions). This is because of the low quality on-the-fly scaling done by the TV to reduce the disc's vertical resolution in order to preserve the movie's proper aspect ratio. Add to this the increased compression that may be required for the anamorphic video and the result is, if you have a 4:3 TV, you're better off with letterboxed.