Originally posted by: Mike O
...doesn't anamorphic offer a 33% resolution increase regardless? Even on my computer screen the anamorphic picture looks crisper.

That's because your computer has enough resolution to display all that an anamorphic DVD has to offer, unlike the majority of 4:3 CRT sets. The 33% resolution increase is lost when anamorphic discs are displayed on a regular 4:3 TV, sometimes by simply discarding every 4th line (which obviously leads to a less accurate picture). There simply aren't enough lines in the letterboxed area to display the increased resolution on the disc. The exception to this is in sets with a "widescreen" mode like the one Mielr described above, which squeezes the lines closer together in the center of the screen, so you can see all the resolution. However, most sets don't have this feature. The compression artifacts thing was kind of facetious, although anamorphic discs do require more compression. For these reasons, though, most viewers (i.e. those with 4:3 sets without "widescreen" modes) will actually get a better image from a letterboxed disc (especially in the case of a letterboxed master). None of this is intended as an excuse for the September discs, which should be a new anamorphic transfer.