Originally posted by: THX-1977
Wow, I didn't think it was possible to be more confused than I was, but I was wrong.
Anyway, the outer box says it's widescreen and letterbox 2:35:1 ratio
Wow, I didn't think it was possible to be more confused than I was, but I was wrong.
Anyway, the outer box says it's widescreen and letterbox 2:35:1 ratio
The 2.35 confuses the issue futher. The anamorphic image continues to be letterboxed, because the actual film was wider than 16x9. 2.35's fractional equivalent is 47x20. Of course, displays are not made in this aspect ratio, so the image is matted and reduced to fit either the anamorphic 16x9 or "full screen" 4x3 displays. There is less letterboxing to make a 16:9 image anamorphic than is required to make a 4:3 image anamorphic, but the end result on a 4:3 display is the same. The desire for anamorphic encoding is to ensure the maximum resolution for a 16x9 display is offered.
If such a 47x20 display did exist, it would look like this (again, for comparison's sake, I've kept the same height of 480):
