msycamore said:

CapableMetal said:

The Japanese Special Collection features a shrinking aspect ratio (ANH only)

No, it doesn't. It's only the Pioneer/Mitsubishi pressings of ANH - Special Widescreen Edition that does.

My bad, you're both quite right. The ratio does vary slightly from reel to reel but it doesn't shrink throughout the course of the film. I backed up my JSC and SWE discs recently and have gotten my wires crossed. Sorry about that!

While the Technidisc pressing doesn't have the same issue as the Pioneer/Mitsubishi pressings due to using a different film source and master, its cropping varies quite much - about two thirds of the film is quite heavily cropped with an aspect ratio closer to 2.25:1 rather than 2.35:1/2.40:1. So the parts that are not as cropped are instead vertically stretched.

Thanks for the info, I had noticed the ratio was closer to 2.25:1 but hadn't noticed the stretched parts.