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Convert letterbox -----> anamorphic

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What exactly does it take to convert a letterbox video file, somewhat losslessly, to anamorphic?

*If* the new DVDs turn out to be lame 4X3 letterbox after all, it would be useful to convert it to anamorphic 16X9 widescreen. First of all to watch, and also for use in 'Classic Edition' style editing of the new DVDs.

Can it be done without re-encoding or loosing quality?

I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently.

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It's not that hard to convert a letterboxed video file to "anamorphic" (that's what all the "anamorphic" LD rips do). But the purpose of real anamorphic transfers is to gain vertical resolution. Stretching a letterboxed transfer vertically doesn't add resolution. Can it be done without re-encoding and losing quality? No. But it might be possible to make a faux-anamorphic (or "fanamorphic"[TM]) version that looks better than watching the official disc with on-the-fly scaling. The best way to do this would be using the PAL DVD as the starting point for the video, as it will have more lines of vertical resolution to begin with. However, for anyone with a 4:3 TV this would be pointless.
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Do you mean "Why should we read the other thread", or "Why should we make it anamorphic"?

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
Do you mean "Why should we read the other thread", or "Why should we make it anamorphic"?


LOL- exactly what I thought when I read it!
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I mean why the hell should we have to convert it ourselves?

War does not make one great.

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Because LFL is apparently incapable of doing so. Sad day for THX, indeed.

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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We shouldn't have to. But, on the bright side, it will result in the best looking fanamorphic(TM) DVD available.
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So will we see a new dawn of "DVD to DVD" fan transfers instead of the good old "Laserdisc to DVD" transfers. Who will be able to produce the best looking anamorphic DVD? And maybe we will also see some variations in the sound department, with some people using the uncompressed PCM laserdisc audio instead of what LFL is offering. And to think that Lucas could easily have put an end to this bootleggin' with a decent anamorphic release. Silly little man he is. Can't see the big picture. Just wants a chance to spite his most loyal fans and make his 2004 crap look better. I guess he's afraid of the comparison if the OUT were also given a restoration like the 2004 editions, but without all the special edtion nonsense. So he has to make them look as shitty as possible.

Also, one thing I've noticed with the advertising campaign for the OUT is that all of a sudden Lucas is very proud of the fact Han shot first and makes t-shirts out of it. It's suddenly so cool. A little while back he was defending his digital alteration tooth and nail. Oh, how the greens make people suddenly change their minds, eh?
peace,

Rebelscum
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I think it is possible that Lucasfilm's technicians would be so short-sighted that they used an old NTSC master for the US DVD release and an old PAL master for European/PAL DVD releases.
Because PAL has higher vertical resolution, it could make sense to make anamorphic NTSC discs from the PAL sources, for those who have equipment that don't handle PAL.
I live in Europe, and over here most equipment supports NTSC too. I don't know about the US.
(yeah, I know PAL/NTSC is technically more about composite signal than resolution... but anyway)

Also, when doing upscaling in software, advanced upscaling and post-processing algorithms could be used that are much better than those used by any TV or DVD player.
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Moth3r's anamorphic PAL trilogy transfers look absolutely amazing. There's so much detail and clarity. It's unbelievable he just blew up the letterbox image, but after seeing that I'm convinced great things can be done for this september release as far as anamorphic encoding is concerned. The source image should also be a little bit sharper and have better colours than the laserdisc so all in all, if Lucas decides not to release the OUT again in better form (which I suspect), then this might just suffice... just might.
peace,

Rebelscum
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Originally posted by: Susanne Ault on videobusiness.com
Some fans had been speculating that Lucasfilm was saving its big gun efforts for the new generation DVD formats. But the company said that at this time, there are no plans to release the original ’70s Star Wars versions in high-definition.
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