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Why I'm not so worried anymore

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On Wednesday, I went out and got myself a new TV. I went from a 4:3 19-inch low-def CRT to a 16:9 32-inch HD-ready LCD. (If anyone is interested, It was from Best Buy, a Westinghouse for $999. You've only got a couple days left.)

After changing around my cable setup (more composite cables), I was finally able to take advantage of progressive scan and anamorphic. First disk I put in to look, was my Fellowship of the Ring. I was confused when I saw that it still had black bars top, bottom, left and right. I then tried my Two Towers. Same thing. (Both are the base two-disk set.)

I then checked the back of the case.
Widescreen version. Presented in a "letterboxed" format preserving the 2.35:1 aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition. Enhanced for widescreen TVs.

So, these 2 are not anamorphic??

I went through some of my other disks:

Stargate: Ultimate Edition- nonanamorphic
Terminator 2: Extreme Edition- I'm not sure, doesn't look like it.
Dr. Strangelove: 40th Anniversary- anamorphic
Jaws 25th Anniversary*- anamorphic
Jurassic Park*- anamorphic
The Last Starfighter*- anamorphic
Midway: Collectors Edition*- anamorphic

*- Universal Pictures releases Looks like every Universal pictures disk I have is anamorphic.

Now, in the past, I never even thought about the difference, and never really noticed a difference. In fact, I think that the Lord of the Rings movies looked excellent on both my TVs.

The doom and gloom stuff I've seen all over the place about the OOT not being anamorphic, its not as important to me now.
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Did you change the settings on your DVD player? Most come from the factory set for 4:3 or 4:3 letterbox. You need to set the display seeting to WIDE or 16:9, depending on your player. Every disc you've listed is anamorphic.

Princess Leia: I happen to like nice men.
Han Solo: I'm a nice man.

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Originally posted by: GundarkHunter
Did you change the settings on your DVD player? Most come from the factory set for 4:3 or 4:3 letterbox. You need to set the display seeting to WIDE or 16:9, depending on your player. Every disc you've listed is anamorphic.


What he said. Your DVD player is set to 4:3.

Also, keep in mind that scope films (2.35:1) like LOTR will still have slim black bars on the top and bottom on 16:9 displays due to their wider aspect ratio.
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MTFBWY…A

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Originally posted by: starkiller
Enhanced for widescreen TVs.
This means that it is anamorphic.

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Originally posted by: GundarkHunter
Every disc you've listed is anamorphic.


What he said.

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That was one of the first things we did (my Dad helped some). Both my DVD players (Sony 5-disk and a Toshiba DVR/DVD burner) are set at 16:9.

On the same settings:
1. Episode 3, which is labelled as being anamorphic, filled the screen the best it could (had small bars top and bottom since its 2.35:1).
2. Back to the Future left no bars at all (has a 1.78:1 aspect ratio)
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Thats strange. I've watched LOTR on a 16x9 TV and it was anamorphic. Some setting must be wrong.
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I've always been somewhat confused by this. I've noticed a bunch of my DVDs (both anamorphic), I get 2 viewing angels. One, like starkiller and others have said do leave little bars on the TV. They're very miniminal, compared to letterbox (which leave huge black bars on the TV). I always thought this was letterbox enhanced for widescreen TVs. On other DVDs (especially recent TV shows, b/c of HD widescreen), they fill the entire screen, no black bars at all. What's the difference between the 2 anamorphic viewing angels? Is it a setting on my DVD player/TV?
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depends on the aspec ratio of the original. The TV shows aspec ratio is pretty much designed for 16x9 tvs thats why you get no black bars. movies like Star wars that are 2.35:1 have the bigest black bars cas that is not a 16x9 ratio. Then theres the movies in 1.85:1. It all depends on the aspect ratio of the content you are watching.

this should help

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/aspectratios/widescreenorama.html

and this on animorphic transfers

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/index.html
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Because your screen is smaller the lack of detail will be less noticeable. You must have noticed that the bars at the top and bottom were bigger on a non-anamorphic screen. However on my 57 TV the soft picture is very noticeable. I am less worried however as I can't believe that there will be a time when LFL will need money and at that point we will get our anamorphic transfers. If they could release the films in one color at a time and make money they would.
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I found the problem...
don't hurt me!?

It was the TV, and I was viewing in "standard" instead of "fit" (or wide), which is what GundarkHunter mentioned.

The reason I didn't think about this at first was that scenes of LOTR that I was watching didn't looked squeezed.

Earlier today I put the movie back in to check again. I watched longer. In Chapter 2, when Frodo recognizes Gandalf's voice, he stands up and look straight into the camera, I could tell on that shot it was wrong. I changed the screen and all was right again.

So...anyone know if the first Batman on DVD release was anamorphic?? That and The Mask are the oldest DVDs I have.
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So how's the worry-factor now then?
peace,

Rebelscum
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Batman I am pretty sure is not. It was one of Warner Bros. first releases like Blade Runner.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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the new 2-disc collectors version are anamorphic
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Originally posted by: Rebelscum
So how's the worry-factor now then?
When I watch what I know, for sure, is a non-anamorphic.
I haven't got the newer disk set (part of the recently released Anthology).

I supposed I could also try my Goodfellas disk as well...that thing isn't even dual-layered. I have to flip the disk to finish the movie.
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What was said above about aspect ratio is the key. Assuming an anamorphic transfer, movies that were shot in a 1:85:1 aspect ratio like Batman, Jurassic Park, Silence of the Lambs and, IIRC, BTTF should present no black bars. Maybe a smidgeon, as 16:9 = 1:78:1. But still, very little on the whole.

Meanwhile movies shot in 2.35:1 like Star Wars & LOTR will still have black bars. Just not as much as on a 4:3 TV.

Ben-Hur is even wider, so it will have thicker black bars in order to present the whole image.

On the other hand, Full Frame classics like Snow White and The Wizard of Oz were shot in 4:3 so they will actually give you black bars on the left and right while filling the vertical dimension to the top.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
Ben-Hur is even wider, so it will have thicker black bars in order to present the whole image.


Oh man, don't even get me started about that! My dad rented it many, many years ago in...pan and scan. Dear lord was that a hard one to watch.

Wasn't Ben-Hur like the widest movie ever shot? They even had a special camera built just for one scene? Or was that Lawrence of Arabia? I donno.


Reguardless -- back to the vague topic. I'm not worried either about this release. At first I was, but now I'm getting giddy. Sure I'm disapointed, but I'm not fretting over the quality anymore. I'm just happy it's getting release. Because I have pure faith that this trilogy WILL see a quality print come about. I maybe old and gray, but I'll still be loving Star Wars.
"I am altering the movies. Pray I don't alter them any further." -Darth Lucas
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Well, ADigitalMan, I went through all that on Thursday night.

The issue was that the LOTR had black bars that I didn't THINK it should have had. As I mentioned already, it was, indeed, (l)user error.

I will have to try something I KNOW is non-anamorphic now.
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Originally posted by: Invader Jenny
Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
Ben-Hur is even wider, so it will have thicker black bars in order to present the whole image.


Wasn't Ben-Hur like the widest movie ever shot? They even had a special camera built just for one scene? Or was that Lawrence of Arabia? I donno.


One of them... Ben-Hur is I believe around 2.76:1. Lawrence of Arabia was actually not as wide as Star Wars or LOTR, around 2.20:1. I don't know about a special camera, but I know Lean used a 482mm lens to photograph Omar Sharif's entrance (those who have seen the film know what I mean).

Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the war room!