The Dark One

Originally posted by: MeBeJedi
"if someone were to purchase 16mm prints of the original trilogy, actually take it to a film lab and digitally restore it, and then release it to us in anamorphic widescreen on a DVD, that would be the neatest thing.

One of us ought to do that. "

It's been discussed, but you've no idea how expensive and time-consuming it is. BIG time!

Originally posted by: RichKS

A friend recently bought a brand new 32" Sony WEGA flat CRT and I set it up for her (she basically said "My husband knows about plumbing and stuff, Rich, you know about this TVs, can you set this up for me?"). It replaced an old Philips 28" widescreen that she'd had for 5 years. I set it all up with RGB and the picture from her DVD player was amazing. When she plugged in her Sky+ (TiVo) and started watching that. Suddenly you could see all the compression and jaggies from the recorder that you just couldn't see on the Philips. I had to turn the sharpness down on the set so that it blurred the jaggies and they "disappeared".

First off, before I start blabbering on...I'm in "NTSC land" (although I do have region-free PAL-compatible DVD players for my viewing pleasure) and this is the info on my set: Sony KP-43HT20 43" Rear Projection HDTV Monitor

I see these digital 'artifacts' especially bad when I'm watching "analog" TV through my digital cable box (comcast - US cable provider). I can't watch sports on my HDTV unless its an HD broadcast because the compression is so distracting. On the 32" 4:3 TV (a bit more than a year old) I don't see any of these 'artifacts' at all...the same broadcasts look clear and relatively crisp.

Many retail DVDs also have these 'artifacts' also. They aren't anywhere near as distracting but I am able to see some "blockiness", especially in darker scenes. Most of the newer retail DVDs I've picked up, for example Hellboy, League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (snore), and Saw (a total piece of s**t movie, but a good transfer) don't have these 'digital artifacts'...is this due to better compression algorithms or the fact that they are quite possibly purely digital movies?

OFF TOPIC N00b-style: One final question are there any higher-quality, attainable sources for the OT than laserdisc?


With an anamorphic encode though, I have the choice of how much I want to "unsharpen" the picture, just like I can decide how much I want to drink when I go out on the pull

Originally posted by: agr1170
So far SW and TESB are AWESOME, looks and sounds great. Just finished watching them in my friends theater set-up. 10x12 ft screen and 7.1 surround

Originally posted by: Karyudo

In a word, no. Letterboxing takes up less space, because it's easy to compress black. It takes more bandwidth to encode anamorphic titles, because there's more actual picture information. The black bars are still there, but they're much narrower.

Originally posted by: RichKS

HDTV hasn't really caught on in the UK the same way it has in the US, mainly I suspect because digital PAL transmissions over an RGB Scart cable look damn fine. While I'm not saying that the RGB signal we get to our sets is better than HDTV, it's not enough worse to warrant changing.

Glad I was helpful!

Rich

Originally posted by: RichKS
D.O, that sounds like a pretty damn cool setup to me.

Its nothing too spectacular, but I like it. HDTV is incredible to watch...sports are awesome in HD. I still don't have 5.1 set up yet with the set, budget restraints and all. I only told what my setup is so that others, like yourself, could see what I was talking about.



Exactly. That why when folks ask if something is anamorphic or letterbox I have watch it on my computer. On the Sony I really can't tell the difference.

But do me a favour and try this, hopefully you'll see what I'm getting at:

1) Get any anamorphic DVD. Preferably a well mastered one (Hellboy for example)

2) With you DVD player set to 16:9 display mode, watch a couple of minutes of it in Widescreen mode, taking advantage of the anamorphic-ness (I'm assuming this is how you're usually watching anamorphic DVDs)

3) Stop the movie and set you DVD to think you only have a 4:3 display.

4) Start playing again, with the TV set to 16:9 zoom.

Tell me you genuinely don't see a difference?

Originally posted by: Darth Mallwalker


Don't ask me -- I'm hardware-challenged !
My TV is 20" with only composite input using a generic cable that came with the $35 non-progressive player,
so I've got no idea which set has the sharpest picture.
I prefer Dr.Gonzo's colors, although my set is uncalibrated.
I like TR47's sound, but my stereo lacks ProLogic or any other surround flavor.
But the most important thing is I'm watching Star Wars at home, finally !
My Faces VHS Pan/Scan box (hey, it was a gift) is collecting dust
still in shrink-wrap because I never owned a VCR.
But now I can watch Star Wars at home !!!
Gonzo's set was my first, and still the one most frequently watched.

And the avatar I pinched from sifo-dyas....