Films/DVD Asylum

Q on The Wire DVDs. At the stores they're all 4:3, but on the net...

192.80.65.234

clarkjohnsen

...some of them (not all four) are denoted "widescreen".

Anyone?

I recall the original HBO broadcasts as being 16:9. Maybe *they* were cropped, actually?

clark

Follow Ups:

and btw, what a show! - luigi22 16:33:31 03/13/08 (1)
just worked my way thru seasons 1-4 in the last couple months, 2 more episodes of season 5 to finish this weekend. a little disappointing, this current season, but the rest, especially year 4? wow.
- And what was the aspect you saw? nt - clarkjohnsen 09:05:47 03/14/08 (0)
  z
RE: Q on The Wire DVDs. At the stores they're all 4:3, but on the net... - David Aiken 23:13:27 03/11/08 (5)
DVD packaging is often quite confusing when it comes to screen aspect, ie the TV screen format for which it is mastered, and film aspect, ie the aspect the film was released in.

I have more than a few discs which are stated to be widescreen on the cover and which display the film in a 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 ratio but which are mastered for display on 4:3 TV screens. In order to view them with the image in the right proportions I need to set my TV for a 4:3 format input. The "widescreen" in the labelling refers to the film aspect but not the screen aspect.

So maybe what is happening is that all of the discs are mastered for 4:3 format screens but some discs have content which is in a wide screen film aspect.

David Aiken
- "but which are mastered for display on 4:3 TV screens." The proper designation would be... - clarkjohnsen 09:39:32 03/12/08 (4)
  ..."anamorphic widescreen".
  
  But you often see "Enhanced for Widescreen" discs contain with images which have been "expanded" along the vertical plane. When viewed upon a 4:3 television, this makes the image appear to be too tall and thin although it fills the entire screen. But a proper TV (properly adjusted) will display them correctly.
  
  (I think...)
  
  clark
  - Wrong� - David Aiken 13:30:32 03/12/08 (1)
    anamorphic discs play full width in the correct proportions on both 16:9 and 4:3 screens. Anamorphic discs are mastered to give best results on 16:9 screens and good results on 4:3 screens.
    
    The discs I'm talking about are mastered specifically for 4:3 screens but show the movie in it's original film aspect as opposed to a full screen pan and scan treatment that fills the screen by cutting off the edges and showing the central part of the image only.
    
    The "Widescreen" label on the DVD packaging�note I'm talking about the use of the word "Widescreen" purely on its own�in these cases refers to the fact that the film is shown in it's original cinema widescreen format and does not refer to the TV screen format for which it has been mastered.
    
    Note also that the discs I'm talking about don't say "Enhanced for Widescreen". That statement is used to say that the discs are mastered for display on a 16:9 format TV.
    
    A good explanation of screen and film formats and anamorphic DVDs can be found at the Digital Bits link below.
    
    David Aiken
    - Guide to Anamorphic (Open in New Window)
    - My gear automatically adapts anything widescreen to proper size, "anamorphic" or not. nt - clarkjohnsen 08:36:42 03/13/08 (0)
      x
  - RE: "but which are mastered for display on 4:3 TV screens." The proper designation would be... - Hornlover 11:30:18 03/12/08 (0)
    Here are a couple of sites that explain it a bit.
    
    http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=anamorphic+DVD&i=37765,00.asp
    
    http://gregl.net/videophile/anamorphic.htm
  - RE: "but which are mastered for display on 4:3 TV screens." The proper designation would be... - Hornlover 11:17:44 03/12/08 (0)
    When the disk says 'enhanced for widescreen', it is anamorphic. I came upon a website that explained it all at one time, but I don�t remember the url now. In the setup menu for a DVD player, you have several choices for playback. If you select 'Letterboxed' for output, your DVD player actually takes this anamorphic encoded disk, and using some mathematical algorithms, makes 3 scan lines for every 5. This makes the letterboxed image properly displayed on 4:3 TV sets. If the disk is not enhanced (not anamporphic), the player does nothing, and passes all scan lines as they are. If you select �16x9� in the DVD player setup menu, then it does not do this, and passes on all the scan lines, which will make the image distorted on a 4:3 TV, where the image is stretched vertically, making things look skinny. When using a widescreen (16:9) display, the image is stretched in the horizontal direction, restoring proper aspect ratio. Before I bought my 50� Panasonic plasma, I had a Sony Wega, which supported anamorphic mode by using magnetic compression. You had to set your DVD player to widescreen (16:9) mode, and then when you engaged the compression, the image was �squeezed� to proper aspect ratio. This way, you used more scan lines for the letterboxed image, giving a sharper, more detailed image than when using the DVD players letterboxed mode.

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