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Topic: I need DVD aspect ratio help
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Mike Schindler
Phenomenal Film Handler
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Posts: 1039
From: Oak Park, IL, USA
Registered: Jun 2002
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posted 08-04-2008 11:54 AM
Am I right in thinking that you're not confused by the technical aspect, but more by how the DVDs are labeled? If so, the two factors which need to be determined are whether it's a 16:9 transfer or 4:3 transfer, and what the aspect ratio of the actual movie is. This can be difficult because, as your examples show, there is no uniform labeling, and lots of times things are mislabeled.
Like Lyle stated, anamorphic is the same as 16:9. All of the DVDs you listed appear to be 16:9. Lots of times, if the DVD has a 4:3 transfer, this will not be indicated on the box. Really, the only way to be sure is to run the disc itself.
quote: Lyle Romer AFAIK, all "flat" films on DVD are 16:9 on DVD. I've never seen any small letterbox to make it 1.85:1.
Actually there are a good number of flat movies which are in 1.85:1 on DVD. Many TV's cover the black bars with overscan, but they're there. It seems like Universal, Fox, and some others frame them at 1.85. Warner Bros. does full frame 16:9 transfers, as do others.
Also, if you're trying to determine the best version of a given movie to show (in terms of picture and sound quality), there's a great website here which compares all of the various releases of a particular movie in great detail.
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Brian Guckian
Jedi Master Film Handler
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Posts: 594
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 08-04-2008 01:29 PM
I had to recently show a DVD copy of Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World on a 25ft screen in a cinema I was working in.
The DVD aspect ratio was labelled as 2.35:1 but also as "16:9 Enhanced".
Despite setting everything up very carefully, the image on projection (and on the monitor) was slightly stretched horizontally and there was nothing that could be done about it (all the settings were checked; i.e. the projector was not mistakenly set to "unsqueeze" the material [which was 4x3 letterboxed]...nor was the DVD player).
The overall quality was also terrible and a betrayal of the huge craftsmanship that went into the film. The WXGA LCD projector used (posited as "good enough" for the screening) was bright enough but obviously couldn't possibly achieve the necessary contrast, colour gamut or resolution, so the picture fell apart, especially in the film's many dark or low-lit scenes.
Sound was Lt Rt decoded in the cinema's Dolby CP650 as we couldn't interface the DVD player's 5.1 output with the CP (would have needed at least the I/O Option Card fitted). Ultimately the specification of the DVD format seems hard to control. You're handed the disc - which can have a myriad of authoring characteristics - and told to get on with it; and in this case a print could have been screened, but no, it would have been "too expensive" (it was a private hire).
I believe screening DVDs instead of 35mm prints (so-called "DVD substitution") raises serious ethical problems as the format was never designed for large-screen projection, but rather purely for domestic use.
What about looking at 35mm print non-availability another way - and this requires courage - and saying, well, if a print isn't available, then the title can't be shown?
Although this might go against a well-meaning "the show must go on" ethos, it does protect the integrity of the work of the great numbers of craftspeople who bring these films to fruition.
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