Anamorhic Queation

[RKRM]

Does anamorphic require special equipment? Will any DVD player work with it?
Any widescreen TV? Thanks.

--
XBL GamerTag: RKRM

XBL Games: XIII, Burnout 3: Takedown, Counter-Strike, Crimson Skies: High
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Ghost Recon, GhostRecon2, Halo2, Links 2004, MechAssault, Midtown Madness 3,
NBA 2K3, Rainbow Six 3, Top Spin, Unreal Championship, Xbox Live Arcade

http://users.ign.com/collection/RKR

[Rich Clark]

"RKRM" <rkrm@NOSPAMcomcast.net> wrote in message
news:3YWdnWU9cuNexJjfRVn-jA@comcast.com...
> Does anamorphic require special equipment? Will any DVD player work with
> it? Any widescreen TV? Thanks.

Anamorphic DVDs play properly in any player and on any TV. It's usually
necessary to configure your equipment for proper playback.

RichC

YES.
Anamorphic just means that the picture has been optically "squeezed", when
played on a proper screen its "unsqueezed " to provide the best pic
possible.
Every DVD player in the free world (and most of the unfree) when set to
"16:9" television will display these properly, set it to 4:3 and it will
adjust for that also
"RKRM" <rkrm@NOSPAMcomcast.net> wrote in message
news:3YWdnWU9cuNexJjfRVn-jA@comcast.com...
> Does anamorphic require special equipment? Will any DVD player work with
it?
> Any widescreen TV? Thanks.
>
> --
> XBL GamerTag: RKRM
>
> XBL Games: XIII, Burnout 3: Takedown, Counter-Strike, Crimson Skies: High
> Road to Revenge, ESPN Major League Baseball, ESPN NFL 2K5, ESPN NHL 2K5,
> Ghost Recon, GhostRecon2, Halo2, Links 2004, MechAssault, Midtown Madness
3,
> NBA 2K3, Rainbow Six 3, Top Spin, Unreal Championship, Xbox Live Arcade
>
> http://users.ign.com/collection/RKR
>
>

[Lucas Tam]

"RKRM" <rkrm@NOSPAMcomcast.net> wrote in
news:3YWdnWU9cuNexJjfRVn-jA@comcast.com:

> Does anamorphic require special equipment? Will any DVD player work
> with it? Any widescreen TV? Thanks.

Yes it'll work fine with any TV.

If you have a 4:3 TV, you may have to set the DVD player to 4:3 Letterbox
mode, otherwise the playback maybe distorted.

For a 16:9 TV, you'll have to set the DVD player to Widescreen.

Some 4:3 TVs have built in anamorphic support such as the Sony Wega series
- these TVs can decompress an anamorphic signal without losing any
information and still display it in a 4:3 screen (letterboxed of course).

--
Lucas Tam (REMOVEnntp@rogers.com)
Please delete "REMOVE" from the e-mail address when replying.
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/coolspot18/

[Eclipsme]

Are all DVDs anamorphic or just some? Will DVD player that is set to 16:9
automatically display it correctly (I assume so), but will the TV need to be
changed from Wide Zoom to Zoom?

Thanks,
Harvey

"Lucas Tam" <REMOVEnntp@rogers.com> wrote in message
news:Xns95F5A79A9C0E6nntprogerscom@140.99.99.130.. .
> "RKRM" <rkrm@NOSPAMcomcast.net> wrote in
> news:3YWdnWU9cuNexJjfRVn-jA@comcast.com:
>
> > Does anamorphic require special equipment? Will any DVD player work
> > with it? Any widescreen TV? Thanks.
>
> Yes it'll work fine with any TV.
>
> If you have a 4:3 TV, you may have to set the DVD player to 4:3 Letterbox
> mode, otherwise the playback maybe distorted.
>
> For a 16:9 TV, you'll have to set the DVD player to Widescreen.
>
> Some 4:3 TVs have built in anamorphic support such as the Sony Wega series
> - these TVs can decompress an anamorphic signal without losing any
> information and still display it in a 4:3 screen (letterboxed of course).
>
> --
> Lucas Tam (REMOVEnntp@rogers.com)
> Please delete "REMOVE" from the e-mail address when replying.
> http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/coolspot18/

[Lucas Tam]

"Eclipsme" <none@noisp.no> wrote in
news:KjJNd.38370$t67.19425@bignews5.bellsouth.net:

> Are all DVDs anamorphic or just some? Will DVD player that is set to
> 16:9 automatically display it correctly (I assume so), but will the TV
> need to be changed from Wide Zoom to Zoom?

Only some DVDs are anamorphic. Anamorphic DVDs are usually listed a
Enhanced for 16:9 TV or Anamorphic Transfer.

If a DVD is not anamorphic then you'll need to change the Zoom setting on
your widscreen TV.

These days, most movies are anamorphic - I try to avoid purchasing non-
anamorphic DVDs if possible.


--
Lucas Tam (REMOVEnntp@rogers.com)
Please delete "REMOVE" from the e-mail address when replying.
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/coolspot18/

[Karyudo]

>> Are all DVDs anamorphic or just some? Will DVD player that is set to
>> 16:9 automatically display it correctly (I assume so), but will the TV
>> need to be changed from Wide Zoom to Zoom?
>
>Only some DVDs are anamorphic.

Actually, strictly speaking, *all* DVDs are anamorphic! That's because
the aspect ratio of the raw data raster -- 720 x 480 or 720 x 576 --
is not 4:3 or 16:9, it's 3:2 or 5:4. So the pixels must be
anamorphically stretched in either display case.

However, in marketing parlance and general use, "anamorphic" is only
used to describe those DVDs with a 16:9 AR flag set in the MPEG-2
stream. And Lucas Tam correctly indicates how to find them. In
addition, you'll find some labelled "Enhanced for Widescreen TVs".

[Eclipsme]

"Karyudo" <karyudo_usenet@yahoo.com.remove.me> wrote in message
news:mg2f019s5stemd09a8kcmbhb27007v8oit@4ax.com...
> >> Are all DVDs anamorphic or just some? Will DVD player that is set to
> >> 16:9 automatically display it correctly (I assume so), but will the TV
> >> need to be changed from Wide Zoom to Zoom?
> >
> >Only some DVDs are anamorphic.
>
> Actually, strictly speaking, *all* DVDs are anamorphic! That's because
> the aspect ratio of the raw data raster -- 720 x 480 or 720 x 576 --
> is not 4:3 or 16:9, it's 3:2 or 5:4. So the pixels must be
> anamorphically stretched in either display case.
>
> However, in marketing parlance and general use, "anamorphic" is only
> used to describe those DVDs with a 16:9 AR flag set in the MPEG-2
> stream. And Lucas Tam correctly indicates how to find them. In
> addition, you'll find some labelled "Enhanced for Widescreen TVs".

Thank you Lucas and Karydo for your answers.

So if I understand correctly, if the DVD player is set for widescreen, an
anemographic disk will display full screen (on a wide screen TV) when the TV
is set to "Normal" display mode.

Likewise, if a 4:3 TV is used, and the DVD player is set to 4:3 the same
disk will display in letterbox.

Right?
Thanks,
Harvey

[Matt Kruse]

Karyudo wrote:
> Actually, strictly speaking, *all* DVDs are anamorphic! That's because
> the aspect ratio of the raw data raster -- 720 x 480 or 720 x 576 --
> is not 4:3 or 16:9, it's 3:2 or 5:4. So the pixels must be
> anamorphically stretched in either display case.

That would be true if TV pixels were square, but they aren't. They're
rectangular.

So the 720x480 native resolution of an NTSC DVD is pretty close to exactly a
4:3 image using rectangular pixels. (I think the figure is actually 704x480
for exactly 4:3, thus leaving 8 extra pixels on each side, but I'm not
positive of that).

But a 16:9 anamorphic DVD uses the same number of pixels for a widescreen
image. When presented pixel-for-pixel to a square fixed-pixel display like
DLP, it stretches it just right and there is no interpolation necessary.
It's 1-for-1 pixel mapping to get a clean widescreen display. And that's why
anamorphic DVD's are preferred.

The whole issue of DVD resolution and specs gets pretty confusing, IMO. If
anyone wishes to correct or clarify the above, that would be fine :)

--
Matt Kruse
http://www.JavascriptToolbox.com

[Karyudo]

On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 20:26:45 -0600, "Matt Kruse"
<newsgroups@mattkruse.com> wrote:

>Karyudo wrote:
>> Actually, strictly speaking, *all* DVDs are anamorphic! That's because
>> the aspect ratio of the raw data raster -- 720 x 480 or 720 x 576 --
>> is not 4:3 or 16:9, it's 3:2 or 5:4. So the pixels must be
>> anamorphically stretched in either display case.
>
>That would be true if TV pixels were square, but they aren't. They're
>rectangular.

I respectfully disagree. Aren't CRT "pixels" actually triangular (one
red, one green, and one blue phosphor dot)? And the signal applied to
a CRT is analog, so I don't think "pixels" really has a meaning in
that case.

For fixed-pixel displays (another kind of TV), the pixels *are*
square: 1024 x 768 is 4:3. So is 800 x 600. HD resolutions are not
4:3, but 1920 x 1080 and 1280 x 720 are both square-pixel 16:9 ratios.

Still, you're right that the data from a DVD must be displayed as
tall, skinny rectangular pixels in order to look right on a 4:3 set --
and that is anamorphism at work!


>So the 720x480 native resolution of an NTSC DVD is pretty close to exactly a
>4:3 image using rectangular pixels.

But the data raster "shape" itself is not 4:3. Each "data point" -- or
pixel value -- is dimensionless. That's what's stored on a DVD. The
data describes a matrix that is either 3:2 (for NTSC) or 5:4 (for
PAL). It is only when the PAR (pixel aspect ratio) flag is set to
either 4:3 or 16:9 that you get a "standard" or "widescreen" image.
These are the only two choices available for DVD; the underlying
MPEG-2 spec also allows 1:1 and 2:1 aspect ratios. So, the data is
exactly as anamorphic in the case of 4:3 material (4:3 flag set; 3:2
data raster is mapped to 4:3 shape with a PAR of 0.89) as in the case
of 16:9 material (16:9 flag set; 3:2 data raster is mapped to 16:9
shape with a PAR of 1.19).


>(I think the figure is actually 704x480
>for exactly 4:3, thus leaving 8 extra pixels on each side, but I'm not
>positive of that).

I think under CCIR 601, that might be right. But I don't believe DVD
really has to follow that spec (it's not a broadcast medium, after
all). There are definitely DVDs wider than 704, and I believe every
software player assumes 720. So does TI, I guess, since some of their
DLP chips are 854 x 480 (i.e. 16:9 square-pixel DVD).

(However, of all the stuff I've written in this post, this is the
section I'm most shaky on.)


>But a 16:9 anamorphic DVD uses the same number of pixels for a widescreen
>image. When presented pixel-for-pixel to a square fixed-pixel display like
>DLP, it stretches it just right and there is no interpolation necessary.
>It's 1-for-1 pixel mapping to get a clean widescreen display. And that's why
>anamorphic DVD's are preferred.

Again, I respectfully disagree. You have both "square fixed-pixel"
displays, and also "no interpolation." Because the anamorphic
widescreen DVD has the same 720 x 480 (for NTSC) size as any other
DVD, this cannot be true. Whether fixed-pixel or otherwise, the data
must be displayed with a PAR of 1.19, which means it is stretched to
cover the 16:9 area. On a fixed-pixel, 16:9 display, this definitely
means there is some interpolation going on.

The advantage of anamorphic widescreen DVDs is not that there is a
"1-for-1 pixel mapping"; it's that more lines of the DVD data raster
are used for picture information. For example, a "non-anamorphic"
widescreen 2.35:1 movie will take up 272 of the 480 lines available if
stored and displayed as 4:3 material, but that same 2.35:1 movie
stored and displayed as 16:9 material will take up about 360 of the
480 lines! That's the improvement "anamorphic widescreen" gives you.

Note that neither 720 x 272 (2.65:1) nor 720 x 360 (2:1) give you the
actual display aspect ratio of 2.35:1; hence *both must be
anamorphic*!


>The whole issue of DVD resolution and specs gets pretty confusing, IMO. If
>anyone wishes to correct or clarify the above, that would be fine :)

I'd like to think I've corrected, but I'm not sure I've clarified!
You're right that this is pretty confusing.

It will automatically set itself to "full" in the presence of a progressive
signal, like 480p
"Eclipsme" <none@noisp.no> wrote in message
news:KjJNd.38370$t67.19425@bignews5.bellsouth.net. ..
> Are all DVDs anamorphic or just some? Will DVD player that is set to 16:9
> automatically display it correctly (I assume so), but will the TV need to
be
> changed from Wide Zoom to Zoom?
>
> Thanks,
> Harvey
>
> "Lucas Tam" <REMOVEnntp@rogers.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns95F5A79A9C0E6nntprogerscom@140.99.99.130.. .
> > "RKRM" <rkrm@NOSPAMcomcast.net> wrote in
> > news:3YWdnWU9cuNexJjfRVn-jA@comcast.com:
> >
> > > Does anamorphic require special equipment? Will any DVD player work
> > > with it? Any widescreen TV? Thanks.
> >
> > Yes it'll work fine with any TV.
> >
> > If you have a 4:3 TV, you may have to set the DVD player to 4:3
Letterbox
> > mode, otherwise the playback maybe distorted.
> >
> > For a 16:9 TV, you'll have to set the DVD player to Widescreen.
> >
> > Some 4:3 TVs have built in anamorphic support such as the Sony Wega
series
> > - these TVs can decompress an anamorphic signal without losing any
> > information and still display it in a 4:3 screen (letterboxed of
course).
> >
> > --
> > Lucas Tam (REMOVEnntp@rogers.com)
> > Please delete "REMOVE" from the e-mail address when replying.
> > http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/coolspot18/
>
>