[MAlan]

O.k. this is a very basic question about DVDs. I got a DVD with my iMac 2 years ago and it has the option of standard and widescreen format. However, the DVD's I bought yesterday seem to only have widescreen format. Is there something I'm missing here. I thought you could always play DVD's in standard TV aspect ratio.

[FD]

Why would you want to do that?

[buchrob]

Most DVD's are released in only one of the following formats:
1) Fullscreen (4:3 aspect ratio to fit your standard TV screen - also known as pan-and-scan);
2) Widescreen Anamorphic (picture modified slightly to fit 16:9 HDTV sets);
3) Widescreen (original theatrical format picture at approx. 2.35:1).

The idea behind the 2nd and 3rd formats is that you will see the film more or less as the director originally intended, but will have to put up with black bars above and below the picture on a standard screen TV. The choice on the release format rests entirely with the studio.

Occasionally, the studio will release the movie in two formats on one disc, usually fullscreen on one side and widescreen on the other. Or, in the case of A Bug's Life that shipped with the iMac DV, there is a menu item to choose between the two.

Check the back of the DVD packaging to see what format you're buying.

If the black bars really bug you, you can buy a DVD player that has a "zoom" feature to fill the screen. The picture will be softer, buy you probably won't notice that much on a standard TV anyway.

[SirCastor]

Originally posted by buchrob:
<STRONG>Most DVD's are released in only one of the following formats:
1) Fullscreen (4:3 aspect ratio to fit your standard TV screen - also known as pan-and-scan);
2) Widescreen Anamorphic (picture modified slightly to fit 16:9 HDTV sets);
3) Widescreen (original theatrical format picture at approx. 2.35:1).

The idea behind the 2nd and 3rd formats is that you will see the film more or less as the director originally intended, but will have to put up with black bars above and below the picture on a standard screen TV. The choice on the release format rests entirely with the studio.
</STRONG>

In an effort to bring a little more understanding to these things, allow me to explain a little further.

1) A 4 to 3 ratio is the standard TV screen. Feature films are not shot in 4:3 (There are numerous exceptions in terms of earlier films. Casablanca for instance). Feature films are usually shot in a wider format, like (as mentioned above) 2.35:1.
When they're made to be put on Video cassette, They are taken to a lab and re-edited to fit in 4:3. This is done using a technique called Pan and Scan, where a 4:3 box is fit over part of the entire 2.35:1 image (or whatever the format) and (dependant on the lab tech) You see the movie within that box, and typically, the action follows one particular character or object. The upside of this, is.. you get a movie that fits your screen. The Downside of this is that you don't get the whole movie. You're missing whatever the lab tech cut out. Sometimes the technique is done so poorly that, the panning occurs contrary to the camera movements, and you get a bizzare scrolling effect.

In other "feature formats" the entire picture is retained in it's original format. Thus you get to see the Director's original intentions. The Downside to this (well, some people call it a downside) is that there are black bars placed on either side of the picture to retain the television's screen, thus resulting in a smaller image. There are some (silly, IMO) people who think Widescreen is worse that Pan and Scan, because of the smaller picture, or the black bars. They are under the impression that the picture is actually being cut away.


Anyway, I hope that explains it.

[ 08-14-2001: Message edited by: SirCastor ]