Page 1 of Widescreen, 2.35:1, 4:3 TVs, Widescreen TVS, anamorphic, etc.etc.

Been reading some of the stuff about anamorphic transfers etc. on the internet to try and get an understanding about what it all is and what it means for you and your TV.

My understandind is that its a way of storing the image so that when its reproduced by the DVD player, resolution is still good, because its unsquished on your TV.

I`ve got a standard 4:3 TV, and quite rightly a 2:35.1 DVD is displayed using only just over half of the screen in letterbox format. On a friends widescreen TV, the letterbox is much bigger. My understanding is that my DVd player is using an algorithm to miss scan lines to fit on my old 4:3 TV.

So, with a widescreen, it does`nt need to throw away scan lines (for a 16:9 DVD anyway, but just a few for 2.35:1). Does this mean the detail on the widescreen would be better ?

What is the resolution on TVs anyway ? Are they all the same or is there more resolution on a bigger TV ? (Or are the pixels just bigger ?).

Reason is ask is this....

If I were to buy, say, a 37" 4:3 TV then with a 2.25:1 DVD I would still get the same letterboxing (albeit bigger than a smaller TV). In fact, the actual image height would be bigger than say a 25" widescreen TV (despite letterboxing)

Would I get the same level of detail or would the widescreen TV still be better ?

For instance, big 4:3 TV may be X inches high but only half of this is being used say. Thus, only half the pixels.

Whereas, a small widescreen may be less high, but will have most of the screen used, more scan lines. All the pixels used - better picture.

Is this right ? Bottom line - Does a 40" TV say, have more scan lines than a 20" TV (or are they just larger to look at).

Most of this is too techie for my poor old head on a Friday night, but, as far as i am aware, the answer to your bottom line is that a 40 inch screen is just larger to look at than a 20 inch. The scan lines are the same whatever the size.

Anamorphic widescreen gives around 33% higher resolution than non-anamorphic widescreen on a tv with anamorphic mode (ie. widescreen tv)
But it loses this extra resolution if played in 4:3 letterbox mode with a tv that doesn`t support anamorphic (ie. most 4:3 tvs)

Also the conversion from anamorphic to non-anamorphic by the player is far from perfect as it forces the removal of lines, this can give a lower picture quality than a non-anamorphic disc when used on a 4:3 tv.


All UK tvs should have the same amount of scan lines, as PAL has a set number of scanlines.

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