Page 1 of Anamorphic/Non-anamorphic

Hi,

I`ve recently rented a couple of movies: Eraser and Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. Eraser was an anamorphic version, quite good. However, the second film did not seem anamorphic although this homepage states it is. I must say I live in Portugal, so I think this may be relevant although I think our versions are the same as in the UK.

Plus, is it normal that non-anamorphic version show large black bars (as in widescreen) with the images slightly squashed? This happened with Robin Hood and The Thing which is in 2.35:1. Or does it have something to do with the TV?

Sorry about this but I`m new to DVDs. Thanks.

Film has been shot with ratios ranging from 1.33:1 right up to 2.35:1 and beyond. 1.85:1 which is also the same as 16:9 is a halfway house ratio chosen by widescreen TV manufacturers for delivery of widescreen material.

If you view a 1.85:1 image on a 16x9 TV set you will see no black bars, but you will if you view a 2.35:1 image, this is normal.

Since you don`t state whether you are using a widescreen TV or not, its hard to help you further. :-/

does this apply if you have a 4.3 tv with a 16.9 facility?

Actually 16:9 is 1.7777777777 (ie. 1.78)

Most tvs overscan and that is why 1.85:1 movies appear to fill the entire 16:9 screen.


For non-anamoprhic on a widescreen tv you need to use the mode like ZOOM, this zooms the picture without squashing it. With a 4:3 tv you just keep it in standard mode.

For anamorphic on a widescreen tv you need to use the mode like WIDE this mode squashs the image to the correct ratio. With a 4:3 TV with a anamorphic mode you need to set the player to output 16:9 Widescreen and then use the anamorphic mode of the tv. With a 4:3 tv without anamorphic mode you need to set the player to 4:3 Letterbox (4:3 Pan&scan is useless as most discs prevent it).


1.85:1 on widescreen tv will have no (or extremely small) black bars
2.351 on a widescreen tv will have black bars (they will be the same size for both anamorphic and non-anamorphic widescreen.

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Plus, is it normal that non-anamorphic version show large black bars (as in widescreen) with the images slightly squashed? This happened with Robin Hood and The Thing which is in 2.35:1. Or does it have something to do with the TV?

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No it`s not normal, both Robin Hood and The Thing are non-anamorphic 2.35:1, it sounds like you have you tv in anamorphic mode by mistake, try the ZOOM mode (ie. the one channel 4 terestrial sometimes uses for widescreen programs).