Video Asylum

Posted by Joe Murphy Jr (A) on September 29, 2003 at 18:47:03

In Reply to: Warner Brother DVD purchased at Wal-Mart mislabeled posted by Watson on September 29, 2003 at 14:57:17:

These mean the same thing: enhanced for widescreen TVs, anamorphic, 16x9 anamorphic, etc. What it means is that the entire movie image is "squeezed" when it's encoded onto the DVD. A widescreen TV will "unsqueeze" the image to properly display it. This can be done to any aspect ratio, such as 2.35:1, 1.85:1, 1.66:1, etc.

The 2010 movie you purchased is listed as an anamorphic title. Since there is only one version available, this is the one you purchased. Due to the aspect ratio that this film was shot (2.35:1), even on a widescreen TV (16x9 or 1.78:1 aspect ratio display), there will be black bars.

However, there is about 30% more resolution in that area compared to a non-anamorphic 2.35:1 release. The only movies that will fill a widescreen TV are those either recorded with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 or manipulated to that aspect ratio. Now, because of overscan in the display, most widescreen TVs will actually have their screens filled with movies that have a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.

Now, was 2010 really a non-anamorphic transfer and listed as anamorphic by mistake? That I don't know.