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DVD with anamorphic, compared to DVD with "enhanced for widescreen TV" ???

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Elizabeth

(i)

I have A decent DVD player and a Sony 36XBR400. When I play the anamorphic DVDs I can set both player and TV to 16:9 and get a GREAT picture. Same for the "enhanced for widescreen TV" marked DVDs. but not for any widescreen DVDs that lack the two above notatons. Just to be able to understand what the actual difference BETWEEN "anamorphic" and "enhanced for widescreen TV" is/means??? and why the ones that are widescreen but not marked are unable to be used in the same way?
Thanks for any input on this puzzle!

Follow Ups:

Re: DVD with anamorphic, compared to DVD with "enhanced for widescreen TV" ??? Ed 14:52:39 03/12/01 (3)
How do you like your XBR? I am trying to decide between your Sony and the Panasonic 36" model which is very similar.
- XBR: nice picture,inputs; totally stupid remote Elizabeth 17:25:18 03/12/01 (2)
  The XBR is a nice TV 'fer sure. the color is fantastic.
  I love the 16:9 with the DVDs, and the big picture for everything else
  I hate the remote as it can't control anything else I have. The remote is a "key in the numbers" junk and doesn't accept the stuff I own.
  Give me a learning remote that just learns whatever the command is you want to put in!!!!
  Ever since I junked my old 35" Toshiba (It was a pile of junk compared to the Sony) but it had a learning remote so the 30 extra keys at the bottom were set to do EVERYTHING I needed!!!! Now I'm back to remote juggling and need to find a decent single cheap controller.
  - Don't suppose you kept the Toshiba remote... (nt) Paul in Sterling 12:07:48 03/18/01 (1)
    .
    - Just gave it away this wekend!!! Elizabeth 12:59:23 03/19/01 (0)
      Just gave the old TV (with the remote) to my down the hall neighbor THIS weekend. Just got tired of trying to 'sell' the old TV to anyone in earshot fer' a hunnert bucks... no takers so free to the first person on my apt. building floor to answer the door and say yes.
      So it's gone.
Re: DVD with anamorphic, compared to DVD with "enhanced for widescreen TV" ??? Dan G. 11:59:21 03/12/01 (3)
OK here's my try at an explanation, I may mess up some terms, but I know the theory is correct here.
Anamorphic or "Enhanced for Widescreen TV's" means the same thing in my book. Basically all 480 lines of the movie image are captured (as opposed to letterboxing, which only fits the movie into 320 lines, and usese the rest for the top & bottom black bars).
Now the Enhanced/Anamorphic part is that to get the whole wide screen image at full resolution onto a 4:3 frame (like your TV) they gotta squish the image in- making things tall & skinny liek the credits during old Kung Fu flicks.
MY friends watch DVD'd on normal 4:3 TV like this , preferring to not loose any image size.
Now, you nice handy Sony TV, is capable of receiving this Widescreen image, which has been squished to fit in a 4:3 TV, and your Sony can un-squish it.
So, for anamorphic/enahnced stuff you will have the nice picture you speak of. For "widescreen letterboxed" pictures, you will have a decent, but fuzzier image, as 25% of the image resolution is wasted on black bars. Non-widescreen pictures, if you watch in anamorphic mode, may seem streched (too wide).
Hope this helps some.
DG
- Re: DVD with anamorphic, compared to DVD with "enhanced for widescreen TV" ??? Roland 16:00:38 03/13/01 (2)
  Not absolutely sure, but I think your XBR400 is the USA equivelant of my Sony 36FS70. If this is the case, you can set each of the inputs to automatically detect whether the incoming signal is widescreen (16x9) or 4x3. I use this with both DVD and SAT for convienience. If its the same its on the fourth menu down, go to the scart input setup and you can spec whether it is fully automatic mode select or not. Another tip, that you may or may not be using, is to set AV2 to RGB and use the RGB output from your DVD. This makes a real improvement to pic quality. Its without doubt the best CRT set I've ever seen.
  Dan, my best friend has the 36" Panasonic, and the picture is not in the same class IMHO.
  Roland.
  - XBR400 does NOT have any possible RGB inputs. Elizabeth 08:58:01 03/14/01 (1)
    The Sony XBR400 doesn't have what must be a nice feature!,no RGB inputs settings. and the menus don't "stick" to each input, unfortunately!
    - Re: XBR400 does NOT have any possible RGB inputs. Roland 17:11:54 03/14/01 (0)
      Thats a real pity. IMHO the Sony 36FS70 is the best CRT I have ever seen. Obviously its not HDTV but transmissions for that probably won't start here for another 10 years so I'm not worried.
      The RGB on Sat and DVD is stunning, and the set features a nice line doubling feature that dummies up the res on 525 PAL. I'm very happy needless to say!
      Roland

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