16.9 enhanced?

[robinc]

new hitach 50v500 and sony dvpcx975 progressive 400 dvd player
I know this comes up a lot -but Indiana Jones set is
enhanced for 16.9- does that not mean it should fill 16.9?
Am I missing something here- I realize 235.1 will have bars
so how does enhanced for 16.9 differ from 2.35 .1?
the confusion continues
Robinc

[Keith from Canada]

"Enhanced for 16x9 TV's" means that the DVD is anamorphic. For a definition of anamorphic, I'll offer this link which explains it better than I could. Just remember that anamorphic essentially means better.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/page2.html

[yakkosmurf]

Keith is exactly correct. Once you've seen anamorphic on a 16:9 TV, you will be at DVDs that don't have it. :D

[robinc]

Thanks if I ead the link right - should the picture from I JONES 1 enhanced have automatically filled the screen?- still had bars -
TV info was showing 480 P input from DVD - Zoom function on TV made picture too big. Maybe I am widescreen challenged!
anyhow- have a great holiday week in case no one gets a chance to respond today
ROBINC

[richieb]

Animorphic just means the recording on the DVD is recorded 4:3 mode for 16:9 TV's. Before you get confused read on.

DVD is formatted for 4:3 viewing.. So when you buy a WS movie you are not optimising the usage of the DVD disc because a 2.35:1 presentation will only use about a half of the disc. The rest of the disc are essentially zero's, which make a black area or bars on the top or bottom of a 4:3 screen.

Because on WS movies alot of the image is black, why not use that black data usefully. They can do this by distorting a 16:9 image into a 4:3 image so that when viewed on a 16:9 TV it stretches out to its origonal dimensions. By using data that would normally of been black bars you get about 30% better resolution on animorphic. Its like squashing a sponge and then releasing it again, it forms its origonal shape again.

Remember, a HDTV 16:9 will have 1080i lines of resolution. But DVD only uses 480. So wouldnt it be better to have all 480 of them used instead of say 60% of them?

Non animorphic Widescreen DVD's only use 60%+ of 480 lines. Which is just over 300 lines.

I dont know if thats in laymens terms or not.. But its mostly about making use of the black bar areas, as these are usually zero's on a DVD's.. they do nothing but make a black area.

So hopefully this answers your question as to why the phrase "Enhanced for 16:9 viewing" does not mean filling the screen on a 16:9 TV. The ratio's of the movie will never changed by this statement.

Animorphic will become obsolete as the next generation optical discs become much larger in storage capacity and take 16:9 viewing as its default.

[Monstrous Mike]

Thanks if I ead the link right - should the picture from I JONES 1 enhanced have automatically filled the screen?- still had bars -
TV info was showing 480 P input from DVD - Zoom function on TV made picture too big. Maybe I am widescreen challenged!
anyhow- have a great holiday week in case no one gets a chance to respond today
ROBINC
This wonderful thing called "Enhanced for 16:9 TVs" only means that it has better resolution than a regular DVD. And this better resolution can only be taken advantage of by TVs that are 16:9.

It has nothing to do with the aspect ratio of the movie. If you are watching a 2.35:1 movie, you are going to have black no matter what (unless you zoom of course). This applies for enhanced DVDs or regular ones. This is just the way it is.

Essentially, an enhanced DVD will look the same on a 16:9 TV as a regular DVD, just with better resolution.

[robinc]

thanks- Appreciate the input- Hope everyone has a great week!
Robinc