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ZX81
15-12-2001, 18:03
Can someone please explain the widescreen formats. I don't have a widescreen TV so I want to know how these different formats will look on a 4:3 TV before I buy.

I've seen these on the back of boxes sofar 16:9, 1:85:1, 2:85:1. Also what is anamorphic?

Apologies if this has been asked before but I couldn't find a thread that helped.

ZX81
kcxdev
15-12-2001, 18:38
The best explanation of anamorphic I've come across so far is at http://www.dvdweb.co.uk/ go to the information and then the anamorphic link.
Chris
15-12-2001, 18:43
4:3 tvs have a ratio of 1.33:1, which means for every vertical unit you have 1.33 units horizontally.


Widescreen tvs are 16:9. This is the ratio 1.77777:1 (1.78:1) (16/9 = 1.78)

A majority are 1.85:1 and 2.35:1, 1.85:1 have very tiny black bars on a 16:9 display but this normally gets hidden by overscan.

2.35:1 films will have black bars on a widescreen set at the top and bottom. On a 4:3 tv it will have massive black bars (almost 2 thirds black bars)

Widescreen movies can be anything above 1.33:1 and upto 2.76:1 (the widest ratio ever used, it was used for Ben Hur)


Anamorphic can be a applied to any widescreen movie, with it the movie is recorded vertically stretched, this means the widescreen tv only needs to strecth the picture horizonally to get the correct ratio. With non-anamorphic the picture is not stretched so a widescreen tv has the stretch the picture vertically and horizontally which gives a lower resolution.

Anamorphic gives widescreen movies about an extra 33% vertical resolution.

You can find more detailed description and diagrams at http://www.thedigitalbits.com and http://www.dvdweb.co.uk
ZX81
15-12-2001, 22:04
Thanks for the explanation and links. Looks like I'm gonna have to buy a widescreen tv as most of the stuff I've seen on sale or for rent is Widescreen!
LV426
17-12-2001, 14:24
Originally posted by ZX81
Thanks for the explanation and links. Looks like I'm gonna have to buy a widescreen tv as most of the stuff I've seen on sale or for rent is Widescreen!

Yes, yes. You most certainly should. The bigger the better.