Things about DVDs I don't understand

[Haver]

Why are some DVDs almost full screen on the telly, but other ones do that postbox thing or whatever you call it with the big black stripes on the top and bottom? Like, what's the difference between widescreen and not widescreen, because some widescreen DVDs do the full screen thing and others don't?

 

Does this have something to do with regions? (A Region 1 version of The Departed calls itself 'full screen'.)

 

Is it do with the way the picture gets shot?

 

I don't know. I'm clueless.

[Jasper]

It has to do with how the picture has been shot. Do you have a Wii? Browse through the settings, you'll find two settings for your screen: Normal (3:4) and Widescreen (16:9). The Black borders you're seeing has to do with the fact that the film has been filmed in a certain aspect ratio. Check the back of your DVD: there's should be a mention of the aspect ratio (it's either 3:4 or 16:9). To make things harder: televisions have even different standards. Compare the BBC with our local television network één and I see that the BBC has small border, whereas we have larger borders, but they're still smaller than DVD's. It's mostly the preference of the cameraman that defines this stuff (or director, actually). Check you wikipedia for more information.

[Shino]

It needs to be anamorphic for those black bars to disappear.

 

Anamorphic widescreen

[Mr_Odwin]

Most pal dvds have a resolution of 720x576 (there's also 352x576 & 352x288). That's right, a pixel aspect ratio of 1.25. DVDs are made of mpeg2 video and this has aspect ratio flags. In DVDs this flag can be 4:3 or 16:9 - the pixels are displayed stretched from 720x576 to reach the right ratios.

Widescreen material is normally just an aspect ratio flag in the video and all the video is used for the material, however, it can just be encoded as 4:3 material but with blackbars at the top and bottom.

But then material that goes on dvds can have all sorts of aspect ratios - 2.35:1 is another common one. This is generally 16:9 flagged video with added black bars.

I guess 4:3 material could be encoded as 16:9 video and have black bars added to the sides too.

 

It can all depend on what video output settings you have set your DVD player too as well.

[Kurtle Squad]

I always watch things in the one 'above' letterbox if there's letterbox and all that bullshit, so that i don't lose too much off the sides, but so it doesn't looks stupid and there's less black.

 

The idea of letterbox mush have come from a retard with an exceptionally wide, short TV.

[Jasper]

I always watch things in the one 'above' letterbox if there's letterbox and all that bullshit, so that i don't lose too much off the sides, but so it doesn't looks stupid and there's less black.

 

The idea of letterbox mush have come from a retard with an exceptionally wide, short TV.

 

You're really full of bullshit. What's wrong with letterbox? To me, it makes for a much more cinematic experience. The more black border, the more cinema it feels.

[Haver]

I like the letterbox thing as well, but my folks have a real hate for it.

[Jasper]

I've got a hate for those Xbox Live! Gamertags - they always stop me from scrolling when my mouse-pad passes through it and I have to move my mouse to get scrolling again (two-fingered scrolling: Apple/Innovation). Yes, Kurtle, It's mostly your tag. Not personally, though..

[=NukeBlaze=]

Some DVDs have video encoded in wide screen, some DVD have video encoded in full screen...Some come with both on the disc. They typically tell you directly on the box.

 

 

The idea of letterbox mush have come from a retard with an exceptionally wide, short TV.

 

The idea of letterbox comes from the manufacture knowing that people will probably get a disc that that not match the common 4:3 -full aspect ratio televisions. In letterbox, you still to see the movie, because otherwise either side would be blocked off and you would be missing parts. AS odwin mentioned, there are additional output otpions on your DVD player in most cases, but they are not intelligent options that can dynamically adjust to compensate for what is cut off from wide-->full.

 

This movie theater format to TV has been a problem for a long time. You see, when they mod a movie from 16:9 ofa movie theater, they have to edit it in such a way that you still see most everything important to the movie. For example: If in one scene in the theater, you had some character peering out from the far right, they would have to make sure the full screen adaptation did not cut him out by intelligently editing. This adds turnaround time between box office and your seat, as well as additional cost. As new TV are embracing the wide screen format, this will become a null problem one day.