Anamorphic
DVD At Last!
All right - here's where we get to the meat of anamorphic
widescreen. As most of you know, those of us here in the U.S.
have a Digital TV in our future, like it or not. The reason for
this, is because the Government has mandated a full conversion
of American television broadcasting to Digital TV by the year
2006 (although the realities of the marketplace will probably
mean that the actual conversion will take as much as a decade
longer). Digital TV (aka DTV, as determined by the Grand
Alliance - the industry consortium which decided upon the
standard) is really some 18 different formats labeled under one
umbrella term. Some of these formats are Standard definition
(SDTV - meaning that they use the same 525 lines of picture
resolution that current analog NTSC does today) and some are
High-definition (HDTV - broadcasting at a full 1080 lines of
resolution). All are fully Digital, which should result in much
better reception quality - with a DTV, you'll either get a
perfect picture, or no picture at all (gone are the days of
watching electronic snow on your TV). Some of the DTV formats
don't even deliver video at all, carrying instead simply
computer data, for such things as live stock quotes, sports
scores, Internet access and more. In fact, one of the big
controversies at the moment, is that the major TV networks want
to use the extra bandwidth that DTV provides to broadcast MORE
channels of SDTV, instead of the HDTV we all expect (you see...
by broadcasting MORE channels instead of better channels, they
can sell more advertising).
But I digress. You all want to know what Digital TV has to do
with anamorphic DVD. Here's the deal: one of the cool things
about DTV is it's aspect ratio - 1.78:1 (also known as 16x9). In
other words, the future of TV is widescreen. Surely, you can
already imagine how much easier that will make it to bring
widescreen movies to home video. No longer will TV's aspect
ratio require the butchering of widescreen films.
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Ah... but it gets even better. Digital TV is "anamorphic
ready". Which means that if a widescreen movie on DVD is
recorded in the anamorphic format, a Digital TV can "unsqueeze"
the video image contained on the disc, so that it fills the full
width of the TV screen, while retaining a LOT more vertical
resolution. In other words, the video's vertical resolution will
blow a standard letterbox transfer away. The image you'll be
seeing will contain a LOT more lines of vertical resolution
(still not fully high-definition, but much more than on a
Standard TV), so the picture will be clearer and cleaner than
you've ever seen it before... and you'll still be seeing the
original widescreen aspect ratio as the director intended you
to. And all this is with the current anamorphic DVDs that you
all have in your movie libraries today - there's no need to buy
new discs. How do you like them apples?
So How Does Anamorphic Work?
Given all of the early foot-dragging by the Hollywood studios
toward anamorphic on DVD, you're probably convinced that it must
surely be an expensive and time-consuming process. You couldn't
be more wrong. All that's required from the perspective of the
Hollywood studios, is to request an anamorphic transfer during
the telecine stage. I've done some digging, and discovered that
this generally costs no more than it does to commission a
standard letterbox transfer, as long as the proper film elements
are available (extra costs are usually only incurred if the
original film elements are in need of restoration). The best
possible film transfer would, of course, be a high-definition
anamorphic transfer. That will run you several thousand dollars
more... but there are advantages to it. The most obvious of
these is the higher video quality an HD transfer will afford
you. Also, you'll get a digital master of your film that can
sometimes be digitally cleaned up and restored to better than
original theatrical quality. This master can be stored to
preserve the film for future generations in pristine condition
(the data won't degrade like film will). Better still, this
master can be used to originate the film on every home video and
broadcasting format currently available today, from VHS and
Laserdisc to DVD and HTDV.
Once the transfer is done, and you've got a digital master of
your film in hand, all that's required in the DVD authoring
stage is to tell the technician that you want the widescreen
video to be in anamorphic mode. The tech simply goes into his
authoring software, and presses a button to insert the necessary
flags onto the disc (so that the DVD player and DTV will
recognize the anamorphic signal). That's it. That's as hard as
it gets.
Okay... so your disc is anamorphic, and you've got your DVD
player and DTV ready to go. I'm sure by now you're all wondering
how anamorphic works after you pop the disc into your player...
and more importantly, how it looks. I'm more than happy to
explain it to you. In fact, it's probably easier if I just SHOW
you. Below you'll find links to demonstrations I've put together
using actual video from a pair of films that are available on
DVD in BOTH anamorphic widescreen and standard letterbox
(non-anamorphic). I'm using two films as examples, because I
want to show you the difference between films in Academy Flat
(1.85:1) and Anamorphic Scope (2.35:1) aspect ratios. So go
ahead and click over to those (first one, then the other), and
by the time you come back here, you'll know exactly how
anamorphic on DVD works.
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Anamorphic
vs. Non-anamorphic (1.85:1 Film)
Anamorphic
vs. Non-anamorphic (2.35:1 Film)
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Okay... if you've come back after checking out the two
demonstrations above, you no doubt know that the widescreen
video signal on an anamorphic DVD appears to be be "squished".
Here's an interesting side note on this before I continue: This
squished picture is why a lot of people early on thought their
DVD players were defective. Many of the early players shipped
from the manufacturers in Japan preset for widescreen TVs, and
unknowing consumers here in the U.S. simply hadn't told their
player that they had a Standard TV instead. And it wasn't just
consumers making this mistake - you could walk into almost any
Best Buy or Circuit City early on and see the same problem right
on the sales floor. Go figure.
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Don't Have A Digital TV - Why Should I Care?
So you don't have a Digital TV yet - you're not alone. Some of
you may be wondering why you should give a rip about anamorphic
if you plan on keeping that Standard TV for quite a while to
come. That's a question I get a lot, not just from consumers,
but from the studios as well. Believe me - you'd be amazed how
many studios execs use that as an excuse not to go anamorphic.
The bottom line is this - doing a new anamorphic transfer is
almost always going to result in better quality, even if you
still only have a Standard TV. The reason for this, is that
today's telecine processes are fully digital. The
state-of-the-art in film transfer technology is much better
today that it was even a few years ago, especially with
high-definition transfers being done more and more. When a
studio simply re-uses an "off the shelf" laserdisc
master (done even just a few years ago), you're going to see
unnecessary edge-enhancement and all kinds of other NTSC and
analog artifacts in the video. A new digital transfer will be
clean and crisp, with vibrant and correctly timed color. It may
even have been digitally cleaned, with little spots of print
damage, hair and dust actually having been digitally erased from
the image altogether.
And remember how much money you're all spending now to replace
your VHS collection of movies on DVD? Do you really want to have
to re-purchase all your films again when you get that new
Digital TV? Of course not. Making sure to buy anamorphic
widescreen DVDs now, means that your money is well spent. You
can rest easy, knowing that your current DVD library is a least
a little future proof - your discs look great now, and they'll
look even better on that new widescreen TV you buy in a few
years.
So doing anamorphic on DVD is a win-win situation for everyone,
right? Sure. But there was a time, early on in the history of
the format, where the studios were reluctant. In many cases,
they simply didn't understand the anamorphic feature of DVD.
You'd be surprised how many studio executives in charge of DVD
that I had to explain it to early on. And some were concerned
that all that electronic "squishing and unsquishing"
of the video signal would degrade the picture quality on current
TVs. To be fair, some early players weren't so good at the
process. But that problem has long since been resolved. Current
DVD players almost universally render amazing widescreen images
from anamorphic DVDs.
All said, it took a couple of years for some studios to finally
make the move to anamorphic widescreen on DVD. Buena Vista and
Fox have only recently started doing anamorphic transfers for
their discs (Tarzan is
anamorphic, for example, as will be Fox's upcoming Fight
Club disc). But some studios have been doing right by
DVD straight out of the gate, like Columbia TriStar, Warner
Bros., New Line and DreamWorks (once they finally hopped on the
DVD bandwagon). Others, like Paramount, MGM and Universal, soon
adopted the feature on at least some of their releases. The
bottom line, is that for many of the studios, anamorphic
widescreen has become the rule for DVD, instead of the
exception. And every major studio has now released at least a
few anamorphic discs.
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How Do I Know A DVD Is
Anamorphic?
Few studios seem to label the anamorphic widescreen feature on
their DVD packaging in exactly the same way, and some don't
label it at all. But the following are some words to look for in
general.
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20th
Century Fox: Enhanced for Widescreen TVs,
sometimes not labeled
Anchor Bay: Enhanced
for 16x9 TVs
Artisan: 16:9
Fullscreen Version, or Enhanced for 16:9 Television
Buena Vista: Enhanced
for 16x9 Televisions
Columbia TriStar:
Anamorphic Video (recently), often not labeled
Criterion: Enhanced
for Widescreen Televisions, or simply "16:9"
DreamWorks: Anamorphic
Widescreen
Image: Enhanced for
16x9 TVs
MGM: Enhanced for 16x9
TVs
New Line: Enhanced for
Widescreen TVs
Paramount: Enhanced
for 16x9
Trimark: Widescreen
(if it says "Letterboxed", that's non-anamorphic)
Universal: Anamorphic
Widescreen
USA: Widescreen 16x9
Warner Bros: Enhanced
for Widescreen TVs |
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But what if you've got a widescreen DVD and you can't find any
markings about anamorphic on the packaging? Many of Columbia
TriStar's widescreen DVDs are anamorphic (but not labeled as
such). How do you tell? Well... remember that problem we
mentioned a few minutes ago, where people were seeing "squished"
pictures on their Standard TV? You can use that to find out -
simply go into your DVD player's setup menu and tell it that you
have a widescreen TV (it may be labeled simply "16x9").
On your Standard TV, if a disc is anamorphic, it will look
squished. If it looks the same, it's non-anamorphic. Don't
forget to switch your DVD player's setup back to Standard "4x3"
TV mode when you're done!
You should know that here at The
Digital Bits, whenever we review a DVD, we'll always
let you know if it uses anamorphic widescreen or not. Just look
for this symbol at the top of the review:
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Conclusion
So have I convinced you yet? Well don't take my word for it -
go out to your local electronics store and ask to see a
demonstration of anamorphic DVD on a widescreen TV yourself.
Once you see it firsthand, I think you'll be converted. And
remember, you don't have to have a fancy $5,000 TV to see the
improved picture quality that a new anamorphic transfer can
provide on DVD. They'll look great on your current TVs right
now.
Anamorphic widescreen DVD is all about giving you the most
lines of picture resolution (and thus quality), while still
allowing you to watch widescreen movies as they were meant to be
seen. All you have to do is open the pages of any major home
theater magazine (or web site online), to find the experts in
agreement with me on the benefits of anamorphic on DVD. I think
Stereophile Guide to Home Theater's
Fred Manteghian said it best, when extolling the virtues of
anamorphic in his regular column in the magazine: "All else
being equal, the image with the most lines wins." Amen,
brother.
As always, I welcome your comments.
Bill
Hunt, Editor
The
Digital Bits
billhunt@thedigitalbits.com
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