Posted by Larry G on 03/29/06 20:47

"Jeff Rife" <wevsr@nabs.net> wrote in message ...
> Goro (evilninjax@yahoo.com) wrote in alt.video.dvd:
>> http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents
>>
>> Million Dollar Baby will include anamorphic widescreen video (1080p &
>> 480i resolutions, 2.40:1 aspect ratio)
>>
>> Phantom of the Opera (2004) will include anamorphic widescreen video
>> (1080p & 480i resolutions, 2.40:1 aspect ratio)
>>
>> Finally, The Last Samurai will include anamorphic widescreen video
>> (1080p & 480i resolutions, 2.40:1 aspect ratio)
>
> Well, this is bad news.
>
> The term "anamorphic widescreen" for DVD meant that the normal 4:3 image
> is supposed to be stretched to fill a 16:9 screen. This allowed them to
> gain scan lines of resolution without needing a different format.
>
> *BUT*, it also implies that the horizontal pixel count won't be "correct".
>
> In other words, a DVD *should* have 853x480 pixels for a 16:9 movie, but
> it only has 720x480. Likewise, this would seem to mean that an
> "anamorphic
> widescreen" HD-HVD *should* have 1920x1080 pixels, but will have less
> (maybe 1440x1080?).
>
> Or, do they mean that the 2.40:1 movies will be encoded at 1920x800 (which
> is all the movie needs) and the player will send out black bars at the
> top and bottom to fill in the full 1080 scan lines? That would be great,
> although it's not "anamorphic"...but then I wouldn't be surprised to see
> studio marketing people misusing a technical term.

It is also looking more and more like HD-DVD will be keeping the DVD region
system, as the French track "Dubbed in Quebec" suggests. That would seem to
suggest an R2 release would be dubbed in France and would have
additional/alternate languages. Hmmm.

Larry

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