Posted by Joshua Zyber on 03/30/06 00:14

"Jeff Rife" <wevsr@nabs.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.1e9497234ab2c65798a429@news.nabs.net...
>> 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.

I wouldn't read too much into this. I haven't seen these specs published
anywhere other than Digital Bits yet, so it could just be Bill Hunt's
misunderstanding. I've seen him use that term in relation to HDTV many
times before. And even if that was in the official press release, these
things often have technical errors that are corrected later.

HD-DVD content is stored on disc in 1920x1080p24 format. This has been
confirmed by people doing the encoding. There is no downsampling and
anamorphic stretching. Likewise, there is no form of anamorphic
enhancement for 2.35:1 content, which some of us would have appreciated.
The term "anamorphic" in that announcement really means nothing.

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