Video help - Fully Expand and Animorphic aspect ratios?

[biferi]

Video help -- Fully Expand and Animorphic aspect ratios?

I converted a lot off my DVDs that are of 1970's TV show Land Of The Lost to avi files so I can watch them on my pc.

There is one setting for Aspec Ratio I do not get I know if I pick 16:9 this is for Wide Screen.
And I know if I pick 4:3 this is for None Wide Screen Standard TV.

What is the optin Fully Expand and what is the option Animorphic for?

Please tell me in your own words and not a link I have been all over and I think if you just tell me what the two option do Fully Expand and Animorphic I will understand.

Thanks for the help.

 

[jedishrfu]

anamorphic means a wide screen movie is squeezed into the 4:3 format but can be expanded to widescreen with the right playback equipment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphic_widescreen

Also 1970's shows were probably broadcast in 4:3 format so saving it that way would be okay.

 

[biferi]

If Anamorphic makes a Wide Screen Movie to be played on a 4:3 TV then is this not LetterBox??

 

[jedishrfu]

If Anamorphic makes a Wide Screen Movie to be played on a 4:3 TV then is this not LetterBox??

No, letterboxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. (wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letterbox

animorphic can still be expanded into a wide screen with no loss whereas letterbox has been reduced to fit 4:3 forever.

 

[biferi]

Ok I looked up Anamorphic and Widescreen and I think I get it.

When they Letterbox a Widescreen Movie the Black Bars keep the 16:9 Ratio so it will fit on a 4:3 screen I get this.

And if I understand a lot of the Resolotion is wastet on the Black Bars.

But when they put a Widescreen movie in Anamorphic it still let's you show it on a 4:3 screen but they use less Black Bars or where am I getting lost?

 

[jedishrfu]

The Letterboxing link to wikipedia really describes it well:

Letterboxing is used as an alternative to a full-screen, pan-and-scan transfer of a widescreen film image to videotape or videodisc. In pan-and-scan transfers, the original image is cropped to the narrower aspect ratio of the destination format, usually the 1.33:1 (4:3) ratio of the standard television screen, whereas letterboxing preserves the film's original image composition as seen in the cinema. Letterboxing was developed for use in 4:3 television displays before widescreen television screens were available, but it is also necessary to represent on a 16:9 widescreen display the unaltered original composition of a film with a wider aspect ratio, such as Panavision's 2.35:1 ratio.

Letterbox mattes are usually symmetrical (both the top and bottom mattes are roughly similar in size), but in some instances the picture can be elevated so the bottom matte is much larger, usually for the purpose of placing "hard" subtitles within the matte to avoid overlapping of the image. This was often done for letterbox widescreen anime on VHS, though the practice of "hiding" subtitles within the lower matte also is done with symmetrical mattes, albeit with less space available. The placing of "soft" subtitles within the picture or matte varies according to the DVD player being used,[1] though it appears to be dependent on the movie for Blu-ray disc.[2]

An alternative to letterboxing is anamorphic widescreen presentation, which squeezes the picture horizontally to fit into a narrower aspect ratio. The player or receiver must correct this distortion by either stretching the image back to its original relative width, for display on widescreen televisions, or letterboxing it (during playback) for display on 4:3 video screens. This image transformation generally requires digital signal processing, so letterboxing was the only way in which films were presented in widescreen on home video prior to the DVD format (with a few exceptions outside the mass market, such as Squeeze LD). Anamorphic widescreen video recordings are sometimes called "anamorphically enhanced", in comparison to letterboxed versions. To represent a film wider than 16:9 (e.g., a 2.35:1 film) on a 16:9 display with no cropping, both anamorphic and letterbox techniques (or letterboxing alone) are required; using the anamorphic technique, the mattes will be smaller but still necessary.