What "This DVD is anamorphically Enhanced for widescreen" means

max123_ind

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The DVD format uses a form of anamorphic enhancement to maximize the resolution of standard-def content for display on a 16:9 screen.

All NTSC DVDs are encoded at a resolution of 720x480 pixels, whether the content is 4:3 in aspect ratio or wider. (PAL resolution is 720x540.) You'll note that 720 divided by 480 yields a mathematical sum of 1.5, which is neither the same as 4:3 (1.33:1) or 16:9 (1.78:1). That's because DVD uses non-square pixels. An anamorphically enhanced DVD is mastered in a "squeezed" format that will return to correct geometric proportion when "unsqueezed" (or horizontally stretched) by the 16:9 TV.

On the other hand, there is NO anamorphic enhancement on Blu-ray. Blu-ray video is natively 16:9 in aspect ratio, with a resolution of 1920x1080 square pixels. Any movie content wider than 1.78:1 must be letterboxed within the 16:9 pixel grid. Anything narrower must be pillarboxed on the sides. The format has no squeezing or stretching.


P.S. : The source is from HighDefDigest site which also speaks about philips 21:9 TV but I picked only what is necessary about DVDs. Also this may be old info but just thought I'd post anyways.
 
It is unfortunate that the BDA did not incrorporate this feature into Blu-ray specifications. But I think the logic for not doing so was that the additional gain for 2.35:1 movies being enhanced for 16:9 is rather small compared to the advantage gained on DVD, thus it was not considered worth the trouble to do so. But nevertheless it would have been nice to have gotten the use of the extra resolution currently being wasted in the black back bar area of 2.35:1 movies.

PS: Anamorphic is technically an incorrect term to to use for this feature. The correct terminology is simply "Enhanced for 16:9 Televisions'. Anamorphic is 'actually' a term related to optical lenses used to shoot movies that are Cinemascope, Panavison etc and for projecting them in theaters.
 
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