scarface 4:3 looks like crap, anyway to make it 16:9 on DVDR

[buzzinhornets]

my frickin blockbuster only has scarface ann. edition in 4:3 format (even though the boxes all say widescreen)... with an old movie from back in the day, at 3 hrs, 4:3, the movie backed up on one DVD-RW, looks like cr@p, (artifactz n such)...

ideally, is there a way to make the movie a quasi-16:3 (i'd settle for bars on top and bottom and small ones on the side)?

what are my other options?

i prefer the full disk, menus, etc., but if i can get a decent result by splitting it to two DVD-Rs, I'll do it...

suggestions?

thanx.

buzz

[Hatz]

Hopefully you aren't talking about going to Blockbuster, renting the movie and then making a copy for yourself are you?



Hatz

[FOO]

The important options are to your left . I don't remember
any specific guides about 16:3 video though. Most people
wouldn't want that.

[kpkilburn]

Why "convert" a 4:3 to 16:9? The whole purpose of widescreen is to preserve the original aspect ratio. That's already been destroyed by the pan-and-scan process. Cropping it further to make it a 16:9 ratio would just remove more picture information.

[equinox137]

He's talking about the VHS print which, although letterboxed, is still technically 4:3

[Gurm]

1. DON'T COPY RENTED MOVIES YOU PIRATING PIECE OF ...

2. This is a stupid idea. You're not going to make it any better.

You CAN clip off the black bars during the re-encode process. There are guides to doing this sort of thing with TMPGEnc over on the left. But it won't help. You can't ADD lines of resolution, so it won't look any better with black bars that your DVD player adds than it does with black bars the movie company added. A bad transfer is a bad transfer, period.

- Gurm

[BJ_M]

why not just buy the remastered widescreen edition that just came out 2 weeks ago .. looks a lot better and great sound (DTS) ..

Scarface (Widescreen Anniversary Edition) (1983) Widescreen anamorphic format

DVD Release Date: September 30, 2003

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000AMRJC/102-5948384-3108909?v=glance

[buzzinhornets]

i think you guys misunderstand...

first, i have the dts anniversary addition that came out two weeks ago... but it's a full screen version, not a widescreen version.

second, i assume that widescreen version are better to copy to one dvdr because the black bars don't require much (uh, not sure the term to use) space, compression, bitrate? (ie. a full screen 3hr movie could be 8GB, the same movie in widescreen with black bars filled 1/3 of the screen would only be 5.3GB ? IS MY LOGIC CORRECT?)

anyway, i think i'm just gonna split it with dvdshrink and make a flipper or 2dvdr film... hopefully the quality will remain. but can you answer my question above?

[Gurm]

Nope. It depends on the size of the original movie, and the bitrate.

"Making" your own widescreen is silly. You lose even more of the movie that way.

And you're already using WAY less space. Widescreen movies are almost always 16x9 enhanced, which means they have EXTRA vertical lines that your player isn't decoding for your 4x3 TV.

- Gurm

[hothandiman]

buzzinhornets, I assume you legally own a copy of scareface, right? If not you are violating forum rules. Assuming you do own a 4:3 copy, I would not at that point feel bad about renting the anamorphic widescreen version and using shrink and do a split. This is kind of a gray area. Moderators?

[BJ_M]

i think you guys misunderstand...

first, i have the dts anniversary addition that came out two weeks ago... but it's a full screen version, not a widescreen version.

second, i assume that widescreen version are better to copy to one dvdr because the black bars don't require much (uh, not sure the term to use) space, compression, bitrate? (ie. a full screen 3hr movie could be 8GB, the same movie in widescreen with black bars filled 1/3 of the screen would only be 5.3GB ? IS MY LOGIC CORRECT?)

anyway, i think i'm just gonna split it with dvdshrink and make a flipper or 2dvdr film... hopefully the quality will remain. but can you answer my question above?

i have it also -- it IS wide screen .. its anamorphic wide screen ... that is all that is on the disk ..

[defense]

@Buzz..part of the problem seems to be the fact that you are using "BLOCKBUSTER" as your source for DVD's. I'm sure you are "BUYING" the DVD's from BB before making your backups. If that's the case...that's your problem. I'm actually surprised people haven't mentioned this more. It's probably because with all the one step proggy's out there people think 4:3 is the better format....so it doesn't get mentioned...but the problem is that BlockBuster makes a habit of getting ONLY FULLSCREEN titles for MANY of their movies.

Just to name a few..."SCARFACE" as you said....The Bourne Identity, One Hour Photo, The Mummy and the Mummy Returns..and I can go on and on. All those titles were strictly "FULL SCREEN" in BlockBuster. The box will say Full screen or "FF" or Full Frame.....you'll see this on numerous movies unfortunately....therefore....your only option really is to stop buying movies from BlockBuster and get them somewhere else.

[hothandiman]

I have never watched a anamorphic widescreen on a 4:3 tv as I have a 16:9 tv. It will fill a 4:3 screen, but wont it be "squished"? People will look real skinny. Is this right?

[BJ_M]

no - top and bottom borders will be added by your dvd player if you set it up that way in your settings ..

t.v. = 4:3

[kpkilburn]

By the way, I just bought Scarface and some of the boxes clearly said "Widescreen", but the store had written "Pan and Scan" on them. Apparently, there were some misprinted boxes that got released.

[proxyx99]

most likely it was shot in "P&S". It's widescreen but not 16:9 (to be correct wider screen nowadays). what else can you bring from your local Blockbuster that could keep us busy?