How to tell anamorphic vs. non-anamorphic DVD?

[Cable0guy]

Can someone tell me how to tell if a DVD is anamorphic or non-anamorphic? I tried various programs like IFOEdit, etc. to no avail (which I use to see if a DVD is NTSC or PAL). Is there a utility that I can use? Or do we have to rely on what the studio tell us?

Thanks in advance.

[manono]

Hi-

Lots of ways. Some would include:
1. The back of the DVD case will say "Enhanced For Widescreen Televisions" or some such if 16:9.
2. DVD reviews will say if it's 16:9
3. Put the DVD in the DVD-ROM and open DVD Decrypter set for IFO Mode (at the top, Mode->IFO). In the Stream Processing Tab, for the video it'll say 16:9 or 4:3.
4. Open a Vob on the hard drive in DGIndex and run the Preview (File->Preview). It'll say 16:9 or 4:3 at the top of the new Information screen.
5. Open the DVD on the hard drive in PGCEdit. Right-click on the movie and Domain Stream Attributes, and in the new screen it'll say 16:9 or 4:3.

[Pinstripes23]

in addition to what manono wrote, ifoedit can tell you if the movie is anamorphic by the 16:9 flag. It will say 4:3 if non-anamorphic. Open the video_ts.ifo and look at the video titleset:

[j1d10t]

You could also watch the DVD with a software DVD player. If it's letterboxed widescreen you'll know it - the square picture tends to give it away

And just because it says "Enhanced For Widescreen Televisions" on the back of the box doesn't mean it's really animorphic widescreen - the movie The Abyss SE says that on the back of the box but it's letterboxed widescreen. The only think that is "Enhanced For Widescreen Televisions" is the menus....

[KingSeti]

So if i may chime in, since I have wondered the answer to this question also, if it is 16x9 it is anamorphic? Other then the square picture! And if it is 4x3 it is non anamorphic

[Pinstripes23]

And just because it says "Enhanced For Widescreen Televisions" on the back of the box doesn't mean it's really animorphic widescreen - the movie The Abyss SE says that on the back of the box but it's letterboxed widescreen. The only think that is "Enhanced For Widescreen Televisions" is the menus....

The movie has a 2.35:1 AR. So even as anamorphic it will still be letterboxed with black borders when viewed on WS display. 2.35:1 doesn't equal 1.78:1(16:9). The menus are obviously 1.78:1 AR when they are created.

[ozymango]

Okay, everybody's close here, but no banana ... not quite ...

"Anamorphic" is not the same as 16:9 -- anamorphic refers to capturing a widescreen image on a non-widescreen film stock using a funky form of optical "compression."

You know those old movies you watch on TV where for the opening credits, everybody's very tall and very skinny? That's due to an anamorphic lens during the filming process: It "squeezes" the image sideways so you fit more picture (in a manner of speaking) onto (for instance) 35mm movie film. Then, when you play it back in a theater, the anamorphic lens on the playback end "unsqueezes" the movie, so the viewing image is wider than the actual film image, dimensionally speaking.

You can use electronic processes to mimic this, in a way, but it's not required that you use an actual anamorphic lens to create a widescreen image: You can also matte the camera image so that the aspect ratio of the image is 1:85 to 1 (common "widescreen" theater image), but you don't use an anamorphic lens. This can be transferred to a 16:9 "enhanced" playback device (DVD or other digital storage) so that you get the correct aspect ratio.

But 16:9 doesn't automatically mean anamorphic, as what makes an anamorphic image is anamorphic cameras and projectors, while 16:9 is simply an aspect ratio. Did that make any sense?

[j1d10t]

And just because it says "Enhanced For Widescreen Televisions" on the back of the box doesn't mean it's really animorphic widescreen - the movie The Abyss SE says that on the back of the box but it's letterboxed widescreen. The only think that is "Enhanced For Widescreen Televisions" is the menus....

The movie has a 2.35:1 AR. So even as anamorphic it will still be letterboxed with black borders when viewed on WS display. 2.35:1 doesn't equal 1.78:1(16:9). The menus are obviously 1.78:1 AR when they are created.

Of course a movie that is 2.35:1 will be letterboxed into a 1.78:1 frame, but I wasn't talking about the AR of the film, I was talking about that AR of the encoded video on the DVD For that movie, on that version of the DVD, it is very much letterboxed into a 4:3 frame. I played it my set-top DVD player (which is set up correctly for my widescreen TV) on my widescreen TV, I played it in a software DVD player on my computer, I checked the AR flag in the files on the DVD, and they say 4:3. If you check imdb.com it even says that the movie is letterboxed, despite what the box says. So you can't always trust what the box says.

[Cable0guy]

Thanks for the comments. If a film is 4:3 originally (like from the 40's), do the studios ever create anamorphic DVD transfers of these, or does that even make sense?

[Pinstripes23]

Of course a movie that is 2.35:1 will be letterboxed into a 1.78:1 frame, but I wasn't talking about the AR of the film, I was talking about that AR of the encoded video on the DVD For that movie, on that version of the DVD, it is very much letterboxed into a 4:3 frame. I played it my set-top DVD player (which is set up correctly for my widescreen TV) on my widescreen TV, I played it in a software DVD player on my computer, I checked the AR flag in the files on the DVD, and they say 4:3. If you check imdb.com it even says that the movie is letterboxed, despite what the box says. So you can't always trust what the box says.

Yea I checked IMDB and a couple other sites. I don't have the actual DVD to confirm but one site said video: non-anamorphic. That's unfortunate it would say that on the box though. I interpreted "the movie The Abyss SE says that on the back of the box but it's letterboxed widescreen" as someone expecting the whole picture to fit a WS display without black borders as I've seen many people remark about when they view 2.35:1 AR anamorphic DVD's on their WS.

[Pinstripes23]

But 16:9 doesn't automatically mean anamorphic, as what makes an anamorphic image is anamorphic cameras and projectors, while 16:9 is simply an aspect ratio. Did that make any sense?

I think the OP just wanted to know how to determine if a DVD is anamorphic as how it will be viewed. For the most part you see DVD's encoded as either 4:3 or 16:9. But I understood what you wrote.

[manono]

Hi-

Thanks for the comments. If a film is 4:3 originally (like from the 40's), do the studios ever create anamorphic DVD transfers of these, or does that even make sense?

It wouldn't make sense to encode a 1.33:1 movie as 16:9, as then you actually lose resolution. Encoding a movie for 16:9 helps the video beginning at 1.55:1 and wider (half way between 1.33:1 and 1.78:1 (4:3 and 16:9)). A 1.66:1 movie gains a little from 16:9 encoding. However, it's not unusual when aspect ratios are mixed, say in a docu made up of video from a number of different sources, to have some 1.33:1 footage encoded as 16:9. It'll have big pillarbars, just as when watched on a widescreen TV set.

"Anamorphic" is not the same as 16:9 -- anamorphic refers to capturing a widescreen image on a non-widescreen film stock using a funky form of optical "compression."

As you well know, although anamorphic originally referred to anamorphic lenses and film, it means something quite different in the DVD world. For all intents and purposes, a movie on DVD encoded as 16:9 is an anamorphic DVD. There's an interesting and related discussion going on at the Home Theater Forums, with some heavy hitters taking part:

The way the original film was filmed (anamorphically or not) does not have bearing on whether the DVD is encoded anamorphically or not. Any possible loss in scaling or stretching the telecine or whatnot PALES in comparison to what is getting put on the DVD. Basically keep the whole idea of whether a film is anamorphic and whether the encode is anamorphic, separate. They are not related in any way.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/showthread.php?t=249665

[AlanHK]

Thanks for the comments. If a film is 4:3 originally (like from the 40's), do the studios ever create anamorphic DVD transfers of these, or does that even make sense?

Others have explained the original meaning of anamorphic, the kind of lenses used when shooting it.

For DVDs it usually means a widescreen (16:9 and others) aspect ratio distorted to fill a 4:3 frame. The 16:9 flag in the file tells the player to add letterboxing as appropriate, depending on the kind of TV you have. So a 4:3 movie is encoded full-frame, and marked 4:3, naturally.

If you look at FitCD, which generates Aviynth scripts to use in encoding MPGs, its "anamorphic" setting basically means "full frame". Though not the original meaning, that's probably what many people mean by the term these days.