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Enhanced Widescreen for 16x9 TV

post #1 of 9
1/22/13 at 8:07am
Thread Starter 
So I have been looking through Best Buy's website for BD's since they are running that "upgrade and save" program and have seen this term pop up a lot. My question is what are the effects this has on the PQ of a movie if any at all. I noticed while looking at Sherlock Holmes.

This one says it is Enhanced Widescreen for 16x9 TV and looks to be a ratio of 1.78:1 but the the original I think is 1.85:1

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sherlock+Holmes+-+Widescreen+Dubbed+Subtitle+AC3+-+Blu-ray+Disc/9790633.p?id=2087104&skuId=9790633

While this one (which is the one I want because it is the steel box edition) seems to be the same but I am not sure.

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Sherlock-Holmes-Blu-ray/45875/

So I guess my real question is are more transfers going with this enhanced widescreen to get rid of the black bars and if so like I stated earlier does this have real effect on the PQ?
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post #2 of 9
1/22/13 at 11:09am
Enhanced Widescreen was a term often used for DVD release to indicate it was an "anamorphic" video disc. That is an important feature on standard dvd since it permits upconverting dvd players to take full advantage of high definition widescreen TVs by providing as full a picture as possible without cropping or distorting the original aspect ratio. Non-anamorphic DVDs tend to result in black bars all around the picture, while anamorphic dvds generally only have black bars on the top and bottom when maintaining the correct aspect ratio of the original.

Many HD-DVD & blu-ray titles came out in 1.78:1 aspect ratio when the original master had at least that much information available, and had been matted down to 1.85:1 for theater release. Since a blu-ray title is on the disc in full 1080i or p, I cannot imagine what "enhanced widescreen" means in BestBuy's description, but consider the possibility it is just a carryover from DVD days . . ..
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post #3 of 9
1/22/13 at 11:25am
Someone at BB corporate likely copied and pasted the DVD description over the Blu-ray and then replaced "DVD" with "Blu-ray". There isn't that much practical difference between 1.85:1 and 1.78:1 - so you aren't losing much (if anything at all, it depends), if that's what you're worried about. Depends upon your definition of "enhanced". wink.gif
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post #4 of 9
1/22/13 at 8:14pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich86 View Post

Enhanced Widescreen was a term often used for DVD release to indicate it was an "anamorphic" video disc. That is an important feature on standard dvd since it permits upconverting dvd players to take full advantage of high definition widescreen TVs by providing as full a picture as possible without cropping or distorting the original aspect ratio. Non-anamorphic DVDs tend to result in black bars all around the picture, while anamorphic dvds generally only have black bars on the top and bottom when maintaining the correct aspect ratio of the original.

Many HD-DVD & blu-ray titles came out in 1.78:1 aspect ratio when the original master had at least that much information available, and had been matted down to 1.85:1 for theater release. Since a blu-ray title is on the disc in full 1080i or p, I cannot imagine what "enhanced widescreen" means in BestBuy's description, but consider the possibility it is just a carryover from DVD days . . ..

That is what I was thinking Rich, thanks for clearing that up.
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post #5 of 9
1/22/13 at 8:20pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nathanddrews View Post

Someone at BB corporate likely copied and pasted the DVD description over the Blu-ray and then replaced "DVD" with "Blu-ray". There isn't that much practical difference between 1.85:1 and 1.78:1 - so you aren't losing much (if anything at all, it depends), if that's what you're worried about. Depends upon your definition of "enhanced". wink.gif

I kind of figured since the aspect ratios are so close you wouldn't be missing much. I guess maybe if it was 2.35 scaled back to 16:9 you might notice a difference.
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post #6 of 9
1/22/13 at 8:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Smigro View Post

I kind of figured since the aspect ratios are so close you wouldn't be missing much. I guess maybe if it was 2.35 scaled back to 16:9 you might notice a difference.

Quite possibility about a 25-30% difference if they zoomed in on a 2.35:1 to a 1.78:1...that's a crap load of lost picture, don't you think? That's what Time Warner cable does with their movies. Confront them and they basically tell you to drop dead and go somewhere else.

If you want to see arcane wordage being used to describe BDs, go to the Wal-Mart web site.
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post #7 of 9
1/23/13 at 5:09am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by inspector View Post

Quite possibility about a 25-30% difference if they zoomed in on a 2.35:1 to a 1.78:1...that's a crap load of lost picture, don't you think? That's what Time Warner cable does with their movies. Confront them and they basically tell you to drop dead and go somewhere else.

If you want to see arcane wordage being used to describe BDs, go to the Wal-Mart web site.

Yeah, I would definitely not like them doing with 2.35 films...I can live with the letterbox.

I will have to go to the Walmart site and check it out for giggles.

On another note with the upgrade and save program I just got the following movies in the BB exclusive tins for $4.99 ea

Clash of the Titans
Wrath of the Titans
The Matrix
300
Shawshenk Redemption

Not too bad getting 5 BD's for $25 and the best part is according to http://www.blu-ray.com most of these movies are all good in the audio and video department.
Edited by Smigro - 1/23/13 at 5:26am
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post #8 of 9
1/23/13 at 7:13am
Another way to look at it is most video content encoded on blu-ray discs are in HD format, which represents the aspect ratio of your typical 16:9 HDTV (as opposed to a 4:3 tv set)- so that could be another interpretation of 'optimized'. Black bars are part of the encoded video frame for wider aspect ratios such as 1:85 or 2:35, etc...
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post #9 of 9
1/28/13 at 8:53am
yeah,i think so,maybe if it was 2.35 scaled back to 16:9 you might notice a difference.good info to me, thanks 2.gif
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