I posted this in the other thread, but I figured I might as well stick it here as well:
OK, to clear things up, here are some sample shots.
Here is the actual video image from an anamorphic (16:9) widescreen DVD:
Here is an image from a non-anamorphic (4:3) widescreen DVD:
An anamorphic (16:9) DVD played on a "square" (4:3) TV will shrink the image down and automatically fill in the rest of the black bars, giving you this picture:
So a 16x9 DVD looks the same as a 4:3 DVD on a regular television set. Owners of "square" televisions cannot tell the difference.
Now, on to the choices available to widescreen TV owners...
An anamorphic (16:9) DVD viewed on a widescreen TV will look like this:
When viewing a non-anamorphic (4:3) DVD (like the unaltered trilogy discs released today) on a widescreen TV, you are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. It doesn't fit, and you have a choice to make.
First, you can center the square image in the middle of the screen, and additional black bars will be filled in to the left and right of the image, resulting in this:
Second, you can choose to stretch the image horizontally so that it fills the screen. It is stretched horizontally, but not vertically, resulting in a distorted image. No additional black bars are inserted by the player or set. The resulting image looks like this:
Finally, you can choose to zoom the image so that it fills the screen but is not horizontally distorted as in option two. The image quality is reduced as you zoom in and enlarge the pixels beyond the size at which they were intended to be viewed, and some subtitles will be cropped out of the picture as well. It will look like this:
So in conclusion, an anamorphic (16:9) widescreen DVD can be enjoyed by owners of
any kind of television set. Everyone is happy and sees the same image.
A non-anamorphic DVD (like today's unaltered Star Wars release) can be properly enjoyed
only by people who own "square" 4:3 television sets. Owners of widescreen sets will be forced to make a choice that somehow compromises the quality of the image being viewed.
As much as George Lucas has been a pioneer of audiences being able to see films just as their creators intended, his decision to release the films in the non-anamorphic format is mind boggling and frustrating.
