List of Anamorphic LDs?

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Is there a list online somewhere of the few anamorphically enhanced LDs that
were avaliable? Also, I know that a similar question was asked and answered in
regards to RPTVs, but on a 16:9 tube, such as Sony's KV-34XBR910/960 what is
the proper "tube mode" for viewing of non-enhanced widescreen LDs? Thus far my
LD viewing experiences have been on a 4x3 analog tube.

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

"Steve Grauman" <oneactor1@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040622213310.25456.00000392@mb-m29.aol.com...
> Is there a list online somewhere of the few anamorphically enhanced
LDs that
> were avaliable?

Steve, I posted the list just yesterday in the "The Fugitive, Anamorphic
Widescreen Demo Disc, Watch in Full Mode" thread. Here it is again:

> Title Audio Ctry. Catalog No.
> ---------------- ----- ----- -----------
> FREE WILLY Surround USA 16903
> THE FUGITIVE Surround USA 16904
> GRUMPY OLD MEN Surround USA 16905
> UNFORGIVEN Surround USA 16901
>
> BASIC INSTINCT DD 5.1 Japan PILF-2192
> CLIFFHANGER DD 5.1 Japan PILF-2188
> CUTTHROAT ISLAND DD 5.1 Japan PILF-2348
> SHOWGIRLS DD 5.1 Japan PILF-7352
> STARGATE DD 5.1 Japan PILF-2193
> TERMINATOR 2 DD 5.1 Japan PILF-2187
> TERMINATOR 2(THX) DD 5.1 Japan PILF-2555

There is currently a debate about whether an anamorphic edition of Wag
the Dog also exists.

> Also, I know that a similar question was asked and answered in
> regards to RPTVs, but on a 16:9 tube, such as Sony's KV-34XBR910/960
what is
> the proper "tube mode" for viewing of non-enhanced widescreen LDs?
Thus far my
> LD viewing experiences have been on a 4x3 analog tube.

The same rules apply as with RPTVs:

- 4:3 discs in 4:3 pillarbox mode.
- 16:9 anamorphic discs in 16:9 mode.
- Non-anamorphic letterbox discs in Zoom mode.

All other modes employ some form of stretching or cropping.

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

Joshua Zyber <jzyber@SPAMMERS-DROP-DEAD.mindspring.com> wrote in message
newsD6Cc.22951$Y3.14970@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
> > Title Audio Ctry. Catalog No.
> > ---------------- ----- ----- -----------
> > FREE WILLY Surround USA 16903
> > THE FUGITIVE Surround USA 16904
> > GRUMPY OLD MEN Surround USA 16905
> > UNFORGIVEN Surround USA 16901
> >
> > BASIC INSTINCT DD 5.1 Japan PILF-2192
> > CLIFFHANGER DD 5.1 Japan PILF-2188
> > CUTTHROAT ISLAND DD 5.1 Japan PILF-2348
> > SHOWGIRLS DD 5.1 Japan PILF-7352
> > STARGATE DD 5.1 Japan PILF-2193
> > TERMINATOR 2 DD 5.1 Japan PILF-2187
> > TERMINATOR 2(THX) DD 5.1 Japan PILF-2555
>
> There is currently a debate about whether an anamorphic edition of Wag
> the Dog also exists.

Did anyone ever confirm that Luc Besson's Atlantis
was released on anamorphic LD?

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

"Steve Grauman" <oneactor1@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040622233957.26512.00000503@mb-m03.aol.com...
> Thanks! I didn't read that thread. Some of these discs have been
reffered to as
> "stretch" or something of the sort. What does that mean? With DVDs
they always
> just say Anamorphic.

The discs were called "Squeeze LDs". That was just the marketing term
that someone thought would be popular (but obviously wasn't). They work
the same as anamorphic DVDs, except that the laserdiscs don't offer a
non-anamorphic down-conversion mode. They are meant to only be watched
on a widescreen TV. On a 4:3 TV they look stretched vertically (or
"squeezed" horizontally, however you want to look at it).

> >4:3 discs in 4:3 pillarbox mode.
>
> I assume that only P&S converted movies and television shows are going
to be in
> 4x3, right?

Or movies prior to the 1950s.

> >- Non-anamorphic letterbox discs in Zoom mode.
>
> Zoom doesn't stretch the movie at all?

Zoom magnifies the center of the picture, filling the TV screen from
side to side and chopping off picture from the top and bottom (where the
black bars are on a non-anamorphic letterbox disc). It shouldn't stretch
anything. The picture should still be in correct geometric proportion.

Other modes, such as "Fill" or "Smart Stretch" or whatever the TV
manufacturer decides to call them, do distort the picture in order to
make a 4:3 image fill the 16:9 frame, usually by stretching more on the
sides than in the middle. Some people like watching 4:3 content this
way, but personally I think it looks like watching your movie through a
fisheye lens.

> It seems like the vast majority of the films on the list were shot and
put to
> disc in a 2.35:1 aspect. Unless things have changed, even with
widescreen sets,
> 2.35:1 films, even anamorphic ones, still show black bars, don't they?

Yes. 2.35:1 and 16:9 are not the same number.

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

oneactor1@aol.com (Steve Grauman) wrote in message news:<20040622213310.25456.00000392@mb-m29.aol.com>...
> Is there a list online somewhere of the few anamorphically enhanced LDs that
> were avaliable? Also, I know that a similar question was asked and answered in
> regards to RPTVs, but on a 16:9 tube, such as Sony's KV-34XBR910/960 what is
> the proper "tube mode" for viewing of non-enhanced widescreen LDs? Thus far my
> LD viewing experiences have been on a 4x3 analog tube.

Do a search on "anamorphic" and you'll find the list of Japanese
releases i posted several times on this NG. Search in eBay's LD
category on "anamorphic" and you'll find some of these for sale. Go to
www.LDDb.com and you'll also find a list of these.

Nicolas
eBay LD store: <http://stores.ebay.com/Discs-Of-Japan?refid=store>

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

>Technically, they should. However, the 5% overscan on most consumer TVs
>is usually enough to cut off the part of the picture that contains them
>(you are also losing a proportional amount of picture off the sides). I
>have zero overscan on my projector and can see the black bars on 1.85:1
>material.

It's interesting stuff. Is overscan with tube televsions a correctable problem?