On the right is a frame from Star Trek First Contact, shot in Panavision 2.35:1 aspect ratio, with the 16:9 enhancement added.
ENHANCED FOR 16:9 Page 1 |
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With DVD letterbox films there is a loss of vertical resolution, especially when the image is blown up with a widescreen television or video projector. The black bars take up space in the frame and the wider the film horizontally, the larger the black bars become. This is where the "Enhanced 16:9" process gives a good solution to the problem of black bars and loss of vertical resolution. Enhanced DVD, which is sometimes called anamorphic, is a digital process. It is not to be confused with the Anamorphic film process which is an optical process used with CinemaScope and Panavision.
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On the right is a frame from Star Trek First Contact, shot in Panavision 2.35:1 aspect ratio, with the 16:9 enhancement added. |
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The image above is stretched vertically to approx 1.66:1 aspect ratio. It is still in the letterbox format, but the black bars top and bottom have decreased using more of the vertical frame. When projected, the image is digitally stretched to produce a widescreen image with an improved picture quality and an increase in vertical resolution of up to 20%, compared to a standard letterbox image, which has a resolution loss of 43%. Since the DVD is a digital image and is made from a digital master, it is a simple matter to digitally stretch the image during the film to tape process, creating an anamorphic effect. The ratio is stretched from 2.35:1 to 1.66:1 for a Panavision image which is a vertical expansion of approx 25%. It forces about 378 scan lines together in the space that would have been occupied by about 272 scan lines.
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On the left is the same frame as above, but when projected on a widescreen television or video projector, the image is stretched horizontally to a ratio of approximately 1.66:1 with less black bars top and bottom compared to the letterbox version. |
On the right is a frame from Get Shorty originally shot in the widescreen aspect ration of 1.85:1, but with the 16:9 enhancement added. The image is stretched vertically to a 1.33:1 aspect ratio during the film to tape process, using 100% of the vertical resolution. |
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On the left is the same frame when projected on a widescreen television or video projector. The image is stretched vertically to a ratio of 1.78:1. |
The advantage of Enhanced 16:9 is that more of the vertical frame is used during the transfer to master stage. This increases the resolution which creates a larger picture with less black bars top and bottom. It also means a higher picture quality with more detail when the image is blown up on a large screen.
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