My favorite DVD feature is the Commentary Audio Track, in which directors, actors, producers, screenwriters, special effect supervisors, and cinematographers, among others walk you through the movie. I've catalogued my reaction to this feature in our own DVD library, as well as other spectacular DVD extras
With widescreen TVs on the horizon, we recently acquired a portable DVD player which literally allows us to watch DVD movies from our pocket any time and anywhere we want in its widescreen (16:9) format, but we can also plug it into our standard (4:3) TV for a more comfortable viewing. We also watch DVD movies on our DVD-rom for a full digital experience, but have found the aspect labeling on DVD boxes to be both inadequate and confusing.
Since DVD players let you toggle your widescreen viewing aspect (16:9) for standard TV play (4:3), why are some companies producing letterboxed movies in a standard-only format (i.e. "Chaplin," "Evita") and passing them off as "widescreen DVD"?
You can't always tell from the DVD box if you are getting a "real" widescreen movie or a letterboxed movie on a standard screen. The descriptions in many cases are identical for both (compare "Apollo 13" and "Legal Eagles," "Pretty Woman" and "Sleepless in Seattle", "Evita" and "The Fifth Element"). We've sorted the screen aspects in our DVD library, to show how they appear on our portable widescreen DVD player.
My favorite example of this identity crisis is the "Lethal Weapon" movies. They got it right, then they got it wrong, then they got it right again. As widescreen TVs become more prevalent, this aspect/enhancement issue will become critical. All companies need to interpret "widescreen" as including 16:9 enhancement NOW.
(Aspect/enhancement graphics pictured below are for a widescreen TV.)
| Movie Title | 16:9
1.85:1 
 |
16:9
2.35:1 
|
4.3
1.85:1 
 |
4:3
2.35:1 
|
4:3
Standard  |
Aspect Ratio, Enhancement
Listed on Box |
| Air Force One | X | X | 2.35:1 widescreen/standard | |||
| All the President's Men | X |
|
|
matted widescreen enhanced
/standard |
||
| Amadeus | X | Flipper | letterbox widescreen enhanced | |||
| Apollo 13 | X | 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen | ||||
| Austin Powers | X | X | 2:1 letterbox widescreen enchanced /standard | |||
| Basketball Diaries | X | widescreen version | ||||
| Body Heat | X | X | matted widescreen enhanced /standard | |||
| Chaplin | X | 1.85:1 matted widescreen | ||||
| Contact | X | letterbox widescreen enhanced | ||||
| Dave | X | X | matted widescreen enhanced /standard | |||
| Demolition Man | X | X | letterbox widescreen enhanced /standard | |||
| Dirty Dancing | X | X | 1.85:1 matted widescreen/standard | |||
| Evita | X | 2.35:1 widescreen | ||||
| The Fabulous Baker Boys | X | X | matted widescreen/standard | |||
| Fargo | X | X | 1.85:1 matted widescreen/standard | |||
| Fiddler on the Roof | X | widescreen enhanced | ||||
| The Fifth Element | X | X | 2.35:1 widescreen | |||
| First Knight | X | X | 1.85:1 letterbox widescreen enhanced/standard | |||
| The Freshman | X | X | 1.85:1 widescreen/standard | |||
| The Fugitive | X | X | matted widescreen enhanced /standard | |||
| Grosse Point Blank | X | 1.85:1 widescreen | ||||
| In the Line of Fire | X | 2.35:1 widescreen | ||||
| L.A. Confidential | X | letterbox widescreen enhanced | ||||
| L.A. Story | X | matted widescreen | ||||
| Legal Eagles | X | 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen | ||||
| Lethal Weapon | X | X | 1.85:1 matted widescreen
16:9 enhanced /standard |
|||
| Lethal Weapon 2 | X | X | letterbox widescreen enhanced /standard [Note: It is not enhanced] | |||
| Lethal Weapon 3 | X | X | letterbox widescreen enhanced /standard | |||
| Little Women | X | 1.85:1 widescreen | ||||
| The Manchurian Candidate | X | X | widescreen version/standard | |||
| Midnight Cowboy | X | X | 1.85:1 letterbox/standard | |||
| Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil | X | matted widescreen enhanced | ||||
| Moonstruck | X | standard only |
||||
| My Best Friend's Wedding | X | X | 2:35:1 widescreen/standard | |||
| My Stepmother is an Alien | X | X | 1.85:1 widescreen/standard | |||
| The Net | X | X | 1.85:1 widescreen/standard | |||
| Only You | X | X | 1.85:1 widescreen/standard | |||
| Outbreak | X | X | matted widescreen 16:9 enhanced/standard | |||
| Outland | X | X | letterbox widescreen enhanced
[Note: It is not enhanced] |
|||
| The Pelican Brief | X | Flipper | letterbox widescreen enhanced | |||
| Philadelphia | X | 1.85:1 widescreen | ||||
| The Player | X | 1.85:1 letterbox widescreen enhanced | ||||
| Point of No Return | X | X | letterbox widescreen enhanced
/standard |
|||
| Pretty Woman | X | 1.85:1 widescreen | ||||
| Pure Country | X | X | matted widescreen enhanced
/standard |
|||
| Red Heat | X | X | 1.85:1 matted widescreen/standard | |||
| The Secret Garden | X | X | matted widescreen enhanced | |||
| Sleepless in Seattle | X | 1.85:1 widescreen | ||||
| Stargate | X | Flipper | letterbox | |||
| The Terminator | X | 1.85:1 widescreen | ||||
| Terminator 2 | X | 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen,
16.9 enchanced |
||||
| Thelma and Louise | X | X | letterbox widescreen/standard | |||
| This Is Spinal Tap | X | videoscope (original aspect ratio) | ||||
| Tomorrow Never Dies | X | X | widescreen enhanced/standard | |||
| Total Recall | X | X | widescreen/standard | |||
| Twister | X | X | 2:35:1 letterbox widescreen,
16.9 enhanced/standard |
|||
| U.S. Marshals | X | X | matted widescreen enhanced | |||
| WarGames | X | widescreen | ||||
| While You Were Sleeping | X | 1:85:1 widescreen | ||||
| The Wild Bunch | X | Flipper | letterbox widescreen | |||
| Wolf | X | X | 1:85:1 widescreen/standard | |||
| The Year of Living Dangerously | X | letterbox widescreen enhanced | ||||
| Zero Effect | X | X | matted widescreen enhanced |
Email address: mindharp@mythirdage.com
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