Anamorphic turns your ordinary photos into cinematic masterpieces. Edit iPhone Portrait Mode photos on your Mac! Integration with the Mac Photos app makes it easy to edit your portrait shots. Sony 4K: 'V-Stretch'. JVC 4K: 'Anamorphic C'. When 2.4:1 movies are perfectly framed by your screen then 13 out of 2160 pixel rows of 4K 16:9 content will project onto both the top and bottom screen border. This may impact the visibility of very small characters if they are placed close to the edge such as with sports broadcast. 2:4:1 Ratio - The anamorphic lens is the holy grail of filmmaking. Sweet horizontal flares and that wide screen, letterboxes look. It's 1.33x design brings the organic look and character of 2:4:1. It's like shooting a wider focal length in the horizontal direction and a longer focal length in the vertical.
Anamorphic widescreen (also called Full height anamorphic or FHA) is a process by which a comparatively wide widescreen image is horizontally compressed to fit into a storage medium (photographic film or MPEG-2Standard Definition frame, for example) with a narrower aspect ratio, reducing the horizontal resolution of the image while keeping its full original vertical resolution. Using chrome on macbook air. Compatible play-back equipment (a projector with modified lens, or a digital video player or set-top box) can then expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen image. This is typically used to allow one to store widescreen images on a medium that was originally intended for a narrower ratio, while using as much of the frame – and therefore recording as much detail – as possible.[1]
The technique comes from cinema, when a film would be framed and recorded as widescreen but the picture would be 'squashed together' using a special concave lens to fit into non-widescreen 1.37:1 aspect ratio film. This film can then be printed and manipulated like any other 1.37:1 film stock, although the images on it will appear to be squashed horizontally (or elongated vertically). An anamorphic lens on the projector in the cinema (a convex lens) corrects the picture by performing the opposite distortion, returning it to its original width and its widescreen aspect ratio.
The optical scaling of the lens to a film medium is considered more desirable than the digital counterpart, due to the amount of non-proportional pixel-decimated scaling that is applied to the width of an image to achieve (something of a misnomer) a so-called 'rectangular' pixel widescreen image. The legacy ITURec. 601 4:3 image size is used for its compatibility with the original video bandwidth that was available for professional video devices that used fixed clock rates of a SMPTE 259M serial digital interface. One would produce a higher-quality upscaled 16:9 widescreen image by using either a 1:1 SD progressive frame size of 640×360 or for ITURec. 601 and SMPTE 259M compatibility a letterboxed frame size of 480i or 576i. Similar operations are performed electronically to allow widescreen material to be stored on formats or broadcast on systems that assume a non-widescreen aspect ratio, such as DVD or standard definition digital television broadcasting.
Film[edit]
Many commercial films (especially epics – usually with the CinemaScope 2.35:1 optical sound or the older 4-track mag sound 2.55:1 aspect ratio) are recorded on standard 35 mm ~4:3 aspect ratio film[1], using an anamorphic lens to horizontally compress all footage into a ~4:3 frame. Another anamorphic lens on the movie theatre projector corrects (optically decompresses) the picture (see anamorphic format for details). Other movies (often with aspect ratios of 1.85:1 in the USA or 1.66:1 in Europe) are made using the simpler matte technique, which involves both filming and projecting without any expensive special lenses. The movie is produced in 1.375 format, and then the resulting image is simply cropped in post-production (or perhaps in the theater's projector) to fit the desired aspect ratio of 1.85:1 or 1.66:1 or whatever is desired. Besides costing less, the main advantage of the matte technique is that it leaves the studio with 'real' footage (the areas that are cropped for the theatrical release) which can be used in preference to pan-and-scan when producing 4:3 DVD releases, for example.
The anamorphic encoding on DVD is related to the anamorphic filming technique (like CinemaScope) only by name. For instance, Star Wars (1977) was filmed in 2.39:1 ratio using an anamorphic camera lens, and shown in theaters using the corresponding projector lens. Since it is a widescreen film, when encoded on a widescreen-format DVD the studio would almost certainly use the anamorphic encoding process. Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed in 1.85:1 ratio without using an anamorphic lens on the camera, and similarly was shown in theaters without the need for the decompression lens. However, since it is also a widescreen film, when encoded on a widescreen-format DVD the studio would probably use the anamorphic encoding process.
It does not matter whether the filming was done using the anamorphic lens technique: as long as the source footage is intended to be widescreen, the digital anamorphic encoding procedure is appropriate for the DVD release. As a sidenote, if a purely non-widescreen version of the analog-anamorphic Star Wars were to be released on DVD, the only options would be pan-and-scan or hardcoded 4:3 letterboxing (with the black letterboxes actually encoded as part of the DVD data). If you were to release a purely non-widescreen version of Monty Python, you would have those options, as well as the additional option of an 'open-matte' release, where the film footage that was never visible in theaters (due to use of the matte technique in post-production or in the theatrical projectors) is 'restored' to the purely non-widescreen DVD release.
Laserdisc[edit]
While not anamorphic widescreen per se, many of the earliest Laserdisc offerings forewent the pan-and-scan cropping typical of home releases at the time, the mastering-technicians opting instead to simply squeeze the film's original aspect ratio down to 4:3. While this resulted in an image that was overly compressed on standard televisions, many later HDTVs can stretch out this picture, thus restoring the correct aspect ratio.
Later during the 1990s, a handful of Laserdiscs were released with proper anamorphic transfers. https://zebratorrent.mystrikingly.com/blog/online-piano-keyboard-with-songs. Four were released in the US as promotional items with Toshiba 16:9 TV sets (Unforgiven, Free Willy, The Fugitive, Grumpy Old Men), 12 were released commercially in Japan (marketed as SQUEEZE LD) as derived products from the MUSE/Hi-Vision releases. Three were commercially released in Germany PAL+ format (Schlafes Bruder, Showgirls, Mikrokosmos).
Video was stretched vertically to fill the whole 4:3 picture of a Laserdisc (and add more information where black bars would be at the top and bottom) then either un-squeezed horizontally on a 16:9 TV set or using an anamorphic lens on a 4:3 video projector.
DVD Video[edit]
A DVD labeled as 'Widescreen Anamorphic' contains video that has the same frame size in pixels as traditional fullscreen video, but uses wider pixels. The shape of the pixels is called pixel aspect ratio and is encoded in the video stream for a DVD player to correctly identify the proportions of the video. If an anamorphic DVD video is played on standard 4:3 television without adjustment, the image will look horizontally squeezed.
Packaging[edit]
Although currently there is no labeling standard, DVDs with content originally produced in an aspect ratio wider than 1.33:1 are typically labeled 'Anamorphic Widescreen', 'Enhanced for 16:9 televisions', 'Enhanced for widescreen televisions', or similar. If not so labeled, the DVD is intended for a 4:3 display ('fullscreen'), and will be letterboxed or panned and scanned.
There has been no clear standardization for companies to follow regarding the advertisement of anamorphically enhanced widescreen DVDs. Some companies, such as Universal and Disney, include the aspect ratio of the movie.
Blu-ray video[edit]
Unlike DVD, Blu-ray supports SMPTE HD resolutions of 720p and 1080i/p with a display aspect ratio of 16:9 and a pixel aspect ratio of 1:1, so widescreen video is scaled non-anamorphically (this is referred to as 'square' pixels).
Blu-ray also supports anamorphic wide-screen, both at the DVD-Video/D-1 resolutions of 720×480 (NTSC) and 720×576 (PAL), and at the higher resolution of 1440×1080 (source aspect ratio of 4:3, hence a pixel aspect ratio of 4:3 = 16:9 / 4:3 when used as anamorphic 16:9). See Blu-ray Disc: Technical specifications for details.
Television[edit]
Major digital televisionchannels in Europe (for example, the five major UK terrestrial TV channels of BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5), as well as Australia, carry anamorphic widescreen programming in standard definition. In almost all cases, 4:3 programming is also transmitted on the same channel. The SCART switching signal can be used by a set-top-box to signal the television which kind of programming (4:3 or anamorphic) is currently being received, so that the television can change modes appropriately. The user can often elect to display widescreen programming in a 4:3 letterbox format instead of pan and scan[citation needed] if they do not have a widescreen television.
TV stations and TV networks can also include Active Format Description (AFD) just as DVDs can. Many ATSC tuners (integrated or set-top box) can be set to respond to this, or to apply a user setting. This can sometimes be set on a per-channel basis, and often on a per-input basis, and usually easily with a button on the remote control. Unfortunately, tuners often fail to allow this on SDTV (480i-mode) channels, so that viewers are forced to view a small picture instead of cropping the unnecessary sides (which are outside of the safe area anyhow), or zooming to eliminate the windowboxing that may be causing a very tiny picture, or stretching/compressing to eliminate other format-conversion errors. The shrunken pictures are especially troublesome for smaller TV sets.
Many modern HDTV sets have the capability to detect black areas in any video signal, and to smoothly re-scale the picture independently in both directions (horizontal and vertical) so that it fills the screen. However, some sets are 16:10 (1.6:1) like some computer monitors, and will not crop the left and right edges of the picture, meaning that all programming looks slightly (though usually imperceptibly) tall and thin. http://gyameg.xtgem.com/Blog/__xtblog_entry/19292168-honda-harmony-en-2500-repair-manual#xt_blog.
ATSC allows two anamorphic widescreen SDTV formats (interlaced and progressive scan) which are 704×480 (10% wider than 640×480); this is narrower than the 720×480 of DVD due to 16 pixels being consumed by overscan (nominal analogue blanking) – see overscan: analog to digital resolution issues. The format can also be used for fullscreen programming, and in this case it is anamorphic with pixels slightly taller (10:11, or 0.91:1) than their width.
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
1. ^ The standard 1932 Academy ratio changed the true aspect ratio of the image data to 1.375 when they made space for audio tracks, however, this is close enough to 4:3 that the difference is often glossed over.
References[edit]
- ^'Full height anamorphic'. Oxford Reference. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
External links[edit]
Over 80% of the most popular movies since 1972 are made in the 2.4:1 cinema aspect ratio – much wider than 4K/UHDTV |
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Is your home theater all about getting the most immersive experience? The fact is that over 80% of the most popular movies are made in the UltraWide 2.4:1 aspect ratio for commercial theaters. These movies are meant and created to be the largest experience in your theater but on a flat panel TV or 16:9 projection system they are actually displayed as the smallest experience with the lowest performance. So now today's most popular projector models also include anamorphic upconversion modes for use with an external anamorphic lens to convert their full performance into the larger 2.4:1 cinema movie format for the highest brightness and detail – all while still providing modes for watching 16:9 content. The anamorphic advantage means these projectors can actually deliver better movie performance than you can get in most commercial theaters.
How does anamorphic projection increase the brightness and detail of movies?
THE ORIGINAL MOVIE SURROUNDED BY UNUSED BLACK DISPLAY PIXELS. Consumer UltraWide 4K movies are delivered using 3840 horizontal x 1600 vertical pixels to maintain their original 2.4:1 aspect ratio (ie 3840/1600=2.4). When displayed in the center of the 4096 x 2160 pixels of a 4K/4096 projector there are 2,701,200 unused black display pixels surrounding the movie. |
THE UPCONVERTED MOVIE USING THE REPURPOSED BLACK PIXELS. Anamorphic 4K/4096 upconversion, now an included option in all new 2020 JVC and Sony 4K/4096 home theater projector models, applies digital scaling and possibly other image processing algorithms to convert the movie to a higher resolution of 4096 x 2133 so that previously unused display pixels are repurposed for a total increase of 43%. While no real, additional source resolution is implied, upconversion from real movie content has been proven to not only provide the additional image brightness from those millions of additional pixels but also additional realistic detail and subsequent improved clarity to the projected images. However, this process also leaves the movie appearing vertically stretched by 25%. |
THE UPCONVERTED MOVIE ON A 2.4:1 SCREEN THROUGH A PALADIN DCR LENS. The upconverted movie is optically compressed through an external Paladin DCR anamorphic lens to remove the 25% vertical stretch. This restores the original 2.4:1 movie aspect ratio while retaining the significant performance enhancement from the upconverted pixels for greater visual clarity combined with a net brightness increase of approximately 38% over projection of the original movie. |
How can you watch 16:9 TV in your anamorphic 2.4:1 4K cinema?
While 80% of the most popular movies are made for your 2.4:1 cinema, new 2020 4K projectors from Sony and JVC also give you many options for watching 16:9 TV programming such as sports without moving the anamorphic lens. All instantaneous. All at the push of a button.
Silo 2 3 1 – production quality 3d modeling program. 16:9 Classic. Complete content is displayed in its original format with full vertical resolution but reformatted using 3072 horizontal resolution. Sony 4K: 'Squeeze'. JVC 4K: 'Anamorphic D'. (note 1) |
16:9 Wide (Stretched). |
16:9 Full (Stretched). The content fills the entire screen by stretching to 4096 horizontal resolution and cropping about 3% from both top and bottom, resulting in a 25% stretched appearance. Sony 4K: '2.35:1 Zoom'. JVC 4K: 'Zoom'. |
16:9 Full (Cropped). The image fills the entire screen with full 4096 resolution and with no stretched appearance by cropping 10% from both top and bottom. Sony 4K: 'V-Stretch'. JVC 4K: 'Anamorphic C'. |
Note 1. When 2.4:1 movies are perfectly framed by your screen then 13 out of 2160 pixel rows of 4K 16:9 content will project onto both the top and bottom screen border. This may impact the visibility of very small characters if they are placed close to the edge such as with sports broadcast scores. |
Anamorphic Pro 1 4 Cylinder
About the Author Shawn Kelly is the founder and CEO of Panamorph. He is a graduate of the USAF Academy and has used his B.S. in Space Physics and M.S. in Engineering Physics in multiple roles throughout his career in the Air Force and multiple high tech startups. He is the lead or sole inventor of 20+ issued patents relating to optical and image processing technologies and is or has been a member of CEDIA, the Optical Society of America, the Consumer Electronics Association, the Blu-ray Disc Association, the Hollywood Professional Association and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. Besides personally taking advantage of just about everything Colorado has to offer, Shawn spends a fair amount of time with his wife watching movies in their own UltraWide home theater and then working with Panamorph's long-time industry partners to figure out how to make the experience even better for everyone. |