LaserDisc: You’re Watching It Wrong

[@reynaldolunajr.6909]

My dad told me a story that he hated when cinemascope movies came to his local theater because all the people would be stretched vertically. I told him the reason for that was the theater didn't have the anamorphic lens to unsqueeze the image.

[@Culturedog]

Oh wow, that's a trip! But yeah, I can totally see some theaters just projecting the anamorphic prints as-is! I've been to a few preview screenings where they've started showing the film that way, but they'd always fix it within a few minutes.

[@RobollieG]

i recall seeing movies on TV, and they'd "Pan & Scan" the movie, but during the credits on an anamorphic movie, they have the whole original image, but scrunched to get all the credits on screen -- as a kid, I thought this was the way it was supposed to be (I didn't no that during the movie, I was missing the sides of the original image).

[@marccadec6978]

So in turn the smarter the tech gets, the dumber we get

[@badreality2]

Yeah, because we don't need to use our brains, to operate it.

[@pHD77]

@@badreality2 Thanks to many technological advances we've forgotten how to do many things which before required effort.

[@Cinemagic77]

I remember a conversation a buddy of mine and I were having back in the days before HDTV about the new aspect ratio issues we were going to see once 1.85-1 aspect ratio would become standard. Now here the situation is today and an whole generation after us has little to no understanding of these issues, that is before this fine and very informative video that explains it. Thanks, Culturedog and here is hopes that this video helps the younger generations essentially 'get the picture.'

[@pHD77]

I will from now on post shots of my LD 'screenshots' upside down AND stretched out on LD4EVER... just to trigger the ARPD 😂

[@Culturedog]

Oh no! Don't taunt the ARPD - who knows what they'll do to retaliate!? Haha

[@pHD77]

@@Culturedog The retaliation? The number of scathing memes and gifs in the comment section will certainly increase to intolerable levels 😂

[@HMV101]

You might find that there will be viewers who don't notice it. I've found many who happily watch movies that are stretched horizontally by a factor of ~1.5

[@1987VCRProductions]

It's still a pet peeve when I switch to an HD channel showing an older TV show and they've stretched the image to fit a 16:9 frame, completely distorting the image.

[@Culturedog]

Absolutely! Thankfully, I don't encounter it as often as I did in the mid-2000s, but it's still jarring to see!

[@Knightmessenger]

Older episodes of The Simpson's and Family Guy have not been shown correctly on certain channels like FXX or TBS. It pisses me off. It especially pisses me off when old sports clips in a 30 for 30 are cropped to widescreen. There is no point in zooming in on standard definition videotape source.

[@silvervalleystudios2486]

Did you see how Snyder released his Justice League cut in 4:3 on 4KUHD? To think that back on the 30s and 40s that was the standard ratio known as "academy ratio".

[@1987VCRProductions]

@@silvervalleystudios2486 The Academy Ratio (standardized in 1932) was 1.375:1 which is slightly wider than 4:3 (1.33:1). 4:3 was used during the silent era since it was the native aspect ratio of 35mm (without a soundtrack) and later saw reuse as the aspect ratio for television.

[@silvervalleystudios2486]

@@1987VCRProductions Good thing they changed it. It's OK for Citizen Kane and The Postman Always Rings Twice. But I can't imagine epics like Ben Hur or Khartoum shot on 1.37:1. Hitchcock never shot on Cinemascope, shame because I think Vertigo would have looked awesome on it.

[@Laserdreamz]

Excellently explained. I'm sure a lot of people are used to this but new to the format can be hell.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks mate! Yeah, between the stack of audio options and confusing aspect ratios, it can be a real nightmare!

[@Laserdreamz]

@@Culturedog really good my friend, be intersting to see what people do with open matte, seen some zoom them into wide-screen and lose top/bottom, thoughts?

[@Culturedog]

@@Laserdreamz that's the topic of my next big obnoxious video actually! Haha

[@laserramon9926]

@@Laserdreamz Good topic. I have a few open matte LD's like The Return of the Living Dead that loses info when zoomed in but of course that's info that wasn't theatrically shown.

[@kdkseven]

Back in the early 2000s, i kinda liked the panorama stretch with TV shows haha.

[@Culturedog]

Don't say it out loud - it might start coming back as a cool 'retro' effect! Haha

[@nicholaifugate]

Early DVDs can have this too as I was reminded when I played my original Scream DVDs on my HDTV on my PlayStation 4 recently. Had a tiny little windowbox going on.

[@Culturedog]

Yup, I've got a small stack of early DVDs that weren't anamorphically enhanced. I still remember getting the Conan "Complete Quest" DVD set in the mid-2000s and being surprised that the 2nd film was windowbox city.

[@freddykruger1118]

Most earlier DVDs were straight transfer from laserdisc thus the 4:3 letterbox

[@MaximRecoil]

@@freddykruger1118 From LaserDisc masters, not from LaserDiscs. LaserDisc masters from that time period were usually on D-1 tape which was uncompressed 720 × 486 YCbCr digital video with 4:2:2 chroma subsampling. That exceeds the specifications of DVD video (MPEG-2 compressed 720 × 480 YCbCr digital video with 4:2:0 chroma subsampling), so it was perfectly suitable for use as a DVD master as well as a LaserDisc master.

[@grantrobinson4537]

Funny enough I had the exact same issue with my scream dvd

[@keithm4953]

Great segment! I remember back in the day, watching Ghostbusters on our tube TV. Having seen it theatrically several times, I could tell how much of the image they were cropping out, and it irritated the crap out of me; I became a convert to original aspect ratio around that time. My current UHDTV has just one Zoom setting - I swear it trims a little bit off my 1:85 LDs but otherwise the picture looks really good (Windowboxing I admit pushes my limits, it feels like Peep-Hole-Vision).

[@Culturedog]

Peep-Hole-Vision! I like that! Haha

[@silvervalleystudios2486]

Do you run a HDMI converter from your LD player

[@lamecasuelas2]

Try turning off overscan

[@cubdukat]

For all of my friends that claimed they were missing something by watching a letterboxed movie, I brought out my Japanese Special Collection release of "Return of the Jedi," which had a demonstration of the difference between the pan-and-scan version and the letterboxed one. I never heard that same complaint after that; they realized that yes, they were losing size, but they were actually gaining picture area. "Jedi" was especially egregious with pan-and-scan; the scene with Luke and Han on the way to the Sarlacc will make you seasick.

[@Culturedog]

Oh yeah, that demo at the end of the Jedi JSC disc is fantastic! I had a lot of fun trying to promote letterboxing to friends and family too.

[@Capturing-Memories]

About 15 years ago a coworker was arguing with me that full screen movies are the original format and widescreen movies are made by just chopping off the top and bottom sections of the full movie frame, He argued that if the widescreen are the original format then why they don't call them full, Trust me I tried to reason with him with all the evidence you can imagine to no avail.

[@Culturedog]

I remember a class-action lawsuit that went nowhere over properly matted Blu-Rays of flat films. It never fails to cause some confusion or stir up arguments. I've definitely had to walk away from some discussions that were going around in circles!

[@Nateboyboing]

That was the looongest video I've ever watched WITHOUT ANY backing track...yet I was still fully engaged with. Seriously, nice job. Great video!

[@Nateboyboing]

[No Sarcasm; Seriously, great video]

[@Culturedog]

Thanks! Yeah, there's a lot going on in this one. Haha! That's awesome to hear that you were engaged throughout. Cheers!!

[@spookylemon4947]

Excellent content as always Sam, always a nice treat to see a notification from your channel. Especially for a 45 minute video!

[@Culturedog]

Thanks! I'm already catching some flak for the running time haha, but I decided against splitting it up into 7 smaller videos. Thanks for checking it out!

[@MovieGuy846]

Wonderful video to explain the confusion of aspect ratio and screen adjustments. I remember the frustration back in the day when I worked @ a Good Guys! store and arguing with people about what widescreen was about on 4:3 TVs'. It was a losing battle and I eventually just came to accept that people want what people want.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks! Oh man, I can only imagine what I was like being on the front lines like that! It was definitely an uphill battle at times as an enthusiast, but trying to explain widescreen to the consumers at large must have been quite the trial!

[@MovieGuy846]

Culturedog The other worst thing back then was also trying to explain the differences between 8mm and VHS-C. I remember one person in particular would not accept my explanation that there was no such thing as an “8mm to VHS adapter” to play 8mm in a full size VHS deck. I ended that conversation by offering him $1000 if he could prove it to me; never saw the guy again 🙄.

[@Culturedog]

@@MovieGuy846 that's hilarious! I still have my VHS-C adapter, but that's a different beast than 8mm!

[@mikevacay7480]

I've been very curious when it comes to the LD format. This video was a great way to fill in some of my blanks. Might buy a player next time one shows up. Although the format was not exactly huge here in Norway there are still some in circulation. Keep up the good work - I'll keep watching, both old and new videos on you channel. Thanks!

[@Culturedog]

Thanks! I know a few LD collectors in Norway. There actually was a small LaserDisc convention in Oslo for a few years running. Thanks for the feedback! Cheers!

[@RobollieG]

I know people that back when they started Letterboxing movies on tv, tape, and LD felt they were being ripped off because their whole 4:3 screen wasn't being filled with an image.

[@Culturedog]

Oh yeah, same. Part of the job of being an LD collector back in the day was constantly having to deliver impromptu seminars to random friends and family on the benefits of letterboxing. It was always an adventure!

[@KaitenKenbu]

Going to start collecting laserdisc. Glad I found this channel. hits the memberberries of watching ducktales on LD as a kid

[@Culturedog]

Ducktales and Talespin were my jam back in the day! Sadly, I don't have any on LD, but those are going for decent money now.

[@allen9954]

Great video! I've been looking forward to this one.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks man! Hope it was worth the wait! Took a little longer than anticipated! Haha

[@RetroSteamTech]

Brilliant Sam, a very well addressed video on a controversial and complex subject. I do think with laserdiscs having an image processor like a DVDO or similar helps a lot with getting the correct aspect ratio. Cheers, Alan.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks Alan! Yeah, I do like knowing that I can do it 'right' on my DVDO with no fuss.

[@petesson1880]

I built a screent size of roughly 65" tall by 14-6 wide which was 2.35;1 by my calcs back in about 2007 and at the time I found a Vertical Compression Lens for the special deal price of $700. It's prisms were of acrylic. A few years ago I lucked out and found the exact lens but with GLASS prism and what a difference! Panamorph U85 is the model. So about three projectors later an Optoma UHZ65 does the honors and most 16 by 9 content fills the entirety. There's an aspect button on the remote I use when wiewinh anything letterbox to get rid of the top bottom black bars. I still have my pioneer CLD 501 or something laserdisc that plays both sides without flipping. Back in the day I used Sony crt projector and a dvdo line doubler for a short time. Wasn't great but was a start. Would be nice to enjoy laserdisc with the UHZ65 but I think you see the lines . Maybe you could suggest the best RGBHV to HDMI converter so I could add the ole laserdiscs into the mix?

[@petesson1880]

Actually I think my Laserdisc puts out only composite video I gotta take another look back there.

[@Culturedog]

Pardon the late response. The best-case processor for connecting LD to a projection setup is the Lumagen Radiance 2144, but it's still pretty expensive. The current favorite lower-cost solution is to use a Kramer VP-773. I run composite into my Kramer and then that unit pumps out HDMI. I currently have an older DVDO processor in the chain as well, so I can go 480p out from the Kramer and let other devices handle the scaling. There's also a certain range of Onkyo AVRs that have a great comb filter and scaling features. I know the TX-NR609, TX-NR709, and TX-NR809 are some of the models with the ADV7844 comb filter chip. A lot of enthusiasts look for units with blown audio boards and get them cheap, since they only need the video processing pathways. It's a bit of a rabbit hole for sure!

[@petesson1880]

@@Culturedog thanks for the reply

[@Andersljungberg]

In 1998, JVC introduced HD on VHS and it was of course digital

[@pHD77]

Look up W-VHS and MUSE LaserDisc. They were already doing HD before 1998. Analogue, too.

[@Culturedog]

Was just watching MUSE Back to the Future the other night. Such an interesting format. I never did get into D-VHS collecting, but I remember Widescreen Review magazine covering it extensively at the time. True Lies is still a popular one among the active collectors I know.

[@reyluna9332]

My dad lived in a semi small town with a couple of theaters. He told me he hated cinemascope movie because everything was stretched tall. Apparently, the theater never got the lens to unsqueeze the image.

[@Culturedog]

That's wild! I've been to a few screenings where they've forgotten to use the right lens, but thankfully I would only have to tolerate a minute or two of super squished imagery before they would figure it out. It would definitely drive me crazy having to watch the entire runtime like that!

[@ExplosiveAction]

This video should be mandatory watching for anyone attempting to watch analogue sources on a modern TV.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks a ton!

[@silvervalleystudios2486]

I still have my 68cm Sony Wega packed away. Waiting for the day I score a good LD player. Going to plug it in with some Component cables and connect to an amp with an optical cable. Bring back the 90s

[@warre1]

My first widescreen tv was Thomson 32" CRT. It had multiple aspect ratio and zoom modes. I usually zoomed letterboxed "windowbox" programs to minimize black bars but kept correct aspect ratio.

[@Culturedog]

I always wanted a widescreen CRT set in the 90s, but there weren't many models on the market and my local stores didn't carry them usually. I wish more TVs had a simple proportional zoom option that was clearly labeled. Though my Sony displays were always pretty user friendly with zoom options, thankfully.

[@nicholasgarratt5646]

Had laserdiscs for a long time. The TV's and projectors had a zoom mode to get the right aspect ratio and not squeezed vertically. That was not needed once I moved onto anamorphic DVD's. I still remember some DVD's still needed the zoom mode such as 2001 and The Abyss (which I still have).

[@Culturedog]

Yeah, I had a decent amount of non-anamorphic DVDs from the early years of the format. At the time I still had a 4:3 projection TV, so I wasn't too worried about it. Of course later on I wished they'd been enhanced for 16:9 once I got my first projector.

[@bricago2302]

That info about the "1" at 7:45 is really interesting. I thought I knew a lot about aspect ratios, but I never knew that. Thanks!

[@Culturedog]

Glad to be of assistance! Thanks for watching the video!

[@NickMichalak]

I bought one of those RCA to HDMI converter boxes a few years back, and it just stretched the whole image to 16x9 and did nothing to improve the image. I sent it back. I have a Roku Insignia HDTV, and it has a few options for this. There's "zoom" as well as "auto," "direct," and "normal." "Auto" sometimes gets confused and stretches the 4x3 image at times, but I don't tend to use it. "Direct" is just the raw video dimensions as it is with no adjustments (oddly, with VHS "auto" and "direct" have a slight variation in the width of the image, but not the height). However, "normal" zooms the image in very slightly in case you've got a VHS tape with some of that noisy overscan. It'll zoom in a bit to hide those edges for a cleaner image. Thankfully, it doesn't have that silly panoramic mode at all, just the "stretch" option, which I almost never have a use for.

[@Culturedog]

Yeah, those little boxes seem to be a waste of money - they probably sell a ton of them too! Glad to hear your TV has some usable options!

[@SkotNealey]

bravo. i just finished this video. i loved it. i used to care much more than i do these days about getting it right. it's as if i have gotten lazy in my old age.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks man! Yeah, it's funny how some stuff changes in priority over the years!

[@scotchcrofter9964]

This is why I only take pics of the LD cover of whatever I'm watching. So the ARP have no evidence, damn it.

[@Culturedog]

"You'll never catch me, coppers!!" :-)

[@1dbanner]

John McClain is my favorite member of the aspect ratio police

[@Culturedog]

"Yippee-ki-yay, image stretcher!"

[@1dbanner]

@@Culturedog I'm more afraid to meet the A.R.'s Martin Riggs. "DO YOU REALLY WANT TO STRETCH THAT PICTURE????????"

[@martinmcfly4658]

Culturedog Can you do a basics videos on getting the best picture quality watching these LaserDiscs? Cables, what to look out for/Avoid , S-Video Compo. Entry upscalers to highend. R7G is a good for NTSC? DoGg you killing it. Thanks again

[@Culturedog]

Can do! I've been working on putting together a bunch of shorter basics videos, so this sort of thing will fit in perfectly. I am going to do a video on the R7G too, since I finally got one myself not too long ago. So far, it's a great performer!

[@thisislocombia]

i really HATE when TV and other networks they CUT OFF the bottom and top of analog tape 4:3 content in order to fill a 16:9 screen, it happened infamously with the simpsons in FOX and disney+, and lots of old analog content which became a blurry cut off image forever, even worse, not bothering to properly digitize analog tape to 60 or 50 FPS as the original was , and people are stuck with just choppy 30 frames per secord forever.

[@x-crisis]

Everyone thinks I'm nuts when I point out a 2.35 movie has been cropped by a cable channel to fit a widescreen TV. I can usually tell just because the shot composition doesn't look right but I've never met anyone who also notices it.

[@Culturedog]

Yeah, it's one of those things - once you see it, you see it. But same here, lots of friends/family don't even notice.

[@stefanosantonios2571]

Hello From Montreal. Awesome Information! Thank you

[@RenePeraza]

Ironically, with the recent resurgence of IMAX aspect ratio in a lot of modern commercial films like Oppenheimer, Justice League (which re-approaches a 4:3 ratio), we might see 4:3 ratio large flat screens (4K, etc.) - probably not.

[@Culturedog]

Yeah, it is funny how I finally got myself a Constant Image Height screen setup right around the same time everyone wants to celebrate 4:3 or similar ratios. At least I'm happy. haha

[@sylvainr.399]

Brilliant, thank you. Excellent vulgarisation!

[@Kennephone]

I remember as a teenager in the mnid 2010s my dad had a 2008 RCA HDTV, I think it's 27'' and he would always put in cinema mode, which zooms the picture in. It would drive me crazy cause it would cut off an entire part of the picture in all directions, people looked half decapitated. I'ts funny, my grandmother bought it new, she got a discount on it cause the built in DVD player didn't work, but nearly 20 years later the TV part works like new.

[@benbrady2636]

How do you think a laserdisc player would look on a 4:3 sony trinitron flat screen?

[@Culturedog]

Should look great - I was using one for a few years at the office for LD lunch breaks and it had an awesome picture. Their only drawback is that some of them have picture geometry issues, but the one I had was fine.

[@botz77]

I remember one of the first times I truly noticed aspect ratio was watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as a little kid and asking my mom why everyone in the opening credits was so tall and skinny.

[@joshj88]

The other thing I’m sure people do is for 2.35:1 Blu-Rays they may get distorted because people use the zoom feature to get rid of the black bars present on the Blu-Ray. It can be especially bad on something like a 4K tv where you need the image preserved as best as possible. My friends 4K doesn’t know how to not stretch a composite video image. It has a native input, is made by Visio, and yet you can’t actually turn off the stretch of 4:3 content

[@fftv3875]

im still angry that my siblings made us watch full screen versions of movies. Even child me FUCKING KNEW that we weren't watching the movie right

[@Culturedog]

Yeah, when I saw my first letterboxed video as a kid, I didn't even know what the black bars were about but I just sensed that it was legit!

[@JunkerDC]

I hate how the movie theater don't ever care about the picture and don't mask movies anymore so you have to see black bars at the movies too

[@Culturedog]

Yeah, I've been to a few screenings that were presented all half-assed like that. Really made me think "I might as well be watching this at home"!

[@JunkerDC]

I was over at Cinemark about a year ago and went into a screening of a scope movie they have all flat screens over there and the movie started and there was black bars on the screen so I got up to tell them that they forgot to turn on the masking and they told me they don't use it anymore it's a new company policy to leave all their movies on mask because people were used to seeing black bars on their screen at home

[@Culturedog]

Weak!

[@midwestmediamadness680]

Bro thanks for editing your content.

[@Culturedog]

So glad it's finally done! Haha

[@alexandredesmonts35]

thanks for all these infos.

[@Culturedog]

No problem! Thanks for checking out the video!

[@Kee-Lo]

This is a really good guide Sam, appreciate it :)

[@Culturedog]

Thanks my friend! Cheers!

[@LordSamuelJ]

I only watch my LDs and VHS on my Sony Trinitron. Modern media types like blu ray I watch on my modern tv.

[@Saturn2888]

Great video! I don't like the title. I actively avoided clicking. Also, I'm not the target audience. I have a Retrotink 4K and don't have LaserDisc :p.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks for watching! The title was meant to poke fun at KZbin videos, but I get that snarkiness doesn't come across in a thumbnail very well!

[@punknerd9747]

heads up, most of the new Samsungs with composite inputs (40 inches and smaller I believe not too sure) usually have scaling of ratios built in! my Samsung at my grandmas can scale by percentages

[@Culturedog]

Yeah, my bedroom Samsung scales incrementally as well. It's kind of a pain at first to set it up right, but once it's done I can bounce back and forth between 16:9, 4:3 and Custom easily. I like that if I need to, I can use it to fine tune less wide ratios such as 1.66:1 - like the old Bond films. Very cool.

[@Capturing-Memories]

Oddly enough, Back in early 90's before DVD my sister had a CTR TV that her husband imported from France that has an option to squeeze the picture vertically only leaving black bars on top and bottom, Never understood what that was for until I heard about anamorphic contents 30 years later and that was an aha moment for me. The brand was Thomson.

[@Culturedog]

That's wild! It's cool how many TVs were integrating cutting edge features in the early to mid-90s, even if they remained fairly obscure here in North America.

[@targetrender9529]

Thank goodness for the introduction of letterboxing. Pan and scan SUCKS.

[@raysrcsandtech]

Just stumbled on your channel, I still have LDs (have about 300 discs) but dont play them much now, I got into the format during the CD-V reboot in the 80' but never got a machine until the late 80's it was a Marantz CV-55 (at that time I lived in the land of PAL) now live in Canada. Took my collection and machines with me (running my 220v gear on step downs) But I would bring in LD from "Ken Cranes' and 01-laser and video, got some in from japan. Had a CLD-1450 for some time as it could also output NTSC then my last player that I still use today my DVL-919e, my question is you talk that you can improve the picture, do you have a video on that I cant find one. Want to see how if possible I can clean up the signal I see lots of drop outs / noise now on some discs, a few with root. Im using the S-VHS output on my 919e curious on your video chain for improved output. Just watched your DTS video and amazingly I dont have any DTS LD's 😂 I have two AC-3 DD LDs that sound amazing.

[@Watcher680116]

It would be good to have a list of TVs which allow 1% step zooming and panning in both directions. Not only for Laserdisks. I suppose someone might already have compiled one... When I bought my 16:9 (3D) TV (in or before 2016) I went to the store and tested the zoom option of the ones available and found one from LG. Then I watch 21:9 movies with 11% zoom with the picture moved to the top of the screen and a small black bar at the bottom which sometimes is useful for status displays. The small cut off area left and right is not needed most of the time. Usually only for BD/DVD menues, credits and monument valley views I switch back to unzoomed mode. Without zoom I deem the image too small at my watching distance for 21:9 or 2.33:1. Note: in PC mode most options are not available on most TVs. So if you use PC or Mac to stream switch to another TV mode and then switch off most imange enhancements as they delay the output. You can't reliablely control the mouse otherwise (or play a game). Often Game Mode is a good option without lag.

[@HD7100]

Excellent video.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@joshj88]

The main issue with VHS is it’s so low resolution that without pan and scan you miss so very very much detail and they got pretty darn good at doing it with minimal objectionable side effects. Some movies just can’t be panned and scanned like Lawrence of Arabia though.

[@kingcrimson234]

16:52 ah, the Video Essentials LD demo clips.

[@Culturedog]

Yup, the thrilling saga of ballerinas... and fruit vendors... and tough guys... and car shows. So much intrigue!

[@thedrew1011]

Great video! Very informative

[@Culturedog]

Thanks for watching! Cheers!

[@aubreylee1654]

I've got a question for you I came across this pioneer reciver PIONEER ELITE VSX-59TXi. Will this work for my Pioneer Rosewood Elite DVL-90 LD

[@Culturedog]

For audio, that would be a cool find, as I believe that has an AC-3 RF input for LaserDisc players, and the DVL-90 has an RF out. For video, it will definitely convert incoming composite video to its component outputs, though its comb filter may or may not be better than the one built-in to your LG TV. You could always compare running the LD player through the receiver vs. going direct to the TV and see which performs better. I also don't believe the receiver offers any aspect ratio controls, so you'd still need to operate those on the TV.

[@jasonshouseoffunandvideoga7169]

Very informative vid! I've seen the stretch many times, especially with dvds and some cable. I had no idea what it was, just figured it was the way it was for some movies. Some movies for whatever reason, I prefer letterbox. Others, I can't stand it. I also learn to somehow enjoy movies only after watching it on TV, edited versions after watching the theatrical versions. I also prefer unrated director cuts. I'm a character to say the least. 😅

[@glonch]

Well done... excellent review of aspect ratios.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@tonyfourpaws4511]

I have a "Direct" option on my tv. I take this to assume that it is displaying in the source ratio.

[@Culturedog]

One would hope! What brand is it?

[@Andersljungberg]

my telefunken TV from 1994 had 16/9 mode even though the screen itself was in 4/3

[@Culturedog]

Telefunken! Nice! I recorded an album at the Telefunken microphone facility over here in the states. We did get finally 16:9 modes on some of the fancier Sony TVs etc., but it took a while.

[@AltCutTV]

Same. Only had a Luxor or Panasonic back in the tube days. They also changed the reformat mode if the DVD player was set to anamorphic output. Only worked when connected via SCART though. So probably using the old auto switcher signal somehow. A specific voltage maybe. Still have the backbreaker Panasonic. One day I'll carry that thing up the stairs and use for old vidogames. One day... :0

[@aubreylee1654]

i have a question by any chance do you fix laserdisc players ?

[@Culturedog]

To an extent - I can handle basic maintenance and some fine tuning, but I don't have a full oscilloscope setup yet, and I haven't jumped into messing with power supplies yet.

[@ronny332]

1,16:1 is handled by my Sony TV with 14:9 zoom, works really great.

[@jreal5]

My tv has a direct setting, it plays everything at the exact ratio its supposed to be. Problem solved

[@deckofcards87]

Hey Sam, is there usually a resolution/ overall picture quality difference between Pan & Scan discs and their Letterbox equivalents, if they're not "remastered"? For example I'm looking at picking up Gremlins on LD and there's two US Warner versions, the 1985 disc and the 1990 widescreen edition.

[@Culturedog]

Sorry for the late reponse! Letterboxed releases technically take an overall resolution hit due to the screen area wasted on black bars, but a 90s letterboxed disc will generally have a newer master compared to old 4:3 discs. I only have the 1990 version of Gremlins, so I haven't compared them directly. But 90s WB discs usually have nice transfers.

[@timladizki5204]

taffy vision....love it.

[@Culturedog]

One of the screen shots in this video was taken in the old Manchester downstairs conference room! Haha

[@defcon602]

Is window boxing an LD image on an HD TV the only way to actually see the intended resolution of a widescreen/letterbox LD? I did notice the best images from LD come when I use 16:9 on a widescreen OLED TV. If I try and zoom the image I get a lot of distortion. Also using a cheap amazon HDMI converter probably isn't helping anything.

[@Culturedog]

HDTVs have to scale up material to match their native display resolution, so even windowboxed, LDs are being scaled to an extent. Some zoom options are decent. I use a DVDO Edge Green that zooms well, and some of the options built into displays do a solid job. It can definitely enhance some negative image artifacts (especially discs with a lot of aliasing), but I don't really notice any major resolution losses. Smaller windowboxed images can appear a tad sharper though. Some people have major complaints about zooming though. But I'm not sure if they have worse video processing or better eyesight. Or both. I'll start to notice more image issues if I go crazy and overzoom to fill my scope projection screen, but that's just silliness to blow up LDs that big. It is fun to do occasionally, though!

[@bricago2302]

10:02 What are C.E.D.'s?

[@Culturedog]

Capacitance Electronic Discs - RCA's video disc format that rivaled LaserDisc for a while in the 80s. CEDs were read by a stylus though, and housed in large, plastic caddies.

[@CantankerousDave]

I hope your house has sturdy floor joists - laserdiscs are *heavy* in large quantities like that shelf behind you.

[@Culturedog]

For sure! I make sure everything's well anchored as well. Though I have since moved and all of my LDs are stored on the bottom level. I did a recent reorganization project too, and I really felt it after spending a weekend lugging all those stacks of discs around!

[@RockyFluffyWhiskas]

I enjoyed that 👍 🇬🇧

[@mtshark7]

Awesome video Sam!

[@Culturedog]

Thanks man! Cheers!

[@aubreylee1654]

ive came across a problem was wondering if you could help i have a dvl 90 everything was Woking great until last night when I put in a dvd it spins then ejects back out however when I put in a laserdisk it plays perfectly was wondering what causes this is this an easy fix any kind of help would be appreciated

[@Culturedog]

I have a DVL-90 and the service manual, so I'll take a peek. Usually when the DVD section isn't working properly, it just sits there, so I'm intrigued about it attempting to spin and then ejecting.

[@aubreylee1654]

ive also made a video of the problem if that will help out

[@aubreylee1654]

also this is the weirdest thing plays laserdisc great so last night i put in a Metallica in justice for all cd it played all the way through

[@Culturedog]

@@aubreylee1654 that model actually has two separate lasers/boards etc. - it's basically a DVD player and a LaserDisc player duct-taped together haha. So it sounds like your LD section is properly calibrated. I'd be interested to see which laser was playing the CD - the player usually defaults to using the DVD one, but I've gotten CDs to play with the LD laser.

[@aubreylee3437]

Ok I think I've found the problem and wondering if it can be done the second laser after I put in the DVD laser moves up then backs down is there a way to reset the laser correctly ?

[@CrowTRobot-ni7zu]

I’m lucky. I have a TV with a custom screen setting.

[@RepoMan517]

This makes me miss my old plasma hdtv more because it *usually* knew to make things over component, composite, or coaxial in 4 by 3 without me having to change anything while also doing amazing 1080p because of those wonderful colors and sharpness plasma had. R.i.P. plasma tvs

[@Culturedog]

Yeah, plasma and LD go together surprisingly excellent! I'm always tempted to go grab a Pioneer Kuro, but I don't know where I'd put it now.

[@Capturing-Memories]

@PioneerQuest They're screens are all fading off now, It's like the SMD capacitors plague if you are into fixing electronic components.

[@polecat13360]

I have a Roku express plus that outputs through composite that I use on a 32 inch Sony Trinitron. It works well and looks pretty good. And I just started season 1 of the X Files on Hulu only to find that they letterboxed the image even through the composite out. For a show that was originally 4:3. Can't win these days.

[@Culturedog]

Yeah, they claim they shot the first few seasons with enough wiggle room for eventual 16:9 cropping, but it would have been nice to have the original 4:3 versions. I noticed they still had to pan and scan a lot of the establishing shots, and they look pretty nasty on the HD versions.

[@JJRClassic88]

Back in the late 1980s when rear-projection TVs were the top-of-the-line item, they did manufacture some widescreen rear-projection TVs (not sure if they were an exact 16:9 aspect ratio, I would assume close to it). There are some old demo videos uploaded on YT that feature these TVs (such as the Pioneer Optics '88 LD rip). I assume the scaling for these older TVs were much easier to tweak for special letterbox LDs compared to our modern "smart" TVs.

[@JJRClassic88]

Great video by the way, these explanations were very informative. 👍

[@Culturedog]

I wish I had been able to pick up one of the early widescreen RPTVs - by the time I bought my first projection set, they had pretty much given up on marketing 16:9 models in my area (until HD rolled in). I should look for some user manual scans to see how easy the zoom modes were to utilize. I should also grab a copy of that Laser Optics disc. I have the '89 version like everyone else, but the '88 one is great too! Thanks for watching the video! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@smvwees]

Am with you. I also want to watch it in the right aspect ratio... btw, same accounts for youtube. I so hate it so many videos on youtube are wrong aspect ratio. As far as laserdiscs, i've got that PAL+ sqeeuze LD about the insects. The Pal+ decoder also sends a widescreen signal of som sort over the scart cable to let the TV jump to 16:9. I've got an HDMI CRT (Philips 28PW9551) and that also luckily has 4:3 zoom and 16:9 zoom, zooming in increments. I've also fiddled with the TV in a service menu to get the geometry straight lines and still use the TV, as it is to me the finest TV for watching all movies from VHS to HD sources.

[@halo3odst]

And ironically enough the trinitron i own is the one you show @ 9:00

[@Culturedog]

Nice! I love Trinitrons. I would have kept mine if I had the space for it.

[@marcelgardner8497]

Do you have a recommendation for an upscaling device that is around 50 - 75 dollar range? Or a good television to recommend?

[@Culturedog]

Processors are a crazy rabbit hole, especially under $200 or so - so many options and variations, so it's tough to say what's 'best'. I've had a few different devices that all did me right, from early-2000s Panasonic DVD recorders to Faroudja NRS processors etc. I will say, I have a super low end Hisense-made Sharp Aquos 4K TV I got a few years ago and I love how LD looks on it. Came with a legacy composite video input and everything.

[@alexhouleRedfox]

great ,interesting infos! Dude, you are very knowledge on it! . thx for your video

[@Culturedog]

Sorry for the late reply, but thanks for watching! Glad to hear you enjoyed the video!

[@michaelbartlett6106]

Thanks for posting this. Question: Does using an S-Video cable vs. Composite cable affect the AR in any way? Also, do you prefer composite over S-Video cables? I'm using an Epson projector. Thanks!

[@Culturedog]

No problem! S-video and composite will both deliver the same 4:3 AR, so there are no extra issues to worry about thankfully. You can try them both, but the general rule of thumb is that composite is usually the way to go. LD video is natively composite, so there's no inherent edge to using s-video like with digital media. The other factor is that the composite video on LD needs to be split into chroma and luma signals before a TV can use it. The S-video out on the player uses the player's built-in comb filter, which is probably not as advanced as the one in your projector. Still, if you don't mind experimenting, you can test out both options. There's also the added complication of some digital-era players splitting the y/c signal internally, adding some processing, and then recombining it before sending it to the composite output. So even using the composite output doesn't guarantee a pure, unmessed-with signal. The rabbit hole goes pretty deep! Haha

[@troykir]

My Sony 4KTV has a specific setting when a VCR/Laserdisc/DVD player is plugged in to the RCA jacks and you can adjust the picture settings and aspect ratio so it can fit as closely as possible to a 16 x 9 size. You're just going have to tolerate old technology as the picture quality is no comparison to modern day video quality. The owners manual recommends that you sit at least 6 feet away from the screen. Some CAV THX LD'S don't look too bad. It is what it is.😃

[@duskonanyavarld1786]

I use the ps3 for dvd's it's easier I think.

[@silvervalleystudios2486]

How does it look coming from RCA jacks on 4K TV

[@LambdaCore]

That's some viable information right there. I started to bring LD content to my YT channel 2 days ago and wondered about the stretched content on 16:9. Thank you very much for helping me not to get arrested by ARPD!

[@Knightmessenger]

Where can I get a AR Police badge? I have so many tickets to issue...

[@Culturedog]

Haha I'll have HQ get in contact with you!

[@JunkerDC]

I remember I use to have to try to explain this to people 12 years ago when they started buying LCD TV's no one could understand it and I remember blockbuster only had pan and scan dvd's for the first two years they rented dvd's and I would not rent from them and when dvd first came out I use to have to rent my dvd's from a mom a pop store and there was only one video store that rented laserdisc in my town and it was 38 mins away crazy cool times

[@Culturedog]

Yeah, I remember worrying that pan and scan was going to take over on DVD. It was a weird transition, between that and Circuit City's DIVX format etc.

[@JunkerDC]

@@Culturedog I remember all DivX movies were in pain and skin I was like how can we go from LaserDisc to this it was a crazy time

[@mycosys]

Thought this was going to go into the physics relationship between the signal encoded on the LD and the actual drive of the electron gun and some of the amazing modulation/dithering tricks that were done with mastering that signal for the physics of CRT guns. Even with a decent upscaler like the one in my Onkyo amp, when you go into the digital domain youre destroying that relationship.

[@aubreylee1654]

what is the best route for an home theater for a laserdisc player do I need to get a 5.1 or can do the same setup in 7.1 please help ive been searching for the past two weeks on google not finding the information

[@Culturedog]

You can do either, though 7.1 isn't a 'must' for LD and/or smaller rooms. That said, I've got a 7.1 setup in my main room, which isn't that big. Since there were no LDs with center surround signal flags (even Dolby Digital EX 6.1 discs), you'll need to manually turn on a center surround mode on the receiver/processor. You can either turn it on specifically for DD EX discs (though there aren't that many) or leave it on with 5.1 discs as well, which will still have 'phantom center' information that the processor can grab and redirect to the surround centers. Likewise, on a 7.1 system, you can also try Dolby ProLogic IIx on LDs with simpler stereo surround tracks. In any case, if your processor has enough options, you can choose to use or not use all of these 'enhancements' - so it just gives you more options basically. Even though I have a 7.1 rig, I can still watch LDs in stereo if I feel like it.

[@RudolfGraspointner]

TVs suck! I use a projector (Beamer) onto a huge white wall. Turn the lights off! No issues with ratio.

[@KianGamerTV]

Wonderful video. Great breakdown on all the jargon and ratios. I don't normally rate videos, but I would give this one a solid 6 out of 9.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks! I'll put that on the poster for sure! Haha

[@KianGamerTV]

@@Culturedog Excellent!!!

[@kevinkelley3906]

People who don't like widescreen don't truly love actual cinema or appreciate the movie makers. Now I'll be waiting for your losing arguments.

[@Culturedog]

I've definitely noticed a lack of appreciation for well-composed, balanced imagery from a lot of fellow collectors.

[@tonyferrol2967]

Great video bud.

[@Culturedog]

Thanks man! Cheers!

[@j7ndominica051]

You'd lose resolution on a letterboxed picture no matter how big your TV was. A basic medium TV can exceed the fixed video resolution. During the last years of PAL television, movies were transmitted squeezed, and the television would stretch them to the correct aspect ratio. I never watched them on an old TV that didn't understand the added signal, and don't know what happened. My mother always found the button that made 4:3 broadcasts either zoomed and cropped or stretched into fat people by herself, to see the picture bigger. I find "narrowscreen" to be a more descriptive term because you get a thinner bar on screen the more cinematic the movie is. There was another debate about the sample aspect ratio of the PAL picture. Whether the width of 704 pixels or 720 should be counted when ripping.

[@Capturing-Memories]

By rec.601 standard all video formats are sampled horizontally at 720 samples or pixels with 16 black pixels added as padding since camra's and telecine machines do not have a perfectly 4:3 ratio imaging sensors. When you capture you should crop to 704 and then resize to a square pixel format or assign an AR flag according to your format's resolution.

[@theshadowman1398]

I am watching the 1080P, ultra wide 21:9 ( if the movie supports it of-course ) Dolby digital.

[@Culturedog]

It'll be interesting to see if 21:9 can eventually break through to the mainstream. I'd love to get a 21:9 projection screen someday and go full cinema style!

[@theshadowman1398]

Culturedog That’s why I refuse to upgrade to 4K. There are no 4K ultra wide screens

[@AshGCG]

I don't have any upscaling tech. I'm either lucky or lazy but I have a reasonably new Samsung with a Scart socket. And, though the Samsung has a 4:3 mode, it's separate Zoom mode seems to work without any stretching to the edges (that I can tell). Coincidently, whilst watching this, I was also running through Die Hard 3 (8858-85) and started checking the settings. Nothing comes additionally under the 4:3 setting which is probably why I have been guilty of watching some LDs while the system is still on Widescreen mode. But Zoom seems to know what it's doing without taffyfication. On the point of black bars, if the film is engrossing, you don't notice them. I grew up watching stuff on green and B&W screens smaller than a smartphone; whats a few bars on a 50 inch TV???

[@Culturedog]

Yeah, I got accustomed to letterboxing pretty quickly. I'd start to forget that they freaked people out until I'd have people over to watch Reservoir Dogs or something and they'd start losing their minds once they realized the "whole movie" had black bars! Haha Good to hear that your Samsung has a legit zoom mode. Enjoy those discs!

[@johnathonvought7407]

Good info. I assume I'm one of the guys you pointed at who viewed his movies correctly. But, even if you are an experienced pro (as I worked in network tv), our TVs and the related players use terms incorrectly or in a confusing way. If it says "letterbox" as an option, which does it mean? Gonna stretch the original image to "look like the movies" or is it meant to make a no-chop 1to1 squares on the screen if the *media* was letterboxed and show all the black pixels? You have to know what you're looking for and I saw those icons on your tv, not easy to understand. Their interest of making it more "user friendly" actually may have hurt proper understanding for what is going on. Every single device I've owned, I had to do a deep dive with tests to get the shapes and color to actually be correct. Sometimes never really getting the tv to auto-function correctly between devices and having to do manual adjustments for viewing certain formats as if I'm the projectionist between the format and the television. When I wasn't looking, sometimes my device decided "coneheads" was the proper aspect ratio and I was real glad no co-workers of mine were around to see the miss-hap. The aspect ratio for each film changes at director discretion too, with some even considering tv in their composition and editing. But they *SHOULD* have adjusted the letterbox portion in the media itself so that you don't have to as long as your settings for aspect ratio leads to a 1/1 box or sphere in ideal situations. That's the price you pay, but the specialists in my field took that work very seriously. THey hated "pan and scan" as much as you did. I have a friend and co-worker who invented the first film scanners with his brother at a major VFX house to make some of the very first digital movie scans in history in order to do digital effects work. They were meticulous, and tried to get as near perfect capture as possible. Don't throw that work out. Unlike my friend's scans, your tv screen or projector is still using some real estate for those black pixels of the letterbox as if it is the movie. Assuming you knew what you were doing. At most, that is 720x486 lines for D1 NTSC for televisions of the day. Obviously, that "squishes" to fit into a mostly square TV or monitor and it means your tv pixels are not square. Unfortunately most devices could not send even 486 lines of information even if your set/monitor could view it. We had to limit some colors thank the fact that some older sets could break with true white or true black (for example). We did 486 for broadcast in the 1990s because technology had come along. We edited, saved, and output at the full "D1" resolution. For comparison, VHS could only do 240 lines. Laserdisk used 425 lines, that was *near* the max setting achievable. The reason I am intimately aware of those pixels is because I sometimes had to paint frame by agonizing frame in photoshop in the 90s. I did some of the first Photoshop batches to de-interlace and re-interlace frames so that I could paint them. Ironically I named it the "the field generator" and cackled like Palpatine every time I said my little play on words there. >insert

[@lutello3012]

35:08 My Apocalypse Now LD is like that, confused me. The 2:1 ratio added to my confusion, LDDB says they also pan&scanned it a tad. Also says it's the first (unofficial) THX LD.

[@cessnaace]

I never understood the whole wasted screen argument. Even when I was stuck with a 19" CRT I bought widescreen whenever possible. I still have over 1,700 LDs, not counting the DiscoVision releases.

[@Culturedog]

Cessnaace! Good to see you! I loved watching your LD update videos. Glad to hear you still have a collection!

[@cessnaace]

@@Culturedog Watching your vids has me planning on buying LDs again.

[@Andersljungberg]

When did you get component video video connection in USA. here in europe we had scart RGB quite early

[@Culturedog]

It took us a long while - some of the first DVD players had component outs, but only on the higher end models. The first component device I bought was the 2nd-wave Panasonic model I got in 1999 if I recall correctly.

[@halo3odst]

my DVL-909 is from 98 and has YPbPr (component) for the DVD playback.

[@kaedeshirtoto]

Man I'd love to hang out with you and just nerd out about stuff haha

[@stephendobbins9251]

This should be required viewing for purists of videos and movies.