Titanic is a good one, for the most part I really want SE's for movies that have yet to be released Anamorphically.

billy madison and happy gilmore could use special editions

also, Stephen King's It could use a SE

I do the stretch for non-anamorphic widescreen movies, but I watch 4:3 materials with the 4:3 mode. There is no point in zooming in on or stretching a 4:3 picture as you either cut off the top and bottom or distort the image with horizontal pulls.

What do you guys prefer? Do you stretch non anamorphic transfers for more screen size or do you go with the smaller picture in favor of better quality.

Personally I sacrifice the quality for the larger picture. Watching a movie when it's only a sliver on my screen is quite annoying.

John,

A non-anamorphic widescreen movie will have black or gray bars at the sides if a 16:9 TV is set to display 4:3 images. 16:9 TVs also have "zoom" or "stretch" modes that allow for non-anamorphic movies to be displayed across the entire width of the rectangular TV, though it's very apparent after you do the stretch that non-anamorphic images have less resolution/image density than anamorphic sources.

Eddie

no no, I meant at the website mra sent me to, it said that non-anamorphic widescreen DVD's had grey vertical bars, not horizontal. I thought that was strange, becuase that only happens with my full-screen "Friends" DVDs, and never on my widescreen DVD's, so I was curious as to what the website was talking about.
Thanks for the info though, basically the difference between the two is that they adjust differently, anamorphic removing the need for the tv to create what should be there?
I'm just emphasizing this point becuase I still receive black bars on anamorphic DVD's such as the Matrix Revolutions, unless of course I set the picture to zoom (on my tv, the "zoom" feature apparently gives: "the best picture quality for viewing widescreen moving images")but its still there unless.
As well, my TV is calibrated according to those THX thingies on certain THX certified DVD's, havn't really looked for a professional TV calibrater yet (rest assured, my blacks are indeed true blacks, I'm not that pre-historic), but my TV has like thirteen sliders for the black level, and just as many for the white level, so I kinda just make it look right to my eyes, as I have no idea what the "BRG for the input balance of the dark white level" is. (I mainly worry about multi-point convergence, becuase it's always going off the mark on my TV, especially at the top left hand side, the grid lines are blueish green and nommater how far I move the blue or red levels, they remain that way. I'm guessing it's a fualt of the tubes and projector, but the thing is really hard to check, it's big. Also becuase I know what I'm doing when I try to fix it.)

P.S. To keep this true to the spirit of the Forum: I think that Harry Potter could use a real special edition (sans les jeux!)

"...the Abyss is aparently non-anamorphic, yet I dont receive gray vertical bars." --Onijay

If your television and your DVD player are set for 16x9 playback, you should not receive any vertical (side) bars if the movie were issued in standard widescreen, as "The Abyss" is. You should only get black bars at the top and bottom of the screen where the film is not showing. There is a difference between standard letterbox widescreen and anamorphic widescreen. An anamorphic widescreen rending would give you approximately the same widescrreen dimensions you're seeing now with "The Abyss," but the picture would be sharper, clearer, and freer of jittery lines.

Incidentally, the areas at the top and bottom of the screen should usually be black, not gray. If the picture on the screen is exceptionally bright, radiantly white, for instance, these areas might look a bit gray. Otherwise, they should be black. You might want to have the black level of your television checked. The black-level adjustment is what provides the greatest detail and contrast in a televsion picture.

John

I was just confused becuase the Abyss is aparently non-anamorphic, yet I dont receive gray vertical bars and the picture quality is still stunning. Likewise with Armageddon (Criterion), it still looks great. Thanks for the info, anamorphic was one of the few things about this format that I'm not quite sure about. It seems to always be varying depending on what your tv and your DVD player can do.

Lethal Weapon 1-4

I'll usually stretch non-anamporphic movies to 14x9 rather than 16x9. The reason for this is that if I want subtitles they won't be cut off. And the picture still covers most of the screen. I never stretch 4x3. It looks silly.

A few special editions I'd like to see...

"Kill Bill" (probably a 3 disc set)
"Braveheart"
"Buffalo 66"
"Dune"
"Raising Arizona"
"Miller's Crossing"
"Mulholland Drive"
"The Big Lebowski"