Brothers Grimm

Hi John

If you didn't know most dvd-players cut the picture, so it will fit the 16:9 screen. The whole picture is actually on the dvd. I only know of one player that doesn't cut the picture and that is the Aconatic AN-2030.

I'd wish that you'd buy yourself a new surround-reciever - with a DTS-decoder - for christmas. It would open up a whole new world of sound for you

I can also inform other readers, that the region 3 version of The Brothers Grimm, includes a DTS-ES Matrix track. It's available as a 1-disc version and a 2-disc version.
http://www3.cd-wow.com/detail_results_2.php?product_code=253551

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

Thank you, Wise One. But you might want to explain what you mean by DVD players "cut the picture so it will fit the 16:9 screen." The actual screen size that viewers will see displayed on their TVs is a little more complicated than you indicate, and it involves a person's television set, DVD player, degree of overscan, and particular studio transfer.

I view the picture on a standard (1.33:1), 36", Sony XBR television, capable of high definition (1080 lines and line doubling), and a Sony S7700 DVD player set to 16x9 mode (the TV, although standard screen, is capable of 16x9 enhancement, vertical compression technology that maximizes picture resolution from "anamorphic" sources). The TV displays something close to whatever is on the disc, given a small degree of overscanning by both the TV and the player. ("Sound & Vision" magazine and others have estimated the overscan on most TVs to be between 3-10%, depending on the set's age. They measured my XBR at about 3%. Overscanning can be adjusted internally, by the way, but it's best left to a service technician.) What I have also noticed is that sometimes the transfers of 1.85:1 theatrical material are very slightly smaller right on the disc, I assume the result of either losing a few pixels in the normal transfer process and/or a resizing purposely to fit 1.777:1 (16:9) screens. Movies with an OAR (original aspect ratio) of 2.35:1 will most often be rendered at between 2.09-2.24:1. I usually double check these measurements with a second DVD player and TV (non high-def) upstairs and occasionally with a widescreen HD television in its normal operational mode (no zooms or stretches), and they are always within a few tenths of a percentage point or so, given the anamorphic or non-anamorphic nature of the program material.

As my listening experiences have never convinced me of the superiority of DTS, I have no interest in replacing a perfectly good DD5.1 machine. (Yes, I understand that DTS has a technical advantage in being less compressed than DD, but I have not heard that benefit actually translate into better sound, only slightly different sound.) Anyway, I think most readers who prefer DTS would easily know what differences they could expect from the DTS track. And, in any case, very few of the Region 1 discs I review or buy have DTS tracks on them, so the expense of a new machine would not be worth it to me.

Thanks again for your feedback.

John