Question about viewing original aspect ratio

[grey77]

Hi, sorry I'm a newbie at this, hope it's not confusing.

If I wanted to watch a 2:35 aspect film (according to IMDB) on blu-ray with my laptop, how do I do so to preserve the original aspect ratio? Do I just set the aspect settings in VLC to 2:35?

Thanks.

Edit: some screenshots, I'm not sure which looks right.

at the default 16:9


set to 2.35:1

[UFAlien]

Unlike DVDs, Blu-ray uses square pixels, so you don't need to set anything differently. All Blu-rays are encoded at 16:9 and use black bars to fill any unused space. So no matter what the aspect ratio of the film is, the technical aspect ratio of the video on the disc is 16:9, and that's where you should leave your settings.

[grey77]

Originally Posted by UFAlien

Unlike DVDs, Blu-ray uses square pixels, so you don't need to set anything differently. All Blu-rays are encoded at 16:9 and use black bars to fill any unused space. So no matter what the aspect ratio of the film is, the technical aspect ratio of the video on the disc is 16:9, and that's where you should leave your settings.

Thanks, but is that how it's suppose to look like in cinemas? It's because I found this interesting argument on the web:

And then we have Encoding Aspect Ratio. For example full-resolution 2.35:1 anamorphic aspect ratio encoding is 2538x1080. Blu-Ray discs is 16:9 (1920x1080) aspect ratio encoded. But the original Film Aspect Ratio is still 2.35:1 anamorphic/letterbox scope or 1.85:1 widescreen or what ever film aspect ratio. All depending on what film aspect ratio/framing the Director has chosen to use.

a Blu-Ray player cannot playback anamorphic/letterbox material (Film Aspect Ratio and Encoding Aspect Ratio) but the anamorphic/letterbox scope, as mentioned above, is still in the transfer/encode.

Which suggests to watch the film in original 2.35:1 like in the theater by setting the aspect ratio to 2:35:1 in the software player and display setting on a 16:9 flat screen to 1:1 pixel mapping. Thus the apperance of the 2nd image.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by grey77

Thanks, but is that how it's suppose to look like in cinemas?

When watching on your laptop leave all the settings (Crop, Aspect Ratio and Zoom) to Default. There shouldn't be any reason to change them. Let VLC work out how to play them. Django Unchained is 2.39:1 and not 2.35:1.

The 2nd image is incorrect, you've squashed it! That 2nd quote sounds like nonsense, BD players can play back anamorphic DVDs perfectly fine.

[grey77]

Originally Posted by chip75

When watching on your laptop leave all the settings (Crop, Aspect Ratio and Zoom) to Default. There shouldn't be any reason to change them. Let VLC work out how to play them. Django Unchained is 2.39:1 and not 2.35:1.

The 2nd image is incorrect, you've squashed it! That 2nd quote sounds like nonsense, BD players can play back anamorphic DVDs perfectly fine.

Yes you can leave it to the default settings but is that the original picture aspect ratio (as chosen by the director of the film) as viewed in the cinema?

The image appear squashed because we are used to viewing 2.35:1 picture on 16:9 TV screens. I know some purists prefer the former 'squashed' and that's what I'm trying to understand.

2.35:1 example:


Another example (Dark Skies) in 16:9


Forced to 2:35:1


16:9


2:35:1

[chip75]

Originally Posted by grey77

Yes you can leave it to the default settings but is that the original picture aspect ratio (as chosen by the director of the film) as viewed in the cinema?

The bottom images are incorrect. Nobody prefers the squashed images, they're displayed wrong. It's almost like you remember how big the letterboxing is on a 4:3 TV and are trying to get that image. [See Image 4 Below]

Aspect Ratios are image ratios and don't include the letterboxing. Hopefully you can see why you're getting confused with the examples below. The first 3 are 1920x1080 captures. Image 4 has been expanded to a 4:3 with a 2.35:1 image inside that ratio. The pixel dimensions in the image is the size of the image not including the letterboxing. As you can see if you squash the image like you've done, the visible image changes to a 3.17:1 aspect ratio. The squashed images also resemble what a non-anamorphic DVD would look like if played on a 16:9 display.

big.jpg

Note: The bottom image is from your 1600x900 screen capture. The Close Encounters of the Third Kind shot should read 1920x816 not 1928x816.

[chip75]

If you take notice of the 2 identical images below, at first glance the 4:3 Display looks squashed compared to the 16:9 (or the 16:9 looks stretched) Display but they're identical.

Untitled-1.jpg

Below gives examples of a 2.35:1 image on a 4:3 Display and a Squashed 2.35:1 image on a 16:9 Display.

Untitled-2.jpg

[grey77]

Hi chip,

thanks for your posts, i understand clearer now. i had thought the black bars were part of the image. cos if i took a screenshot of a film set to 2:35:1 first with the software player it will show 1920x816 ~2:35, that is with black bars included.

there is a small group i came across who prefered the squashed image but it's on the p2p scene. according to them the black bars perserve the original aspect ratio of the film so they wont crop it out of blu-ray encodes.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by grey77

there is a small group i came across who prefered the squashed image but it's on the p2p scene. according to them the black bars perserve the original aspect ratio of the film so they wont crop it out of blu-ray encodes.

Don't listen to them. If anybody's watching a film with the squashed-look then they're not watching it at the correct aspect ratio and they're distorting the image. If you're making your own encodes you don't need the black bars (it's just wasted data) as most players (software or hardware) will generate the black-bars when you playback the video. Take note of the trailer below:

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - Trailer 1 (OFFICIAL) - YouTube

It's in 2:40:1. YouTube's player adds the black bars, if you download it and play it back with VLC player its dimensions will be 1920x800. The black-bars are generated by the player, unlike:

X-Men: Days of Future Past | Official UK Trailer #2 HD | 2014 - YouTube

The black-bars are encoded into the video itself (it's 1920x1080). When both of these titles hit Blu-ray they'll have the black-bars as part of the image but they should be discarded when working out the aspect ratio.