Friday, May 12, 2006

Thinking in Wide Screen How many kinds of widescreen are there? Watching Noir -- it filled the entire screen (a 16x9 aspect ratio) Watching several movies -- even in widescreen mode there is a little band of black on the top and bottom. Okay... googling around a bit... So.. we have 3 common "true" widescreen aspect ratios? Why am I not surprised? 16x9 (the HDTV standard?) is also called an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 Anamorphic widescreen apparently is 2.35:1. Something called Academy Flat is 1.85:1. Movies often have a higher aspect ratio (The movie I have in now is 2.35:1 so in order to fit, it still has a letter boxing effect. Just not as bad. Noir must be in true 16x9.) And not all widescreen dvds are "true" widescreen. I wonder how many of the psuedo-widescreen dvd's I have? A quick look thru my dvd's -- with the exception of tv shows (and an old movie that predates the format) that aren't widescreen (Firefly is widescreen.) I only have a couple that say they are in "letterbox" format and don't say "enhanced for widescreen tvs. Of course, one of those is "2001" And then we have the whole tv resolution issue... my current DVD player (I've had it for 6 years now -- in tech terms it's ancient) only does 480i (480 scan lines interlaced.) My new tv can handle 720p/1080i (There's also 1080p but the only tv (a Westinghouse) with that in my price range/desired size I would have had to special order and was lower quality than the tv (Sharp) I did buy. (It -- the screen -- is the same height vertically as my old tube tv, just a bit wider)) So I need a new DVD player... I knew that :-) when I started. The goal is to replace all of my a/v equipment over the next year... ending with the purchase of a PS3. The new Tomb Raider game can do widescreen at 480i or 480p (though the 480p didn't look like widescreen to me.) 11:43:05 PM    Notes [] Step by step... Tonight: Noir - disc 2 (Episodes 6-9) We slowly learn tidbits about the two characters and about Soldats. In widescreen even... perfect for testing my new tv... (Had to completely rewire my a/v system for it.) Is there a reason why Kirika keeps getting hurt? Maybe because Mireille keeps using her as a distraction while she goes after their target? 10:26:28 PM    Notes [] Number 23 Seven months into the TtH 100 and I'm almost a quarter of the way thru. Ouch. Of course, of the people still participating I think only one has gone past the half-way mark. (You can find links to the series on my WiP page) This one... quality wise... is on the low end of the scale. I rushed it like I've done so many of them so I can meet the 2 week deadline between fics. It is also the longest of the 23 so far. It's also my first attempt to get inside the head of Joyce (Buffy's mother). I'm not sure it works. I'm also not sure if the story twist I threw in there works too well... But only two more in this particular thread (well... in the whole time travel bit.) I think it was a mistake to send Dawn off into the past on her own. The story line is supposed to be about both of them (Dawn and Amanda (from Highlander) so I have to fit a mention or two about Amanda into each story even when she isn't there. 12:03:03 AM    Notes []

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