MovieChat Forums > Ask the Dust (2006) Discussion > UK DVD SUPERIOR ASPECT RATIO

UK DVD SUPERIOR ASPECT RATIO

posted 16 years ago by canadamelody
1 reply | jump to latest

For those of you who can play REGION 2 50hz PAL DVD issues I strongly urge you
to go to Amazon UK and get the UK DVD issue. This movie was shot spherical that means full frame. In the USA there is a very stupid policy of insisting on presenting spherical films in 1.85:1 which is too tightly framed. In Europe these films are released on DVD in 1.78:1 which is a perfect native fit for a 16:9 widescreen TV/panel/projector screen. This gives more height with the same width as 1.85:1. You get a better pure and uncompromised native resolution for your 16:9 TV and more photographic content.

Howard Simon Marks
Manchester UK

[–] markfilipak 15 years ago

You are mistaken, Howard. The R1 DVD is 1.78:1 aspect.

I don't know where you got your notions about 1.85:1. Just because a film is shot with a spherical lens (as opposed to an anamorphic lens) on 35mm film, that doesn't mean that it is meant to be seen 1.33:1 - I know that's not what you're saying, but many would misinterpret what you wrote. According to the IMDB, Ask the Dust was released at 1.85:1, so you see that neither the R1 nor the R2 DVD is true to the theatrical release. 1.85:1 is the current favored aspect - why, I don't know. I prefer 2:1 but that's another story.

I suspect that the original 1.85:1 release print was cropped down to 1.78:1 for the transfer, so what you write about being too tightly framed is probably hogwash.

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