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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Anamorphic Widescreen?

Answer:

If you've looked at the back of a DVD case these days, you've probably seen all the bewildering terminology: 16x9, anamorphic widescreen, enhanced for widescreen TVs...the list goes on and on. They're all referring to the same thing. Simply put, anamorphic widescreen is a special feature of DVD, that means that the video on the disc packs the most resolution possible by the TV standards of today and the near future. Mind you, we're not talking about high-definition television-like resolution. While there have been technology demonstrations of HD-DVD (High-Definition DVD), most industry experts believe that such a format is more than a decade away, at the very best case.

One of the most confusing terms of DVD has to be the anamorphic 16x9 enhancement. DVD has the capability to store a lot more image information than your regular TV set can display, even though not all discs actually support this feature. So called 16x9 anamorphic TV sets can use this additional information to create a higher resolution image, resulting in a much sharper and more detailed picture. Since 16x9 screens have a widescreen ratio themselves, they do not have to bother about the black bars at the top and bottom of a widescreen movie and can thus stretch the image to use the full height of the display. If your TV does not support 16x9 enhancements, the movie will simply be displayed in widescreen.

What is the difference between Mono, 2 Channel, 4 Channel and 5.1 Digital Sound?

Answer:

In Mono, the original sound is picked up by one ( or more ) microphone(s). Only one signal is recorded, regardless the number of microphones that have been used, i.e. only one signal is involved in the playback stage. Disc phonographs, television, motion picture and radio all use monophonic system. 2 Channel encodes a left and right signal (this is refered to as stereo sound).

4 Channel sound is refered to as Dolby Surround. Dolby Surround encodes four sound channels (left, center, right, surround) onto the two tracks of any conventional stereo program source.

Dolby Digital provides five full bandwidth channels, front left, front right, center, surround left, and surround right, for true surround sound quality. A low frequency effect (LFE) channel is included that provides the sound needed for special effects and action sequences in movies. The LFE channel is one-tenth of the bandwidth of the other channels and is sometimes erroneously called the subwoofer channel. This multichannel scheme is known as 5.1 channel.

What's the difference between widescreen and full frame?
Answer:	Widescreen format gives you black bars on the top and bottom of the image on screen. In Full Frame the image fills the whole screen

Why do some dvd's have an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, while others have 1.66:1, 1.85:1, 2.35:1. What the difference between these aspect ratio's and what's better to buy.

Answer:

While TVs usually have an aspect ratio of 4:3 (4 units wide, 3 units high) aka 1.33:1, movies vary from 1.78:1 to 2.35:1 and almost anything in between. The result is that on a regular TV set, the movie must either be letterboxed, which creates black bars at the top and bottom of your screen to house the whole image, or the image is cropped on the left and right hand side to use the TV's full height. Usually, when an important piece of the image drops out of the visible screen, the picture is panned to the side to show this piece, hence the term pan & scan. If you want to enjoy all the details of a movie, you should definitely prefer the widescreen letterboxed versions to the Pan & Scan alternative, because this is the way the filmmakers originally intended you to see the movie.

What is the difference between AC-3 and 5.1 Digital Sound?

Answer:

One of the technical specifications of DVD states that every disc must use at least one PCM or Dolby Digital soundtrack to ensure the medium's high quality throughout all its publications. Dolby Digital is a sound format that allows to have up to six different channels of sound, making for a full surround experience of your movies. One of the most common used versions of Dolby Digital is its 5.1 channel implementation. Dolby Digital uses a compression scheme that is called AC-3 in order to store more information on a disc.

Are Indian DVDs available in DTS sound, if so, which one. If not, why not?

Answer:

No, Indian DVDs are not available in DTS format. Although most Indian Films are shown in DTS format in some theatres, the DVDs don't follow this trend. The reason is quite simple actually, Indian movies are too long in length, so the dvd can't fit DTS sound on the DVD because DTS it takes a lot more space on a DVD than Dolby Digital 5.1. This is also the reason why some of the Indian DVDs don't have extra feature. Most DVDs with extra feature are 2 Disc Sets.

I heard that there are two versions of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam on DVD?
Answer:	Yes, there are two version of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam on DVD one is by DEI and other is by Video Sound. If you own a 16:9 widescreen TV then you will want to get the DEI version.

Where can I get the DEI version of HDDCS from?
Answer:	From any online Indian store. When ordering the DVD make sure to request the DEI version of HDDCS.

Has DDLJ released on DVD yet?
Answer:	Yes, DDLJ has finally released on DVD by Yash Raj Films and it is a two disc set

I recently preorder K3G why hasn't my DVD shipped yet?
Answer:	The K3G DVD release date has changed from 2-28-02 to 3-7-02.

Why do scenes on the Mohabbatein DVD freeze from time to time?
Answer:	because the DVD has a lot faults on it, but despite this problem the DVD is still worth owning and a must have in ones DVD collection.

Why doesn't the DCH DVD play in my DVD player or my computers DVD drive?
Answer:	because of the type of the DVD disc used to store the movie. Some high end players don't expierence any problems with the DVD, but many others do. Our advice is that u rent the movie and make sure it plays on your DVD player before buying it.

Should I buy the Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai two disc set if I already own the single disc?
Answer:	Not unless you want the song that was cut out of the single disc version. The quality of the single disc and the two set are same.

Are there two versions of Taal of on DVD?
Answer:	Yes, one version is non anamorphic widescreen and the other version is an anamorphic widescreen presentation.

Why are Indian DVD companies releasing movies on DVD the day after the movie comes to the cinema halls?
Answer:	The movies are released on DVD the day after it comes to the cinema hall so that the pirates don't pirate the movie.

I recently bought some Indian DVDs by Baba Film Traders and the quality is horrible. I think these DVDs are pirated.
Answer:	The DVDs aren't pirated as Baba Film Traders is a legal company, but they produce bad DVDs in terms of quality. The best thing to do is look for the same DVD title by another legal company. Most of the time you can find the same DVD title made by DEI or Video Sound.

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