Chapter 1

44 Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About DVD
for a letterbox version and a full-frame version, unless the pan and scan
technique is used to zoom in (which cuts off part of the picture). In other
words, the picture is the same size, with extra areas visible at the top and
bottom in the full-screen version. Put yet another way, letterboxing covers
over the part of the picture that was also covered in the theater. Letterboxing
could also allow the entire widescreen picture to be visible for movies
wider than 1.85, in which case the letterboxed picture is smaller and has
less detail than a pan and scan version would.
If no full-screen version of the movie is included on the disc, one solution
is to use a DVD player with a zoom feature to enlarge the picture enough to
fill the screen. This will cut off the sides of the picture, but in many cases it’s
a similar effect to the pan and scan process. Just think of it as “do-it-yourself
pan and scan.”
For a detailed explanation of why most movie fans prefer letterboxing,
see the Letterbox/Widescreen Advocacy Page (www.widescreen.org). For
an explanation of anamorphic widescreen and links to more information
and examples on other web sites, see “What’s Widescreen? How Do the
Aspect Ratios Work?” in Chapter 3. The best solution to this entire mess
might be the FlikFX Recomposition System, “the greatest advance in entertainment
in 57 years” (www.widescreenmuseum.com/flikfx).
How Should I Clean and Care for DVDs?
Because DVDs are read by a laser, they are resistant to fingerprints, dust,
smudges, and scratches—to a point (refer to “What Happens If I Scratch
the Disc? Aren’t Discs Too Fragile to Be Rented?”). However, surface contaminants
and scratches can cause data errors. On a video player, the
effect of data errors ranges from minor video artifacts to frame skipping to
complete unplayability. So it’s a good idea to take care of your discs. In
general, treat them the same way you would a CD.
Your player can’t be harmed by a scratched or dirty disc unless globs of
nasty substances on it might actually touch the lens. Still, it’s best to keep
your discs clean, which will also keep the inside of your player clean. Never
attempt to play a cracked disc, as it could shatter and damage the player.
It doesn’t hurt to leave the disc in the player, even if it’s paused and still
spinning, but leaving it running unattended for days on end might not be a
good idea.
In general, cleaning the lens on your player is unnecessary, because the
air moved by the rotating disc keeps it clean. However, if you use a lens
cleaning disc in your CD player, you may wish to to the same with your DVD
player. It’s advisable to use a cleaning disc designed for DVD players,
because minor differences exist between the position of the lens in DVD
and CD players.