Dottie wrote:What does anamorphic actually mean? Why is it so important for people who own widescreen tvs? I mean those DVDs are widescreen, but letterbox, what's the difference?
(You see I really don't have a clue

)
On a widescreen TV, letterbox-format DVDs will have black borders around all sides of the picture, not just the top and bottom (sometimes the sides will be white, instead). This happens because on anamorphic DVDs, the video is encoded to fit inside the 16x9 (or around 1.77:1)aspect ratio of a widescreen TV. Basically, the black bars you actually see on the top and bottom of a fullscreen TV
aren't part of the video that's encoded on the disc... your DVD player puts them in so the movie appears in proper proportions (though on movies wider than 16x9, smaller black bars are encoded on the disc in order to preserve the original aspect ratio).
The video on the new Star War discs is encoded at the aspect ratio of a normal TV, which is 1.33:1. So basically, you're losing out an alot of lines of vertical resolution if you own a widescreen TV.
Movies that are filmed in 16x9 will fill a widescreen television perfectly, whereas movies that were filmed at an even wider aspect ratio (like 2.35:1, etc.) will have the top and bottom bars even on a widescreen TV, but they won't be as pronounced as on a normal television.
Personally, despite being a fan of Star Wars, I won't be buying these new discs. I've no doubt these will sell incredibly well, as the great majority of people have no taste or or discrimination in what they're spending their money on. I only wish the sales
would suffer so Lucas may be forced to release proper versions of the films. I mean, I never expected any extras or anything on these discs, but to not even bother anamorphically enhancing the picture? What's he thinking?