The first column is obviously a thumbnail (GIF) of the title screen capture.
The second column is the film title, year, and director. If the title in the capture
doesn't match the title in the box, that just means something was retitled somewhere
along the way. Occasionally you'll even find entries under both titles.
The third column details, step by step:
First is the format from which the capture is
taken. In this case, it is a DVD. You will also find DVDR, Laserdisc, VHS, Beta, and others.
Second (in parentheses) is the type of recording. "Original" means the capture
is from a store-bought, commercially released copy. Another common designation
is "Premium Cable TV" which usually means I recorded it off of Turner Classic Movies.
Other designations are pretty self-explanatory.
Third is the label/distributor. The
above example is Warner Home Video. "Home Recorded" is self-explanatory.
Fourth is the
catalog number of the specific release, in the example it is 73401. This lets you
compare different DVD editions. You can ignore catalog numbers for "Home Recorded"
entries, those are just for me.
Fifth is a link to Amazon.com - if it says "(buy)" it
should link directly to the exact edition represented. If it says "(seek)" it
should automatically search for the title; who knows what you might get but it might
help you find a copy.
Sixth is the measured aspect ratio of the copy, in the example
it is 1.77:1. Most movies made before 1954 will be 1.33:1. When I do these captures, I
leave black borders around movies that are 1.33:1, but I crop tightly to widescreen
transfers in order to get an accurate measurement of aspect ratio. Sometimes you will
see a widescreen title capture, but the aspect ratio reads "1.33:1". This is typically
when a movie is presented in pan & scan format but the opening titles are widescreen.
In short, the aspect ratio I show is the measurement for the presentation of the film,
not just the title screen. Some HD broadcasts crop 2.35:1 movies to 1.77:1, and as such
(if I have any examples) you'd see an obvious 2.35:1 title screen with a 1.77:1 value
listed for the aspect ratio. It makes sense when you get used to it. Some movies that are
1.66:1 will have black bars on the side. These and other examples of widescreen movies
that still have some black bars happen because I crop the title screen to the dimension
of the film to make it accurate - sometimes title sequences are actually
transferred at a different aspect ratio than the rest of the film. If you ever have
a question about a specific release, just email me.
Seventh is the designation "anamorphic" or "non-anamorphic". If a title is 16:9 enhanced,
it will be listed as anamorphic. I am reasonably confident that every title I list is
accurately designated.
Finally, if the third column box is green, the large screen capture will be at least 640
pixels wide. If the background is white, it will only be 320 pixels wide. I might never
go back and re-do those old captures, but I'll keep them up nonetheless.
©1997, 2007 Steven W Hill
Here's a brief explanation.
Here's a sample entry from the 'A' index.
All the President's Men (1976)
Directed by Alan J Pakula
DVD (Original)
Warner Home Video 73401 (buy)
1.77:1
Anamorphic