I personally think 4:3 laserdiscs usually beat Widescreen laserdiscs video quality wise. I know that's not always the case but I personally feel it is the majority of the time. I know there's an exception to the rule. I think the Halloween CAV widescreen release is pretty gorgeous looking. Also, I know there's widescreen clv that look pretty nice mostly animation films such as Disney films on laserdisc. However, overall from my experience if you are watching a laserdisc on a hdtv or 4k tv that 4:3 laserdiscs typically look better in quality. Also, I own a ton of laserdiscs so I know that visual quality varies from 4:3 and Widescreen laserdiscs. I'm just saying on average I feel like 4:3 laserdiscs typically look better on bigger screens. I wanted to make a poll for this topic but I don't see a feature for that.

It's pretty much a no brainer that a 4:3 laserdisc will to some degree look better than a widescreen version just simply because you are taking advantage of all 425 lines of resolution and the widescreen version is not going to do that since the black bars represent wasted resolution that is sacrificed (would have been great if LD had mainstream anamorphic releases to remedy this but that's the way it goes back in the late 90's).

However, one can't really enjoy a film that was originally shot in a widescreen format (most movies made after 1957) and have to deal w/ a "pan & scan" version that totally cuts up the film to make it fit in a square aspect ratio. Thus, it's a sacrifice one has to make and I would still prefer the widescreen even if the picture is less sharp (but that is also why we have DVD and Blu-ray so that can make up for that if you really want a good widescreen image).

If you really want to have the best an LD has to offer and want it in 4:3, you should focus on collecting movies before 1957 since all those films are originally in 4:3 ratio. That's why The Wizard Of Oz or Gone With The Wind always looks great on LD.

A letterbox LD is missing around %30 of its resolution so 4:3 always has more info. Anyone making content for LD would hopefully pick 4:3, which is why nearly every anime OVA is 4:3.

However having the correct aspect ratio is vastly more important than peak resolution, this is why the letterbox was invented. Rectangular pegs don’t fit in square holes unless some idiot shaves down the sides...

That seems a tad silly since there's loads of content from after 1957 that's also in full frame.

In fact, the best looking LDs would probably be something with the least amount of conversion, ie. something that was first shot on video to begin with. Zeta would probably know more about that than I do.

The point I was making was that everything before ‘57 is “guaranteed” to have an original aspect ratio of 1:33/1 (4/3). There are obviously many 4/3 ratio movies after ‘57 but it does get hard trying to figure out what was really in what ratio as some of the information on-line can be a bit inconclusive. The Beetles - A Hard Days Night is a title I found very confusing to figure out as both the widescreen and 4/3 versions can both be viewed as the correct or incorrect way to watch the film.

I don't mind 1.85 P&S if that is all that was released on LD or if the 1.85 release is too rare or expensive. I really enjoy open matte discs and those that are supposed to be 4:3.