Back To The Future W/S Framing Issues Here- (1 Viewer)

[RickardL]

bad cropping confirmed for my R1 copy (canadian R1).
BTTF2, at 0:21:27, shows Marty with hoverboard
just up from the water and that is the same
cropping as the German site shows...
(used my laptop so there is no overscan issue here)

That is the fourth picture (New DVD) from the top in this thread.

 

[AdrianOC]

Well my ws copies are on their way.
Guess I'll be waiting for a replacement offer from Universal.
:frowning: :frowning:

 

[Damin J Toell]

* The 1.85:1 WS framing for the BTTF 2 and BTTF 3 is seemingly the 1.33:1 P&S versions matted for widescreen?? Is that correct? That's the reason there is so much more information presented in the WS LD editions of these movies, right?

No. The widescreen versions of BTTF is supposed to be the 1.37:1 frame matted for widescreen. That's almost always how 1.85:1 transfers are done. The problem here is that the matting is off-centered, revealing too much information on top and not enough information on the bottom.
DJ

 

[Jeff Bamberger]

What possibly angers me the most about this is that I have this feeling that Universal knows something has happened.

I look at this from the perspective of I haven't really seen Ron get involved in this thread. Given his relationship that he has built with Bob Gale, I think it would be safe to assume that Ron and Bob have had conversations since the e-mail exchange they had regarding the dropping of DTS.

I really think Universal has forced a "keep mum" about this at this point.

That's what angers me the most. It was the same with JP DTS, it was the way the ET info was handled, etc.

Ron, please, if and when you have any information you can offer up to us, please do.

This is getting really heavy!

 

[derek]

Has Bill Hunt and thedigitalbits been investigating this?

 

[Nate Anderson]

This is getting really heavy!

There's that word again. Heavy. Is there something wrong with the earth's gravitaional pull in the future?

 

[Jeff Bamberger]

There's that word again. Heavy. Is there something wrong with the earth's gravitaional pull in the future?

Yeah, there is, and it is so strong a pull that it is pulling the matting off-center....

 

[Nate Anderson]

Yeah, there is, and it is so strong a pull that it is pulling the matting off-center....

GREAT SCOTT!!!

 

[David Illingworth II]

I was all set to purchase this, but there's no way I can now. I look forward to hearing something from Ron or Bill Hunt or Peter Bracke or whoever because this seems like an unheard of goof.

 

[Brett Miles]

Yeah, there is, and it is so strong a pull that it is pulling the matting off-center....

Now that's comedy!

 

[David Rogers]

I would have never thought something could suck the fun out of one of my Holy Grails of DVDs. I've been anxiously awaiting the release of BTTF (along with SW and IJ) since I first bought into DVD back in '99.

And now they're ruining it.

Thanks loads Universal. One more happy memory sullied by corporate indifference. Yes Virginia, they don't care.

 

[James Bergeron]

Well mine arrived today. I comtemplated getting the P&S version because of the more info on II and III but then I woke up LOL. Seems like for II and III you will get more info on the "full screen" version but I will live with less info in exchange for anamorphic! That makes a HUGE difference!

I can report back tonight, when I open them up!

 

[Chris Shelly]

I just got mine in the mail and will be watching all 3 movies here in a few. I also have the WS laser disk releases of all 3 BTTF films. After I am done watching the DVD I am going to do some AB comparisons between the LD and DVD versions.

One quick question. Usually the opening credits along with the title is dead center. This would be an easy way to tell if it is actually messed up all the way thru. Are the logo's off center on II and III?

Chris

 

[Joseph Bolus]

No. The widescreen versions of BTTF is supposed to be the 1.37:1 frame matted for widescreen. That's almost always how 1.85:1 transfers are done. The problem here is that the matting is off-centered, revealing too much information on top and not enough information on the bottom.

There's more that's wrong here than just the matting. If you look closely at the sample pics posted up at the top of the thread, it's easy to discern that information is missing from the sides as well as the bottom. It's pretty obvious from looking at the sample LD/R2 DVD comparison pictures that they are both zoomed and matted.

 

[Lyle_JP]

[Ed McMahon] "You are correct, sir!" [/Ed McMahon]
-Lyle J.P.

 

[Aaryn Chan]

What will Universal do about this?

 

[Michael Hall]

The more I think about it, the more I believe I'm going to take a "wait and see" attitude on this set. I'm certainly not as huge a fan of BTTF as many are, so a couple of weeks (hopefully it will be resolved in that time period) won't kill me. Plus, it'll let me finally be able to pick up the second season of "The Simpsons", which I've been putting off for far too long anyway.

I'm really curious to see how this all plays out though. I hope that Universal does the right thing and corrects the mistake and replaces everyone's defective discs. After the E.T. debacle, they need all the positive press that they can get.

 

[RickardL]

I wonder how the full frame DVD versions look like?
Are they the same as the ones shown on the German site
which I believe was taped from the German TV channel RTL?

Anyone got any VHS versions as well?
Sadly, I have sold off my trilogy boxset...

My guess is that Universal will keep silent about
this and hope it blows over. But this is probably
the worst case of bad framing I have encountered,
I know there was some talk about "Ben-Hur" before
but this must be worse!!

Too bad that they didn't bring in Dean Cundey to oversee
the transfer, he would not have let this slip through
since he is so good with widescreen photography!
(Halloween, Escape from New York, The Thing, Apollo 13,
Jurassic Park and Back to the Future I,II,III...)

 

[Chris Shelly]

I just watched the first film. As mentioned above the framing on the first film looks good to me. The transfer is so so with visible grain and is soft. I remember it being soft in the theaters as well. So it might just be the way it is.

I will mention I was not impressed with the audio on the first film. The dialog sounds like they are talking in a tunnel all the time. It was not really distracting and could be how it was originally. Would be interesting to learn if others hear it as well.

Now its time to watch BTTF 2.......

Chris

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

I think David hit the nail on the head for most of this. I'm surprised to see the reactions in this thread so far alluding that Universal doesn't care and acting as if it was done deliberately.

Let's assume for a second that the error was only really realized recetly (which seems to be the case) what should Universal's reaction be? Do you really expect them to screw with a multimillion dollar advertising campaign that is already underway by delaying the release or even worse, making it obvious that there is something wrong with the product BEFORE it hits store shelves?

In my estimation, it's pretty much too late to do anything about the titles that have been pressed and shipped-- and what's more- even if they WANTED to delay a week and fix the probelm I would imagine it would be considerably cheaper to simply offer mail replacements of the two errored discs as oppose to attempting to repress the 2 discs and open the 3 disc packaging of every unit and trying to replace and reseal them.

It just seems horribly unrealistic to expect them to do anything at this point but to wait it out a bit. There just isn't enough time to get together corrected masters (which I'm sure will be carefully checked and triple checked) and get them repackaged without wasting millions and millions of dollars in the process.

I think the resonable thing to hope for is that Universal has determined the problem and are currently working to make replacements available. Obviously this would take time, and they gain no advantage by making any comment on the matter until they have a method in place to make exchanges available to the public.

And the truth is, we have seen exactly ZERO to suggest that what I outlined above isn't happening as we speak. In fact, given that other threads have quoted comments from Bob Gale on the issue-- one could readily assume that Universal is not only feeling potential heat from a few obsessive film fans like ourselves-- but is also under pressure from people involved in the production to make a replacement available (just like with JP DTS).

All logical signs point, IMHO, to Universal keeping quiet until they announcing a disc swap available (exactly like the JP DTS issue), which if I had to guess i'd say would be shortly into the new year.

But again, I find it surprising that so many people seem to assume the worst in this situation. I have seen nothing yet to indicate that Universal hasn't discovered the error and is scrambling to make it right behind the scenes. If anything- any real evidence (namely things that Bob Gale had reportedly said) seems to point that the problem is known and that actions are being taken!

My 2 cents.

Vince