TV shows and TV movies gone W I D E (1 Viewer)

[jimmyjet]

i dont have any particular preference for an aspect ratio. i simply want to see ALL THE INFORMATION that was originally intended to be seen.

so as a general rule, i want to see it based upon the aspect ratio in which the photographer was shooting it.

 

[DVDvision]

Something bizarre on Netflix, on downloads of select episodes of Star Trek TOS, the updated SFX shots are widescreen.

(as known, the new SFX have been done in both cropped 4/3 & wider 16/9 format). The studios shots remains untouched. This is version II of the remastered TOS which, according to sources online, was remastered in:

V1 - 4/3 (actual released Blu-ray)
V2 - 4/3 studio shots with 16/9 SFX shots (for X-box live and Netflix streaming)
V3 - All 16/9 (thought I'm not sure this last one was a project that was actually done. There is enough room on the negs to allow for all live footage to be wider, give or take a few zooms to hide filming equipments on the edges).

Here's a few caps of wider SFX shots for the episode The Tholian Web. Other episodes showing wider sfx shots are Immunity Syndrome and Day of the Dove.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Surely that's some sort of typo, that the upcoming first season of Warner's How The West Was Won (1976-79) says 1.78:1.

 

[DVDvision]

TVshowsonDVD list it in 1.78:1 too, if it's that way, it probably means it was Panavision shot so they must have converted in widescreen like they did for Elvis, or Someone's watching me!, meaning you have tiny bit more picture on the right, and a bit more on the left, with the dead air cropped top and bottom.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

That's likely yes, and the western The Quick and The Dead as well they did it to. Strange though, when they got so much criticism for Kung Fu.

 

[DVDvision]

I think Kung Fu is just the 4/3 extraction further zoomed to 1.77:1, which can't work. I listed it that way in the first post. This is not how you extract a widescreen version from the neg and it can't produce an acceptable image. TV stations often do this.

Expanding the sides, while losing a tiny bit top and bottom (mostly dead space) is how you do it. In essence, you swap the top and bottom dead space with the left and right dead space.

 

[DVDvision]

Just added CI5: The New Professionals. A widescreen DVD set was released last year in australia. This is the reboot series, not the original one.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Surely that's some sort of typo, that the upcoming first season of Warner's How The West Was Won (1976-79) says 1.78:1.

Received it today. It's 4:3 OAR.

 

[DVDvision]

I made a few calculations based on what would be a standart viewfinder for 1960's shows, shown here

Most of these shows are now being transfered in HD revealing the whole framing, or near whole, in essence being misframed, or wrongly framed:

- If you keep the intended 1960's as seen on TV framing, then the scan should just be the action safe area (6) at 1.33:1
- If you scan up to the television scanned area (5), and keep the intended action safe vertical framing, the format will be 1.47:1
- If you scan up to the academy ratio area (2-blue), and keep the intended action safe vertical framing, the format will be 1.54:1 = 14/9
- If you scan up to the camera aperture (1-yellow) and keep the intended action safe vertical framing, the format will be 1.61:1

It is good to note that excess of verticality is much more damaging to the compositions of the shots than any excess of horizontal information is. They all become unbalanced and don't make sense. One can see from there, how it's easy for TV shows or TV movies to be converted in wider screen, with only minimal cropping of the vertical action safe area.

Note that this process would be different from Panavision shots series, which had an off center extraction for TV prints.

 

[DVDvision]

Some comparisons from That 70's show, now issued on Blu-ray in widescreen. All the original TV airings were 4/3.

 

[MBrousseau]

Nice!

 

[Dee Zee]

I concur on Lonesome Dove. Most def worth seeing again on blu in widescreen.

 

[DVDvision]

Added Queen of Swords TV show, available on DVD in widescreen. Fireworks Ent. shows were all shot in widescreen, but aired in 4/3 because TV then was in it's majority a 4/3 world of outdated tubes. Sadly, other of their shows like La Femme Nikita were released on DVD too soon and in cropped 4/3, probably to avoid buyers blacklash. (La Femme Nikita Season 1 was originaly announced in widescreen). Now these shows probably will never be reissued in their intended form and are stuck in cropped versions.

 

[Brent Reid]

Here's one to add to the master list, from this very forum:
[color=rgb(34,34,34);font-family:Arial, 'sans-serif';]http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/326054-sherlock-holmes/#entry3993955[/color]

 

[DVDvision]

That's amazing, those Sherlock Holmes are the last series I expected one could sample some episodes in widescreen. Will add them to the list, thanks!

 

[DVDvision]

And here we bump this thread, with this amazing demo of the remastered Lost in Space series, including glorious full frame W I D E S C R E E N!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b61MAqktMc&feature=player_embedded

 

[Jack P]

Nothing glorious about it, I want this in its correct aspect ratio or else no sale with me.

 

[Matt Hough]

I greatly appreciate seeing the comparison clips. One can see the slight loss of picture information on the bottom of certain scenes, but I stumbled on some Seinfeld rerun last night right before bed, and it had been converted to widescreen too with heads dangerously skimming the top of the frame.

 

[TravisR]

Nothing glorious about it...

Yeah, what some call glorious, I call ruining the photography or catering to people who want to fill their TV screen.

 

[smithbrad]

Yeah, what some call glorious, I call ruining the photography or catering to people who want to fill their TV screen.

I'm not one for changing an aspect ratio unnecessarily, or just wanting to fill the screen. However, the remastering job to HD is well done. And since new material has been added to the sides the amount clipped from the top and bottom is not as bad as it could be. From the samples it did not look that bad, but this is just a sampling, it is hard to say the overall impact until complete episodes are viewed.

Also, back in the day I would imagine they were more cognizant of overscanning when filming while most today can eliminate any overscan on their output devices. So as long as they can use the full vertical content of the image there might not be much if any loss based on what we originally saw when aired due to overscan.

To be clear, I'm not condoning the change, but with the overall improvement in color and clarity from earlier releases, I wouldn't be surprised if this sold well. I would be tempted depending on cost.