These are closer to what I observed in the sampling. It isn't that I'm looking for lots of additional content on the sides or that I want a 16:9 image. If I was involved in the decision making I would have just said go with the 4:3, better safe then sorry. Given that if the decision remains the same, and this is what we are going to get, it doesn't look as bad to me as some of the initial comments suggested. Time will tell with the final release.Harry-N said:OK, just so no one accuses me of trying to "pull a fast one" or am trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, please know that I have no such intentions. Nor do I seek to convince anyone of either persuasion one way or the other. And I'll add that I realize that any comparisons here based on a YouTube video are at best unreliable, rendering them basically "for what it's worth" status.
Nevertheless, I have taken more time to find an exact frame replica from the LOST IN SPACE DVD. The color episode referenced in the YouTube video is Season Three, Episode One, "Condemned Of Space." Below are what I'm pretty sure are exact frame replicas. The 4x3 capture is from my DVD, and the "widescreen" version is what was presented on YouTube. Frame captures were accomplished as follows: From the DVD, VLC frame capture was used and vertically sized to match the YouTube capture. The YouTube capture was a print screen and crop to show only the YouTube frame (the middle-size, at 1080p). The YouTube scrollbar was left on the bottom, as it uses up a few lines of picture space. Here they are:
LISexample24x3.jpg
LISexample2wide.jpg
Again, this may be apples to oranges, and is provided only as a visual aid to the conversation. In this one example, all I'm witnessing is a loss of a bit of top and bottom information, and a bit more left-right information. In neither case is the loss or addition all that significant - IN THIS ONE EXAMPLE. I'm merely providing it as a point of interest within this discussion. You may draw your own conclusions, or draw none. That's entirely up to the individual.
It's only here "FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH".
My own personal observation is that the DVD image is either squished a little horizontally, or the widescreen image is a little stretched horizontally. They are not presenting the actors' faces in the same aspect ratio. Knowing how wonky the transfers are on those DVDs, I would suspect that they are indeed squeezed a bit. It's obvious that whoever is doing and presenting the test images is taking greater care in doing the best job possible.
And once again, my view is that I like the restoration job a great deal, see little advantage in a widescreen presentation, and would prefer that Blu-rays and DVDs be presented 4x3, and leave any widening aspect ratios to syndication broadcasts.
Harry