True-Life Adventures - Aspect Ratio Issue on "Secrets of Life"

Steven Wesley · 01-07-2007, 09:34 PM

In order to keep conversation on topic regarding the issues seen in the Walt Disney's Legacy Collection releases, I'm starting this conversation to discuss another apparent issue with the DVDs. (If you would like to talk about the color issue found on Prowlers of the Everglades, here is the place to be.)

Some folks have been reporting aspect ratio discrepancies during Secrets of Life (found on Volume 4: Nature's Mysteries, Disc 1). This was initially reported on UltimateDisney.com here, here, and here, and then on HTF here and here.

According to Roy E. Disney during the "Filmmaker's Journal" bonus feature segment about Secrets of Live on Volume 4, Disc 2 (specifically at 0:00:42 - 0:01:45)...

Quote:

"An interesting thing... the last reel of it was in CinemaScope, uh, the reason for that was it was one of the early eruptions of Mount Kilauea, the big island in Hawaii. And somebody had gone out there, and taken a 16mm CinemaScope, which is asking an awful lot in that little tiny frame, and shot all this footage of that eruption. And it's kinda historic footage because it was the first time, I think, anybody had filmed that sort of an eruption in such good detail and sort of "being there while it was happening" kind of a feeling about it. And so here was all this footage, came in sort of towards the end of that movie, I think. And he says, "let's just find a way to do this and run it so that the whole movie is this until the last reel comes in and then it's the eruption of this volcano."

The curious part is that there seems to be two different versions of Secrets of Life that appear on the DVD releases.

The seemingly correct version features this disclaimer before the feature noting that the aspect ratio will change during the presentation:

Quote:

"Secrets of Life" is presented here as it was intended to be screened in its original theatrical release.

The last reel of the film will transition from full-frame to letterbox which will represent the original widescreen (Cinemascope).

Then, at the proper point in the film (1:05:33), the view changes from full-frame to a letterboxed widescreen look. However, some releases don't have this disclaimer at all, and instead the film runs entirely in full-frame.

UltimateDisney.com forums member Anders M Olsson was kind enough to share these screen captures of the "correct" version. He notes that "the transition happens at 1:05:33. It's done by a zoom-out that takes roughly one second":

Disclaimer/Title Card before feature
(Click to enlarge)

The final full-frame before transition (1:05:32)
(Click to enlarge)

Transition starts (1:05:33)
(Click to enlarge)

Zoom-out in progress
(Click to enlarge)

Zoom-out completed
(Click to enlarge)

In contrast, I took screen captures of my copy of this DVD, which apparently is full-frame during the entire feature:

The final full-frame before the transition SHOULD take place (1:05:32)
(Click to enlarge)

Film STAYS full-frame... (1:05:33)
(Click to enlarge)

... and stays... (1:05:35)
(Click to enlarge)

... and never changes (1:05:37)
(Click to enlarge)

In order to discover any sort of pattern here, owners of this disc have begun comparing the dates found both on the actual disc itself as well as those found in the file structure should you be viewing via a computer.

The Disc Date is printed on the bottom side of the disc near the hub. My copy has some numbers there which I believe denote the volume number of the pressing: 310056 L1 (L5450) TL4-0N-NM1.1. However, if I take my disc and look really closely at the right angle, I can also see a date printed in an area a little higher (further from the hub) using a smaller font size.

Red arrow denotes Disc Date
(Note larger numbers text on right side of photo)

To find the File Date, I looked inside the "VIDEO_TS" directory when viewing via Windows Explorer on my PC.

Red arrow denotes File Date

Here's what I found for my two dates

Disc Date: 10/24/2006
File Date: 09/28/2006

Perhaps if we share our dates, we can note a pattern here regarding which version of Secrets of Life is associated with which (and hopefully provide Disney with proper information when reporting the issue).

What has your experience been when viewing this feature? Which version do you have?

- Steve

James Proffitt · 01-08-2007, 12:06 AM

I have the same as you:

Pressing number: 310056 L1 (L5450) TL4-0N-NM1.1
Disc Date: 10/24/2006
File Date: 09/28/2006

My version remains full screen throughout. No title card disclaimer at the beginning of the feature.

I pre-ordered these sets from Amazon.

Thanks for posting this information.

TedD · 01-08-2007, 07:56 AM

Yep, based on the screen shots above, sure looks like Disney did a P&S on this which is absolutely wrong.

They need to correct this error, or provide us with the disc containing the letterbox version.

The transition as done on the DVD is also not faithful to the original presentation. In the original print, the transition was immediate at the changeover to the last reel. On the DVD, there is obviously more image outside the frame in the scene where the transition begins. An immediate change to enhanced 16x9 letterbox would have allowed those of us with CIH setups to recreate the original presentation. The gradual transition as it it is done in the DVD means that it is impossible to recreate the original presentation in our home theaters.

Ted

Ken_McAlinden · 01-08-2007, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TedD

...An immediate change to enhanced 16x9 letterbox would have allowed those of us with CIH setups to recreate the original presentation. The gradual transition as it it is done in the DVD means that it is impossible to recreate the original presentation in our home theaters....

An immediate change to 16x9 enhanced widescreen would require that the film be split between two separate titles on the disc. This would be an annoyance to people who do not have automatic aspect ratio switching.

Regards,

Steven Wesley · 01-08-2007, 03:25 PM

I did my duty today and called Disney (via this contact info). It took a little while to explain everything to the operator, who then routed me to a technician.

While they seemed to know more about the Prowler of the Everglades color issue, they did acknowledge that there have been reports regarding Secrets of Life. I was told that Disney has not made a determination yet if they are going to do a replacement. However, if they did, they would call back per the contact information provided when I initially contacted them.

If you are seeing this issue, please call Disney and report your problems. Let's hope they do provide for a replacement if we keep bringing up the issue.

Here are the contact numbers for your reference:

800.723.4763 U.S.
888.877.2843 Canada

Monday 9:30-7:30 p.m. / Tuesday through Friday 9:30-6:30 p.m. CST

**HTF Ads**

TedD · 01-09-2007, 09:18 AM

Quote:

This would be an annoyance to people who do not have automatic aspect ratio switching.

No, it wouldn't, as the DVD player would automatically switch into letterbox mode at the change.

Ted

Ken_McAlinden · 01-09-2007, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TedD

No, it wouldn't, as the DVD player would automatically switch into letterbox mode at the change.

That would not help someone who watches in a 16:9 mode that has to be manually selected unless they went into their DVD setup menu and chose letterbox for just this title so they could watch the climactic volcano eruption section in less than optimal resolution and then change it back for every other title they watch. That seems inconvenient to me.

Regards,

Steven Wesley · 01-18-2007, 11:18 AM

Anyone else have any disc dates to share? I've seen the following dates on a couple forums...

10/23/2006 - Pan-and-Scan
10/24/2006 - Pan-and-Scan
10/26/2006 - Pan-and-Scan
10/28/2006 - Pan-and-Scan
10/30/2006 - Pan-and-Scan

Interestingly, some who have the "correct" pressing don't even show a visible Disc Date. However, the File Date on these correct pressings seems to be later than the incorrect ones... 10/16/2006 vs. 09/28/2006 (File Date of "incorrect" version)