AMC HD Terrible Aspect Ratio

Ken Koc · 03-23-2008, 11:37 AM

I just noticed Comcast has added AMC HD. I'm not sure what the problem is but the aspect ratio of every film, whether 1.85 or 2.35 is completely stretched and out of proportion. It fills the 16X9 screen...but it is totally unwatchable to view any film. It that AMC's decision to visually butcher every film they show or Comcast's? Anyone have any insight?

RobertR · 03-23-2008, 12:17 PM

Sounds like they do what TNT HD does--first they chop films to a 4:3 AR, then stretch to 16:9. It's the worst possible treatment.

Robert Crawford · 03-23-2008, 12:19 PM

With commercials I can't watch that channel anyway. Not long ago I recorded on HD "The Ghost and the Darkness" from the Universal channel. As soon as I figured out that this presentation had commericials, I ended up deleting the recording. I simply can't watch movies with commercials any longer.

Crawdaddy

TravisR · 03-23-2008, 12:46 PM

I assumed there wouldn't be the OAR but I had hoped that they wouldn't go the TNT stretch route too.

Mike Williams · 03-23-2008, 01:12 PM

I refuse to watch movies on Universal due to the commercial breaks. I also refuse to watch movies on TNT-HD (commercials and stretching). And the Sci-Fi channel has the nerve to call itself HD, and then airs TV Shows that were shot in HD cropped to 4x3. Why is Sci-Fi HD named that?

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Ken Koc · 03-23-2008, 05:13 PM

I had no idea!!! It is ridiculous that that these stations are stretching pan and scanned 2.35 films to fit 16X9. No wonder RIO BRAVO which was originally 1.85 looked so terrible on AMC HD yesterday. (No I usually don't watch AMC because of the commercials but was curious as to whether the films were being shown in Stunning HD) Now I know the answer
This gives HD a BAD name....It truly looks worse than any SD channel.

Goko · 03-24-2008, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Williams

I refuse to watch movies on Universal due to the commercial breaks. I also refuse to watch movies on TNT-HD (commercials and stretching). And the Sci-Fi channel has the nerve to call itself HD, and then airs TV Shows that were shot in HD cropped to 4x3. Why is Sci-Fi HD named that?

I'm not so picky. I just hit the 30 sec fast fow'd button 6 times (takes about 5 seconds) and I'm back to the movie. I do set the line at stretching, however.

TonyD · 04-03-2008, 02:36 AM

amc, tbs and tnt hd are just about pointless.
practically no real HD programs at all.

these channels are just using space that could be used to ad hd channels that
do have hd shows.

Garrett Adams · 04-03-2008, 07:04 PM

Letters from Iwo Jima started out non-OAR but after the first or second commercial it became OAR with black bars top and bottom.

Marty M · 04-04-2008, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyD

amc, tbs and tnt hd are just about pointless.
practically no real HD programs at all.

these channels are just using space that could be used to ad hd channels that do have hd shows.

TBS and TNT do show sporting events in HD, and occasionally movies on TNT are shown OAR. I have heard that TNT is showing The Office in HD now. I agree about the rest of their programming. I don't know how anyone can watch those stretched shows.