Will Seinfeld be cropped? (1 Viewer)

I've read the Seinfeld press release where they say the show will be released in high definition. Since high definition is widescreen, and the show was originally shot in the regular TV 4:3 ratio, does this mean the DVD will show the picture cropped, like the Kung Fu DVD set?

Carlos,

Seinfeld will not be cropped. When the press release says "now in high definition," they are actually saying that the shows were remastered in high definition.

Seinfeld was shot on film in the 4:3 aspect ratio. So, the producers of this DVD went back to the original film elements and made a whole new high definition transfer of the episodes. This high definition transfer is then used to create the DVD transfer at standard definition (480i/p). Just because a transfer is high definition does not mean that it is widescreen. It could be 4:3 or whatever.

The DVDs that will be released in November will be in standard definition. I imagine Sony may re-release Seinfeld in high definition someday on Blu-Ray (their proprietary high definition DVD format). This is probably more than a few years away, though.

Yeah. I have a hard time believing they'd release seinfeld on DVD in FAKE widescreen if they aren't even committed to doing it with their movies that were filmed that way...

Very good point Robert.

Did it bother anyone else that the press released claimed, multiple times, the releases were in HD?




I know it's just a case of stupid marketing people not knowing shit about technology-- but it's openly false and further clouds the consumer understanding of HD!

-V

WRONG!!!! Seinfeld is "Filmed in Panavision" so they must have been shot with anamorphic lenses at a 2.35:1 AR. Check out the credits next time you are watching, a lot of them say that.

(BTW, this is not a serious post and I do know that Seinfeld is not filmed in widescreen) but I do think it is funny that many episodes indicate that the show was "Filmed in Panavision"

So Panavision-cameras that are non-widescreen are not Panavision cameras? Take a look at this site: http://panavision.com/ Sounds to me Panavision is just a firm that's renting out filming gear to studios.

Panavision makes more than just anamorphic lenses.

Did they cut the original film to conform to the tape edits even back in the first and second season?

Ooh, that's a good question. If not, then they're going to quite an expense to have the HD masters of the appropriate raw footage conformed to the old standard def edits.

The main title supers were on video as well, and there was occasional greenscreen backgrounds for scenes in moving cars. I wonder how they're handling that.

No, WillG makes a good point. The "Filmed in Panavision" tag generally refers, at least in theatrically released films, to films shot with Panavision anamorphic lenses. Films shot with Panavision equipment but not with anamorphic lenses generally states "Filmed with Panaflex Cameras and Lenses." These phrases are not used with complete consistency, however, so there are exceptions. But historically, "Panavision" is an anamorphic process, made by a company, also called Panavision, which makes Panaflex cameras and both anamorphic and spherical lenses.

There is a reason why the Panavision logo incorporates different aspect ratios: