thelasernut
Auditioning
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2008
- Messages
- 2
- Real Name
- John Paine
As a keen Film collector who looks for films that he missed while achieving old age - I am being driven mad by the diabolical insult that the current DVD manufacturers make when they issue Films not originally produced in a 2.35 Aspect Ratio.
I have a large number of films on Laserdisc / DVD and newer HD formats which I like to view on my full 4x3 Academy Ratio projector screen in Letter Boxed format where applicable.
The current practices ignore Video Standards that applied for many years forcing me to watch images that don't fill my screen because of BLACK BARS at each side - as well as those which are expected at the Top and Bottom when in Letterbox Format
The extent of picture width loss is from about 5% for original 1.66 Ratio Films up to about 20% for original 4x3 Ratio Films.
It seems crazy to me that a 4x3 Film which was intended to fill a 4x3 Ratio Screen can now only be seen as a postage stamp surrounded by Black Bars.
These "Postage Stamp" images have much less entertainment value and also shorten the life of CRT projectors by causing accelerated & uneven screen wear on the tubes.
OK - I hear you cry - they are just presenting these films in a "Constant Height" mode - but are these 16x9 TV's not able to adjust for pictures in 4x3 format ?
Why should these "classic" films now be re-issued in a form that requires collectors to buy new equipment such as a "Scaler" just to be able to restore the degraded images into what they should and would have been just a few years ago when DVD's were manufactured to the correct 4x3 Video Standards ?
Examples of New DVD purchases which no longer fill my screen width - but would be just fine if in letter-box format with ALL the Active Line period of the Video Signal still in use -
What A Crazy World 1.66 Joe Brown
Some People 1.66 Kenneth More
Play it Cool 1.66 Billy Fury
Bottoms Up 4x3 Jimmy Edwards
Just to prove the point the following films from the same series all play perfectly because they are forced to be in Letterbox form as even on 16x9 screens because they are in 2.35 Aspect Ratio and so are forced to use all the available line-period to contain the Video information.
Mister Ten Percent 2.35 Charlie Drake
Peticoat Pirates 2.35 Charlie Drake
The Cracksman 2.35 Charlie Drake
So what price Progress ???
I have a large number of films on Laserdisc / DVD and newer HD formats which I like to view on my full 4x3 Academy Ratio projector screen in Letter Boxed format where applicable.
The current practices ignore Video Standards that applied for many years forcing me to watch images that don't fill my screen because of BLACK BARS at each side - as well as those which are expected at the Top and Bottom when in Letterbox Format
The extent of picture width loss is from about 5% for original 1.66 Ratio Films up to about 20% for original 4x3 Ratio Films.
It seems crazy to me that a 4x3 Film which was intended to fill a 4x3 Ratio Screen can now only be seen as a postage stamp surrounded by Black Bars.
These "Postage Stamp" images have much less entertainment value and also shorten the life of CRT projectors by causing accelerated & uneven screen wear on the tubes.
OK - I hear you cry - they are just presenting these films in a "Constant Height" mode - but are these 16x9 TV's not able to adjust for pictures in 4x3 format ?
Why should these "classic" films now be re-issued in a form that requires collectors to buy new equipment such as a "Scaler" just to be able to restore the degraded images into what they should and would have been just a few years ago when DVD's were manufactured to the correct 4x3 Video Standards ?
Examples of New DVD purchases which no longer fill my screen width - but would be just fine if in letter-box format with ALL the Active Line period of the Video Signal still in use -
What A Crazy World 1.66 Joe Brown
Some People 1.66 Kenneth More
Play it Cool 1.66 Billy Fury
Bottoms Up 4x3 Jimmy Edwards
Just to prove the point the following films from the same series all play perfectly because they are forced to be in Letterbox form as even on 16x9 screens because they are in 2.35 Aspect Ratio and so are forced to use all the available line-period to contain the Video information.
Mister Ten Percent 2.35 Charlie Drake
Peticoat Pirates 2.35 Charlie Drake
The Cracksman 2.35 Charlie Drake
So what price Progress ???