Fastlane (FOX) an anamorphic broadcast?? (1 Viewer)

[BobV]

Well, I was just surfing a bit tonight and stumbled across the new Fox show Fastlane playing on a Canadian channel on my Canadian satellite dish. I like fast cars so I thought I'd take a peak and the showing was anamorphic!!
Awesome picture quality, approaching that of a non-anamorphic DVD in my opinion.
Anyone know if this show is scheduled to be regularly broadcast anamorphically, or was this some type of glitch by someone who didn't flip some kind of a switch? It was a great little treat, and if it is continued to be shown this way, I may have to make room for this new viewing every once in a while .

 

[rutger_s]

Most of the Fox shows are now being broadcasted in "Fox Widescreen" in the U.S. on the digital channels.

 

[BobV]

Yup, I was aware of that, I watch US HD broadcasts everynight on my system . The thing that is strange is that it was shown on the Canadian network CTV. CTV does not broadcast in HD (or 480p SD). I guess it's possible that they were supplied with the 480p widescreen version instead of the NTSC version and weren't sure what to do with it and squished it into 4:3 NTSC. Although that really doesn't make sense because I don't imagine they have the equipment to anamorphisize (??) a broadcast. They broadcast ER, The West Wing, etc in normal NTSC widescreen.
It is a bit of a strange one.

 

[Ken Chan]

You mean everyone was tall, and you had to use your TV's squeeze feature?

//Ken

 

[BobV]

That's correct, that's what 'anamorphic' is ,everything was tall and skinny. I used the 'full' setting on my Sony HD widescreen front projector and it stretched the image and it was correctly formatted, exactly the same as any anamorphic DVD.

 

[Mitty]

A bit of a pisser for those without widescreens sets though, no?
I saw a bit of it and it looked like a DVD player set to the wrong setting. I can't imagine it was meant to look like that. I guess a good way to check would be to check out the airing on Fox tonight.
Or maybe this is a new way to make Hollywood actresses look even thinner?

 

[BobV]

Well, I checked it out on FOX Rochestor and FOX Buffalo tonight, and it was normal NTSC. Later I'll check it on FOX Spokane and FOX Seattle.

Weird that it was anamorphic on CTV and appears not to be on the nets in the US.

 

[DAN NEIR]

This show is such a big Miami Vice rip off, I can't believe they are even using the same Phil Collins song!!!!!!! It's gonna be hard for me to watch this because I HATE Bill Bellamy but I LOVE Tiffani Thiessen, she's the only reason I saw Saved by the Bell(the show,college yrs, and wedding in Vegas),90210,Son in law and The Ladie's Man.

 

[Ken H]

On the Fox DTV broadcast it's 480p 16:9: 'Fox Widescreen'.

 

[David_SG]

What's wrong with a Miami Vice rip off? After all, it's been like 15 years - I think TV viewers can handle another show in this genre. But if you would rather have lame cops and remove all the hot women, well...

It seems that Fastlane is definitely embracing its Miami Vice roots. Instead of viewing it as a rip off, think of its use of the Phil Collins song as an ode to the "original". And any show with the lovely Ms. Thiessen just has to be cool!

 

[Rob Varto]

What's wrong with a Miami Vice rip off?

My thoughts exactly. Although I'll be watching this show weekly (because I like the genre) it's Miami Vice with a HUGE helping of Cheese.