Hart to Hart season 4 received (some pictures of the same included) (1 Viewer)

[bronson]

The worst episode was in Season 5 when Jonathan was with the navy. The worst episode of the whole series. I think it was episode 4th in Season 5.

 

[Robert13]

Has anyone noticed that so far the 2 seasons produced by Shout have black bars on the side? Is there anyway to fix this? I tried but it doesn't look right. It ends up cutting off too much of the picture.


I wonder why they didn't master it the way Sony had with Seasons 1 and 2.

 

[Jack P]

All you have to do is change your TV setting to 16:9 and its normal. I've seen this happen with things like the Blu-Ray releases of Trek and Dick Van Dyke.

 

[Robert13]

Thanks Jack! I will try. Though I thought I did that and there are still black bars on the left and right but the first 2 seasons show up normally. Hope it works.

 

[Dan*T]

I'll be picking this one up next week, however, I have been pondering the thought of waiting to see if there's a possibility of a box set of all 5 seasons

I love box sets.


So happy that another spelling show from the 80's is almost done, I really wish we would see a few more T.J. Hooker seasons released

 

[bronson]

All you have to do is change your TV setting to 16:9 and its normal. I've seen this happen with things like the Blu-Ray releases of Trek and Dick Van Dyke.

According to the www.dvdtalk.com review of Season 3 it won´t work. There´re still black bars on the side.

 

[Jack P]

Keeping in mind that all vintage TV shows are supposed to have black bars on the side to be seen properly it's only a question for me that I have the set on the 16:9 setting to see it normal as I do with all other vintage TV shows where I just have the set on the 4:3 setting.

 

[Robert13]

So far, nada works for me. I tried the different screen choices for my tv. One of them DOES fill the screen but it stretches it where it doesn't look right and the opening credits are stretched OUT of the screen space. I'm trying to wrap my head around how the first 2 seasons just fit. I mean, is there something cut off from the top and bottom? How else could this season fit if it looks boxed? Of course, black bars are necessary. But why are they not on Seasons 1 and 2? I just don't get it.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

My guess is that there is another factor involved.

Are you watching it on a newer digital screen TV or an old fashioned analog TV?

How is your DVD player hooked up to your TV? Cable or HDMI?

My TV remote has an aspect ratio button setting...AND my DVR remote also has an aspect ratio setting AND my cable remote has an aspect ratio setting.

I can see how this could get complicated.

 

[bronson]

All the classic TV Shows from the 70´s and 80´s like "Miami Vice", Mannix, Hawaii Five 0, Barnaby Jones, Magnum, Cannon etc were all shot in 1,33:1 Full Screen.


I have a 46inch(119 cm) TV and I the entire screen is full, no black bars on the side .


However, on the remake series "Hawaii Five 0" there´s an extra feature of 1 episode of the old show with Jack Lord called "Hookman".


Although this episode doesn´t have black bars on my Season 5 set, it has black bars on the Season 3 set(remake Show).


Strange....


It´s the same with "Hart to Hart". Season 1+2 are without black bars and Season 3+4 have black bars on the side.


I don´t like black bars on the side because I´m used to see those shows(1,33:1) without them.

 

[bronson]

My guess is that there is another factor involved.

Are you watching it on a newer digital screen TV or an old fashioned analog TV?

How is your DVD player hooked up to your TV? Cable or HDMI?

My TV remote has an aspect ratio button setting...AND my DVR remote also has an aspect ratio setting AND my cable remote has an aspect ratio setting.

I can see how this could get complicated.



That has nothing to do with the cable because otherwise the review of Season 3 on www.dvdtalk.com wouldn´t mentioned the black bars on the side in their review. That´s new and therefore unusual for us especially with 70´s or 80´s TV shows.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

I'm not doubting that the black bars were added in the authoring process.

I was only trying to come up with a solution as to why the picture looks funny or stretched on his TV.

 

[Jack P]

I do not know of a single digital TV that would show a 4:3 vintage TV show without black bars unless it was stretching the image to fill the screen.


Season 3 also required me to use the 16:9 feature on my digital set just as I have to use it for the Blu-Ray releases of Star Trek and Dick Van Dyke. I thought that was odd for a non-Blu Ray release but whatever the reason I'm able to watch the episodes correctly which means you're always going to see black space on the side. Unless we're talking about two different things?

 

[bronson]

But you can stretch those TV shows to fill the screen.


But on Season 3+4 you can´t do it. I try to stretch it but it doesn´t fill the screen.

 

[Jack P]

Well we've been talking at cross-purposes then because I wouldn't *want* to stretch the image to fill the screen of a show that is supposed to be in the 4:3 ratio. Not unless you like to see the people look distorted (it's basically the reverse of "squeezing" a widescreen film to fit an old fashioned TV screen without resorting to panning and scanning).

 

[smithbrad]

This is beginning to be more common on DVD releases, The Rifleman season 2 set does the same thing.


First off you have to understand the formats and the direction things are going from a TV perspective. For example, blu-ray disks are inherently 16:9, so when a vintage 4:3 TV show ends up on blu-ray it needs to have embedded bars (same with 4:3 movies) on the side to ensure watching at the correct aspect ratio, as originally broadcast.


DVD's, on the other hand, are natively 4:3, so when 4:3 content is stored it is stored at the correct aspect ratio automatically. However, when a 16:9 image is stored on a DVD they have to squish it horizontally to get it to fit within the 4:3 frame, so that when you play it back on a widescreen set utilizing the full area it ends up filling the screen and at the correct aspect ratio. once unsquished.


Now historically, you had some people with widescreen sets and other with standard sets. As a result, on a standard (4:3) set you could watch a 4:3 TV show on DVD with no adjustment, but on a widescreen set you had to be aware to adjust the output accordingly to either use the full screen (16:9) or the 4:3 screen. The emphasis was on the widescreen TV owner to manually adjust their set at times to ensure the correct aspect ratio was shown. A side effect of this was that people could still stretch the 4:3 output to fill a 16:9 screen, distorting the image to meet their preferences.


So what is now starting to happen is that DVD producers of older TV shows are starting to put the emphasis on widescreen TV owners by removing the need to manually adjust the set. They are doing this by starting to treat 4:3 TV shows as 16:9 content with embedded bars. This way a widescreen TV owner can just leave their set in full screen mode and the show will display in the proper aspect ratio without adjustment. Now the side effects of this are twofold. First, owners of old 4:3 CRT sets are being forced to have not only bars on the side but the player is adding bars on top and bottom to ensure the correct aspect ratio. Second. widescreen TV owners can no longer stretch 4:3 content to fit their screens without also zooming and cutting off some of the top and bottom.


This is the obvious direction to go since those remastering these shows want the content to be in a 16:9 format for future HD or 16:9 broadcasting (primary concern), and want to cater to the most common consumer TV format 16:9. I only see this happening more and more. For those that prefer the original aspect ratio it is no big deal, for those that prefer to stretch the content, it looks like that capability may be going away.

 

[Ron1973]

So far, nada works for me. I tried the different screen choices for my tv. One of them DOES fill the screen but it stretches it where it doesn't look right and the opening credits are stretched OUT of the screen space. I'm trying to wrap my head around how the first 2 seasons just fit. I mean, is there something cut off from the top and bottom? How else could this season fit if it looks boxed? Of course, black bars are necessary. But why are they not on Seasons 1 and 2? I just don't get it.

If I understood it correctly, there was a discussion on the widescreen thread about this. Apparently the first 2 or 3 seasons were remastered in HD for 16x9 by allowing more side information than originally broadcast. That's the way Hallmark has been presenting the first 3 seasons. When they jumped to S4, it has apparently NOT been done that way, but for regular 4x3 viewing. I have to admit that i was spoiled to the 16x9 versions and wish the whole show had been mastered that way.

 

[smithbrad]

If I understood it correctly, there was a discussion on the widescreen thread about this. Apparently the first 2 or 3 seasons were remastered in HD for 16x9 by allowing more side information than originally broadcast. That's the way Hallmark has been presenting the first 3 seasons. When they jumped to S4, it has apparently NOT been done that way, but for regular 4x3 viewing. I have to admit that i was spoiled to the 16x9 versions and wish the whole show had been mastered that way.

I don't think that is the case here. First off the first two seasons on DVD were done no later than 2006 and were reported to be in the original aspect ratio and could be used to fill a screen by being stretched (what appears to be the case by what is being described as preferred viewing by those with issues with season 3).


My guess is that the remastering for HD came much later, and that what they did is make two masters in 16:9 format, one to fill the 16:9 format with content and the other with black bars on the side to maintain the original aspect ratio. As we've heard in other similar situations they tend to use "fill the screen" content for broadcast, and the "original aspect ratio" for DVD/blu-ray releases. So what was being broadcast was the new 16:9 masters to fill the screen, but what appears to being used for the season 3 and season 4 DVD releases is the 16:9 with embedded black bars version. That would explain why the content can no longer be stretched.


Now it could be that Halmark received complaints about the widescreen version not being in the original aspect ratio and has switched the broadcast to use the version with the embedded black bars that would appear to be the same master being used for the DVD releases.


Just my interpretation based on what is being discussed.

 

[younger1968]

I just got my set of Hart to Hart S4 the other day. I have yet to watch it as I am watching other series as we speak.

 

[Robert13]

So I spent a bit of time trying to figure out if there was a way to solve this problem and I FOUND IT!!!!!

As Ron Lee Green mentioned, it can get complicated. I had to re-adjust the setting on BOTH my dvd player setting as well as my TV setting.

On my DVD, I set the aspect ratio to 4:3 LETTERBOX and then on my TV, I set the Viewing Mode to "Wide Zoom" and sure enough...it snapped the screen into place perfectly. No stretching. No distortion. Looks just as good, if not better, than the first 2 seasons issued by Sony. So it CAN BE DONE! Wahoooo!

Not sure if this will help others. I guess, depending on your settings and model, it may or may not be a solution. However, I wanted to share the good news so you know that it isn't the fault of dvd-authoring. It can STILL be adjusted to your liking.