MGM/UA Did it again: Windowboxing on opening credits of Moonraker!!! (1 Viewer)

[Jari K]

Sad to hear it. People now have HD channels, but some of the films there are now stretched, cropped, etc. Well, you can´t "have it all", right...




..wrong! That´s why we want Blu-ray 1080p - OAR - no DNR & other digital abominations. Dammit.

 

[STLCardsfan]

I haven't watched my copy of Moonraker blu-ray yet but I watched The World Is Not Enough on blu-ray tonight. I compared the opening credits on both the blu-ray and ultimate edition dvd. They are both windowboxed and seemed the same.

 

[Kevin EK]

Check the textless version in the Special Features under the "007 Mission Control" submenu. You'll find a non-windowboxed version there, albeit without the credits overlay.

 

[Jim_E]

I went to a digital screening of OHMSS today and noticed that the credits seemed to have been windowboxed a bit too. Looks like we're in for more of this in future.

That said the print looked fantastic and had the correct colour timing in the pre-credit sequence unlike the UE DVD. Can't wait for the Blu Ray, seeing it on the big screen made me remember just how good a film it is.

 

[Will_B]

Exactly. These are old, botched masters originally made for DVD. They didn't go back to the film to make new transfers.

 

[Matt DeVillier]

no, these are new masters, completely restored by Lowry. They are the source of the transfers used for the UE dvds as well, which is why any anomalies are likely to be found on both the UE dvd and Bluray releases

 

[Osato]

Originally Posted by EnricoE ">[/url]

honestly, what's the bullshit of doing windowboxing on the opening credits of movies? mgm did it on [url=https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/6/63/htf_imgcache_39722.jpeg][img]https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/6/63/htf_imgcache_39722.jpeg">[/url]


as you can see this is quite a big windowboxing applied here. the top and bottom bars don't change, which leads to the assumption that the picture has been squezzed in.


[img]https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/4/4e/htf_imgcache_39723.jpeg

it's not as bad as thunderball or moonraker but you can clearly see on the picture above that earth ain't round anymore. i gonna check the other bonds released on br too for this stupid pillarboxing.

On the Moonraker blu ray under special features - 007 - you can watch the titles with or without text. The one without appears to be normal in terms of the circles appearing as circles. However, the one with text seems to pillarbox the sides a bit. Not sure if this was new info or not, but thought I'd add it. I'm wondering if the textless version is from the DVD? I believe the same master was used for the UE DVD and the blu rays. Kind of puzzling anyway.

I'll probably have to check out TWINE here in a moment.

Side note MGM HD is showing 3 of the Moore bond films over Memorial Day weekend. The Spy Who Loved Me is one of the HD titles. I saw it on Bravo HD a few months back and it looks greatly improved in terms of picture from the UE DVD which had a lot of haloing and edge enhancement issues.

UPDATE - TWINE has the same feature as Moonraker to view the titles with or without text. They are different versions as well. One appears to be boxed on the sides while the other (without text) does not have missing info on the sides. The odd thing continues to be the fact that the boxed version on these 2 appear to be the squeezed versions. Quite curious.

 

[Osato]

Originally Posted by Kevin EK

I'm putting together a review of the 3rd Volume of the Blu-ray Bonds.

I see what you're talking about as far as the windowboxing of the credits, although I also noted that the textless versions of the opening title sequences are in the proper ratios. So for posterity, the original versions are present, without the text, but in a fashion that to my mind, preserves the artistry of the people who assembled them.

I also note that the end titles are similarly windowboxed, but not always with complete success. On Moonraker, the end titles still chop off the last letters of some names, including one assistant art director. And as the credits go up the screen, they slide a little bit over to the right so that the last letters start to go off the edge of the visible screen...

Very odd!