Showtime HD, do they show movies in OAR? (1 Viewer)

[Benson R]

My cable system is adding Showtime soon, and I was considering subscribing only because they will be making the HiDef Showtime channel available.

I currently subscribe to HBO, and was excited when I learned they added it to the lineup in HD, but was severely disappointed when I saw that so much of it was cropped.

So how is Showtimes support of OAR? I never watched cropped movies on HBO, and most of stuff on HDnet movies is shown over and over or not of interest to me.

 

[Shaun]

I subscribe to Cox HD and Showtime is part of the lineup. Most movies shown are usually shown in OAR. Watching Die Another Day and the black bars were present.

 

[Steve Phillips]

Showtime HD almost always shows 2:35 to 1 movies in the OAR.

 

[PerryD]

The only drawback with Showtime HD is their weak commitment to HD and lack of access to new movies (a few MGM and Paramount movies only). Plus they cancelled "Dead Like Me", one of the main reasons I held onto Showtime as long as I did.

 

[Benson R]

Are you referring to them not broadcasting all movies in HD, or not their original programming?

 

[PerryD]

The former, many of their movies are upconverts, or even just 4x3. They never really went through and upgraded their entire catalog like HBO. If you never had Showtime before, there will be a pretty good selection the first few months, but then you'll notice how few movies they actually have when they are repeating the same movies over and over.

 

[Adam_ME]

Yes, they show movies in their OAR. Unfortunately, they're the only ones.

 

[Sean Moon]

HBO occasionally has stuff in OAR. Rainmaker and Gattaca were indeed 2.35 when shown.

 

[Shane Martin]

Pre 1999 HD transfers only.

 

[Sean Moon]

Hm interesting. Both those movies were pre 1997, so that makes sense.

 

[Shane Martin]

Doesn't matter when they were made but when the HD transfer was done.

 

[Mike Levine]

Showtime's Website at:
http://www.sho.com/site/schedules/hdtv.do
lists the HD movies and whether they are OAR, upconverted, etc.