why does THE SHINING look better zoomed than most 16x9 titles? (1 Viewer)

[Sean Patrick]

i do not want to start a debate as to the director's intent here..this is merely a PQ observation after fooling around with the 4:3 Kubrick dvd remasters, and especially the Shining.

On my Panasonic RP91 i zoomed in and reformatted the picture to 16x9, getting close to what people would have seen in theaters (i think)..anyway, the composition looked perfect, but what struck me most was how UNBELIEVABLY GOOD the picture quality was. This is a nonanamorphic dvd ZOOMED IN that looks amazing, and much better than most anamorphic dvd's i own. The color balance, black detail, and overall fine detail was immaculate. Is this just one of the best mastered dvd's around, well compressed, or what? Overall it was the fine detail and lack of any noise that struck me (usually zooming in will introduce some artifacts).

Whatever they did, they should do for all dvd's The detail looked semi-HD, which is remarkable for a 4:3 dvd.

(fyi, my tv is a RCA F38310).

 

[Dave Mack]

DVDFile has an interview with the guy who supervised the new remasters... They made a new HD master from the restoration work done and the quality DEFINITELY shows! Also this was transferred "open-matte" and NOT panned and scanned so there was the entire 35mm negative involved. (More info.)

I agree, it looks GREAT zoomed on my WS 55".
One more reason that players with "zoom" are handy as a TV zoom never looks as good!!

 

[Jack Briggs]

Leon Vitali, I believe, was honoring his late boss's expressed wishes--which were uttered on the very eve of the 16:9 revolution in home-theater displays.

I won't comment on the aesthetics of zooming the title to fill the 1.78:1 screen, but the new transfer is a vast improvement over the previous LaserDisc-based effort.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

I still prefer it framed for 4:3. There's lots of headroom in the shots, making those corridors and privet walls seem so much more menacing.

 

[Dave Mack]

...and the infamous "Helicopter shadow" in the opening sequence. Hmmmmm... For such a "Perfectionist" like Kubrick, the fact that he left that in IS pretty lame. but alas, when zoomed to 16x9, the shadow Disappears!!!!!!!
Whomwever was shooting 2nd unit, certainly wasn't composing for 4x3 fullscreen!

 

[Larry Sutliff]

I also think that THE SHINING looks stunning when zoomed, at least as good as an exceptional Anamorphic transfer, and better than some. And I used the zoom feature on my television as my DVD Player doesn't have one, and most other 4:3 open matte DVD's don't look anything like this one when zoomed. What a stunning transfer(and a great movie!).