Wrong Aspect Ratios

[Kage]

Bicentennial Man is also in the wrong aspect ratio. It should be 1.85:1 in iTunes, but it is 1.66:1. I contacted iTunes support about it last week and they refused to give me a refund.

[heynongman]

Originally Posted by Kage

Bicentennial Man is also in the wrong aspect ratio. It should be 1.85:1 in iTunes, but it is 1.66:1. I contacted iTunes support about it last week and they refused to give me a refund.

A few months ago I started checking the OAR of everything I watch after noticing Appaloosa was pan and scanning. There are tons of movies in the wrong aspect ratio. It’s usually 1:85:1 movies cropped to 1:78:1 so it’s not really all that noticeable, but there’s an alarming amount.

[PCFan]

Originally Posted by heynongman

A few months ago I started checking the OAR of everything I watch after noticing Appaloosa was pan and scanning. There are tons of movies in the wrong aspect ratio. It’s usually 1:85:1 movies cropped to 1:78:1 so it’s not really all that noticeable, but there’s an alarming amount.

Some of my purchases from iTunes are in 1.66:1 when the original aspect ratio is 1.85:1, for example Bagdad Cafe and Bicentennial Man. Apple support told me that the studio told them that 1.66:1 for Bicentennial Man was what the studio intended for iTunes. I ended up watching Bicentennial Man through Amazon since it was in the the original aspect ratio there and it ported over since it's Movie Anywhere compliant. I buy from iTunes because I rather use iTunes as a preferred digital provider. It's been over two weeks since I purchased Bagdad Cafe from iTunes and have not received a response from Apple for that one. I would not be surprised if the studio intended it to be in that aspect ratio for iTunes as well.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by heynongman

A few months ago I started checking the OAR of everything I watch after noticing Appaloosa was pan and scanning. There are tons of movies in the wrong aspect ratio. It’s usually 1:85:1 movies cropped to 1:78:1 so it’s not really all that noticeable, but there’s an alarming amount.

No. 1.85 films aren't cropped to 1.78, they're opened up to 1.78 with a little bit of extra height. 1.78 is larger than 1.85, not smaller. This is perfectly fine. I guarantee you that due to projector distances and parallax distortion that they were never shown in any theater at exactly 1.85:1. I discussed this once with Robert A. Harris (the film restorian) and he had no problem with this. And if he doesn't, then I can't because he's the expert. In fact, the only Blu that I own that was originally 1.85 and isn't 1.78 is "The Big Lebowski".

And it's similar with 1.85 films shown at 1.66. 1.66 is a larger image than 1.85 and more height is shown. If the films in question are from the 1950's or a foreign film, 1.66 might indeed be the correct aspect ratio. And people shouldn't blame Apple. If Apple has a film at 1.66 that should be 1.85 it's because that's the master they were sent by the studio. Blame the studio. Apple has nothing to do with it - they don't modify aspect ratios.

[Kage]

Originally Posted by Kage

Bicentennial Man is also in the wrong aspect ratio. It should be 1.85:1 in iTunes, but it is 1.66:1. I contacted iTunes support about it last week and they refused to give me a refund.

I still haven't received an response from iTunes support. I may have to write a email to Tim Cook about the content quality issue with iTunes movies and tv shows.