Cars on Blu-Ray Vs. Cars on HDTV

[PeterTHX]

AFAIK Both Cars and The Incredibles were shown on ABC Family HD in 2.35

Pixar OARs:

1.85 (1.78):
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Finding Nemo
Monsters Inc.
Up

2.40:
A Bug's Life
The Incredibles
Cars
Ratatouille
Wall*E

With Pixar movies, Pixar actually goes back and creates 4:3 and 16:9 versions of their movies, repositioning the virtual camera

Now I know they did that with A Bug's Life, but have they done it for the others? Every HD broadcast of The Incredibles (even on NBC) was 2.35 and I'm not sure if Brad Bird, who loves 'scope, would even bother recomposing it.

[Jeff Kleist]

They do it with all their films

However Pixar has a great deal of power/influence, and can dictate how their movies are shown

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

AFAIK Both Cars and The Incredibles were shown on ABC Family HD in 2.35

I'll have to check the Disney Channel HD broadcast to see if Cars is OAR too. The Incredibles has always been shown in OAR 2.35:1 in HD when broadcast on Disney Channel HD, ABC Family HD, and even NBC HD. OAR for a movie on NBC HD is a pretty rare. I was also shocked to view Hollywood Homicide in its OAR 2.40:1 on Fox HD.

[surfdude12]

IMO, even if the PQ was comparable (which its not), it wouldn't matter, since I think AQ is twice as important as PQ. Cable AQ can't ever compare to Blu-ray audio. I know the OP was about PQ, but if youre going to compare Cable and Blu, to me its a false comparison w/o AQ.

[ShelbyGT500]

Just saw Cars on Disney HD before I came to work this moring and it was in full screen. I could tell it was cropped or zoomed in (however you want to say it) compared to the BD. The quality looked good but did not hold up to the BD.

[RazMansReality]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

IMO, even if the PQ was comparable (which its not), it wouldn't matter, since I think AQ is twice as important as PQ. Cable AQ can't ever compare to Blu-ray audio. I know the OP was about PQ, but if youre going to compare Cable and Blu, to me its a false comparison w/o AQ.

That's a fantastic point and so true!

[Jspec SW20]

I've always found my 1080i picture to look noticably better than 720p

I'd suggest setting your box to 1080i

[OrlandoEastwood]

I thought Pixar did their movies in Full Screen and then cropped them for theatrical releases? I know that they stated something like that on the old Finding Nemo DVD and that the Full Screen version had more on the tops and bottoms.

[steve_dave]

Pixar movies that are in 2.35:1 and 1.85:1 scope aspect ratio are rendered at that aspect ratio. To prevent the film from being pan & scanned, Pixar will re-render the film at both 2.35:1/1.85:1 and 1.33:1. The 1.33:1 image is obtained by moving characters, signs, and other important elements tighter together into the frame.

The back of Finding Nemo states that the 1.33:1 version is "specially reframed for standard televisions"

As for the 1.78:1 versions of their movies, Pixar has yet to re-render their movies for this aspect ratio.