The Shield: The Complete Series (2002-2008)

[walkabout]

Grammar is indeed important, but attacking a non-native speaker on that is a bit unfair.

That said, I never understood why bars on the sides of a 16:9 screen are deemed so horrendous. By that logic, one should watch films shot in 2.35:1 AR as cropped on the sides, so that you don't have to bear the sight of black bars on the upper and lower portions of the screen... But this need of filling up the tv set only seems to arise when it comes to 1.33:1 or 1.37:1 aspect ratios.

[CrazyBlu-RayFan]

Joking aside, if a show was shot and intended for 4:3, leave it be. 4:3 is what was the original intended look of the show and that should be preserved. However, I'm I bit more forgiving to this because the original creator was involved with this widescreen version (like The Wire), so hopefully that means it should look passable even if it's not the original intended version. However, there's a fine line for stuff like this and those lines being crossed is what leads us to disasters like Buffy HD or the Dragon Ball Z season set Blu-rays.

[trippledx3]

Agreeeed

[ilikeblu2much]

Originally Posted by CouncilSpectre

Oh wow, looks like they got pretty much everyone! Except the obvious.

who is the obvious one did i forgot about a scandal or something

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by ilikeblu2much

who is the obvious one did i forgot about a scandal or something

Michael Jace (Julien) killed his wife.

[Renascent]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

Michael Jace (Julien) killed his wife.

Ha! For one second I thought you guys ment Ronnie, as he wasn't in the Vic, Shane and Lem pic. Shame what Jace did though....

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

They don't crop pre-1953 4x3 films to widescreen, so they shouldn't be doing that to TV shows.

Pre 1953 movies weren't made during a time where households started to ditch their 4:3 tv in favor of 16:9.

I need to know something. Did they show The Shield on US TV in 4:3 for ALL seasons... 1 through 7? Or did they stop airing the show in 4:3 after season 5?

Originally Posted by CrazyBlu-RayFan

However, I'm I bit more forgiving to this because the original creator was involved with this widescreen version (like The Wire), so hopefully that means it should look passable even if it's not the original intended version. However, there's a fine line for stuff like this and those lines being crossed is what leads us to disasters like Buffy HD or the Dragon Ball Z season set Blu-rays.

This won't be a Seinfeld release. The dvds looked fine in 16:9, but some people in this thread would probably disagree.
Note: Seinfeld doesn't exist on BD yet, but they are showing an HD version cropped in 16:9 and it is really bad. So bad in fact I would agree with Bates. I think Seinfeld used almost all of the full frame for its 4:3 composition, so there isn't possible to make a 16:9 version without cropping the original 4:3 frame(s).

Seinfeld - The Ratio Situation (Fullscreen vs. Widescreen) - YouTube

[LPMA]

Originally Posted by Renascent

Ha! For one second I thought you guys ment Ronnie, as he wasn't in the Vic, Shane and Lem pic. Shame what Jace did though....



Pre 1953 movies weren't made during a time where households started to ditch their 4:3 tv in favor of 16:9.

I need to know something. Did they show The Shield on US TV in 4:3 for ALL seasons... 1 through 7? Or did they stop airing the show in 4:3 after season 5?

IMDb, which is usually pretty good at keeping track of this, has it listed like this:

Aspect Ratio
1.33 : 1 (cropped US original broadcast version)
1.78 : 1 (international and Sony DVD aspect ratio)

For reference here's what they say for The X-Files:

Aspect Ratio
1.66 : 1 (Approx) (Season 1 - 4 Full Frame)
1.78 : 1 (Season 5 - 9 Full Frame)
4:3 (Seasons 1-9) (Original Broadcast), (Seasons 1-4) (DVD)
16 : 9 (Seasons 5-9) (DVD), (Seasons 1-9) (Blu Ray)

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by LPMA

IMDb, which is usually pretty good at keeping track of this, has it listed like this:

Aspect Ratio
1.33 : 1 (cropped US original broadcast version)
1.78 : 1 (international and Sony DVD aspect ratio)

For reference here's what they say for The X-Files:

Aspect Ratio
1.66 : 1 (Approx) (Season 1 - 4 Full Frame)
1.78 : 1 (Season 5 - 9 Full Frame)
4:3 (Seasons 1-9) (Original Broadcast), (Seasons 1-4) (DVD)
16 : 9 (Seasons 5-9) (DVD), (Seasons 1-9) (Blu Ray)

I wouldn't rely entirely on IMDB for reliable source. Is there even any conformation or evidence that the first four seasons were even shot in 1.66?

[Renascent]

Originally Posted by LPMA

IMDb, which is usually pretty good at keeping track of this, has it listed like this:

Aspect Ratio
1.33 : 1 (cropped US original broadcast version)
1.78 : 1 (international and Sony DVD aspect ratio)

For reference here's what they say for The X-Files:

Aspect Ratio
1.66 : 1 (Approx) (Season 1 - 4 Full Frame)
1.78 : 1 (Season 5 - 9 Full Frame)
4:3 (Seasons 1-9) (Original Broadcast), (Seasons 1-4) (DVD)
16 : 9 (Seasons 5-9) (DVD), (Seasons 1-9) (Blu Ray)

IMDB says this about the Handmaid's tale:
Aspect Ratio 2.00 : 1 (4k UHD ProRes)
But the first season is clearly in 1.78:1. In case someone posted wrong information on IMDB, I wanted to confirm it with someone who actually saw The Shield when it aired in the US.

In regards to X-files, this is what the reviewer had to say about the Blu-ray set: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-X.../59724/#Review

Originally Posted by Reviewer;

Before fans get too worked up (whoops, sorry, too late, as evidenced by our Forum), original cinematographer John Bartley is on record as stating the show was always filmed in widescreen with so-called "safeties" in mind, meaning that while it was originally shown in a 4:3 frame, a 16:9 frame was always "available," and the fact is while the first several seasons are obviously not in their original aspect ratio, there are no totally egregious framing issues, at least when looking dispassionately at what's on screen.

He had to compose shots for 4:3, else you would cut people in half.* I think I can recall Shawn stated somewhere that he shot for widescreen safe, however he obliviously had to compose for 4:3 as it was how the show was aired. I feel the X-files == The Shield on this one. Can we now stop *****ing about OAR until we get the copy and can compare it with the DVD releases/review.


*This happened with my VHS copy of Star Wars E:II. The movie was full-screen in 4:3, no bars. When Yoda and Master Windu is talking in front of the senate entrance, only one of them are visible. To add more misery, the last 5 seconds of the movie is the entire widescreen frame compressed into a 4:3 image. All of the sudden everyone were very slim and thin.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by Renascent

IMDB says this about the Handmaid's tale:
Aspect Ratio 2.00 : 1 (4k UHD ProRes)
But the first season is clearly in 1.78:1. In case someone posted wrong information on IMDB, I wanted to confirm it with someone who actually saw The Shield when it aired in the US.

In regards to X-files, this is what the reviewer had to say about the Blu-ray set:

"The Handmaid's Tale" is presented in 2:00:1 for Hulu streaming while open-matte 1:78 on Blu.

[Renascent]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

"The Handmaid's Tale" is presented in 2:00:1 for Hulu streaming while open-matte 1:78 on Blu.

On HBO Nordic (Norway) the first season is shown in 1.78:1 while the second season is shown in 2:1. I thought it was weird why the aspect ratio changed all of the sudden, but it makes sense now.

[ilikeblu2much]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

Michael Jace (Julien) killed his wife.

Oh god that's right, i can't believe he did that.

[calmblueocean81]

^ Holy shiz. I totally forgot about that :/

[handcraftedbits]

I'm an OAR guy but my take on it is that it's not a big deal as long as the reframing is done with care. A couple posts up is a video about reframing Seinfeld episodes and what is missing when going from 4:3 to 16:9. Look, I've watched a lot of Seinfeld and whenever I catch an HD episode on TBS I've never once thought to myself "oh my God, they completely butchered this scene, you used to be able to see Jerry's kitchen table!". I remember the jokes, the visual gags, all that stuff quite well, but if you put a gun to my head I honestly couldn't tell you what's actually no longer visible in those HD episodes (except educated guesses like "Jerry's feet" or "the ceiling"). Sure I'd prefer OAR but honestly these HD remasters are pretty dang good.

[Renascent]

Originally Posted by handcraftedbits

I'm an OAR guy but my take on it is that it's not a big deal as long as the reframing is done with care. A couple posts up is a video about reframing Seinfeld episodes and what is missing when going from 4:3 to 16:9. Look, I've watched a lot of Seinfeld and whenever I catch an HD episode on TBS I've never once thought to myself "oh my God, they completely butchered this scene, you used to be able to see Jerry's kitchen table!". I remember the jokes, the visual gags, all that stuff quite well, but if you put a gun to my head I honestly couldn't tell you what's actually no longer visible in those HD episodes (except educated guesses like "Jerry's feet" or "the ceiling"). Sure I'd prefer OAR but honestly these HD remasters are pretty dang good.

That is fair enough. As long as it isn't glaringly obvious something is off. The Shield didn't have that problem imo. The TV runs of it in Norway was in 16:9 (pre fifth season!), however Netflix used 4:3. I'm used to watching it on TV in 16:9. The dvds I bought were all in 16:9. I didn't see any glaring issues like the ones from my Star Wars Episode II 4:3 box. To me The Shield works fine in widescreen.

[BluVinyl]

Originally Posted by Renascent

This won't be a Seinfeld release. The dvds looked fine in 16:9, but some people in this thread would probably disagree.
Note: Seinfeld doesn't exist on BD yet, but they are showing an HD version cropped in 16:9 and it is really bad. So bad in fact I would agree with Bates. I think Seinfeld used almost all of the full frame for its 4:3 composition, so there isn't possible to make a 16:9 version without cropping the original 4:3 frame(s).
Seinfeld - The Ratio Situation (Fullscreen vs. Widescreen) - YouTube

I enjoyed the Seinfeld clip you included, even though I never liked the show. It was a good discussion of aspect ratios. You may enjoy this article from David Simon talking about the Wire going widescreen http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-hd-with-videos/

[LeBougre]

Hello,

Sorry if it has already been said but Mill Creek releases are region free or not ?
Do you think The Shield will be region free too ?

Thank you :-)

[thg]

Originally Posted by LeBougre

Hello,

Sorry if it has already been said but Mill Creek releases are region free or not ?
Do you think The Shield will be region free too ?

Thank you :-)

It says BD Region A on the product page.

[walkabout]

As much as the intended AR is 4:3, this show was shot in 16:9. So the show can work both ways and there shouldn't be any cropping made. If one wants to enjoy it in 4:3, all is needed is to set the image on the player or tv as to apply black bars on the sides, and only have the intended part of the frame that was on the original broadcast.
IMDb too labels the 4:3 "cropped", so it's clear the full frame has a 16:9 AR.

[Renascent]

Originally Posted by BluVinyl

I enjoyed the Seinfeld clip you included, even though I never liked the show. It was a good discussion of aspect ratios. You may enjoy this article from David Simon talking about the Wire going widescreen http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-hd-with-videos/

I think I've read it before. There were some places they had to do some tricks I think. The only glaring issue left was the CCTV-pictures in the intro which are 4:3.