Old TV Shows, Concerts, Documentaries with 1.33 OAR on Blu-ray™ Disc

[aiman04]

Sorry if this has been discussed before, the search didn't find anything.

I’m already building my Blu-ray Disc collection, which all of them originally shot in widescreen format (1.78:1, 1.85:1, 2.35:1 and 2.40:1). Latest TV series, documentaries and concerts are shot in Hi-Def with the 16x9 aspect ratio, so that’s good.

But I’m starting to think about replacing my old concerts and TV series DVDs like “The X-Files” with BDs. I know there are not many being released on BD yet, but when they do release them, how are they going to handle the AR? Would they just do pan & scan and crop to get the 1.78:1 ratio?

Me, I’m crazy with widescreen format, I’m willing to have the video cropped instead of stretched. And watching in 1.33:1 AR on your widescreen TV is not advisable, because there’s a risk of burning your screen pixels at the edge of the 1.33:1 frame if you do that too long.

The movie business has practically been cropping their movies anyway, to get the theatrical widescreen format with movies shot in Super 35. One example is “The Shining”

What do you guys think? How do you prefer?

[ben7ben3]

Originally Posted by aiman04

Sorry if this has been discussed before, the search didn't find anything.

I’m already building my Blu-ray Disc collection, which all of them originally shot in widescreen format (1.78:1, 1.85:1, 2.35:1 and 2.40:1). Latest TV series, documentaries and concerts are shot in Hi-Def with the 16x9 aspect ratio, so that’s good.

But I’m starting to think about replacing my old concerts and TV series DVDs like “The X-Files” with BDs. I know there are not many being released on BD yet, but when they do release them, how are they going to handle the AR? Would they just do pan & scan and crop to get the 1.78:1 ratio?

Me, I’m crazy with widescreen format, I’m willing to have the video cropped instead of stretched. And watching in 1.33:1 AR on your widescreen TV is not advisable, because there’s a risk of burning your screen pixels at the edge of the 1.33:1 frame if you do that too long.

The movie business has practically been cropping their movies anyway, to get the theatrical widescreen format with movies shot in Super 35. One example is “The Shining”

What do you guys think? How do you prefer?

well the biggest benefit in releasing tv shows such as seinfeld, raymond, scrubs, friends, fresh prince, etc...on blu ray would be that they could potentially fit all the episodes on 1-2 discs. imo, high definition for these movies would not be 'true' hd, but would rather look like upscaled dvds. however, if eventaully blu ray becomes the standard, there would be nothing wrong with seeing a complete seinfeld collection, for example, on 10 discs or so.

as far as the 4:3 thing, that is fine, and how it should be. cropping takes away so much of the picture, and stretching ruins the picture in my opinion. i don't mine a combination of the two, but would still rather have the 4:3 look.

tv screens don't get ruined by that. they may see some burn in but that will go away. and it doesn't happen on lcds at all i believe, but more found on plasma. but again, i am under the assumption that that goes away, but it shouldnt be an issue anyway.

[aiman04]

Originally Posted by ben7ben3

tv screens don't get ruined by that. they may see some burn in but that will go away. and it doesn't happen on lcds at all i believe, but more found on plasma. but again, i am under the assumption that that goes away, but it shouldnt be an issue anyway.

I hope you're right. And I've also thought the problem mostly to plasmas. But, mine is LCD, and in the manual there's a warning about pixel burning.

But I prefer widescreen anyway, maybe the combination of cropping stretching is a good idea.

[WickyWoo]

They are stored pillarboxed. If you desire, I have yet to see a single widescreen TV that can't zoom it to fill your screen, and every Blu player I've seen can do it at the player level too

[aiman04]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

They are stored pillarboxed. If you desire, I have yet to see a single widescreen TV that can't zoom it to fill your screen, and every Blu player I've seen can do it at the player level too

That's true.

But zooming I always can't see the subtitles.

By the way, pillarboxed? I' need to do some googling.

[WickyWoo]

Black bars on sides instead of top and bottom

If you do the stretch at the player level it should be independant of the subtitle overlay

[AlaskaDon]

Speaking of this, any other Deep Purple fans around? I just ordered They All Came Down to Montreaux today from Amazon. It's 1.33 but I'm still looking forward to it

You can get Yes - Live at Montreaux on the same day (2/19) as well if you happen to be a Yes fan. I never was much. I would love to get my hands on some Alice Cooper remastered on Blu though

[aiman04]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Black bars on sides instead of top and bottom

If you do the stretch at the player level it should be independant of the subtitle overlay

Oh, pillarboxed... I knew that.

We'll give it a try.

But you know the reason I asked actually because we're so used to widescreen, I want old TV stuffs to be presented in 1.78:1 too, and by letting the makers themselves making the frame adjustments (widscreen pan & scan), I can be sure that we'll be seeing what we supposed to see.

Anyway, thanks WickyWoo for your input, appreciates it.

[aiman04]

Originally Posted by AlaskaDon

Speaking of this, any other Deep Purple fans around? I just ordered They All Came Down to Montreaux today from Amazon. It's 1.33 but I'm still looking forward to it

You can get Yes - Live at Montreaux on the same day (2/19) as well if you happen to be a Yes fan. I never was much. I would love to get my hands on some Alice Cooper remastered on Blu though

I thought that Deep Purple is 1.78:1?

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?id=675

[PeterTHX]

Dragon's Lair was cropped to 1.78 from 1.33

IMAX films are regularly cropped from 1.44 OAR to 1.78

[WickyWoo]

But you know the reason I asked actually because we're so used to widescreen, I want old TV stuffs to be presented in 1.78:1 too, and by letting the makers themselves making the frame adjustments (widscreen pan & scan), I can be sure that we'll be seeing what we supposed to see.

I think that if you ask the makers, they'll tell you they want you to watch it pillarboxed in its proper ratio. Most P&S versions are created only under the duress of contractual requirements

Queen cropped their first few releases to 1.78:1 and then stopped after the complaints

[Blu-Jawa]

I think it would be cool if the makers of those older shows used the extra space on the sides to add stuff like "fun facts" or triva or info about the program (pop out boxs or something). and you can turn this on or off at anytime also. just an idea. I remember the channel "G4" used to show "star trek" with all this extra info around it.

[aiman04]

Originally Posted by Blu-Jawa

I think it would be cool if the makers of those older shows used the extra space on the sides to add stuff like "fun facts" or triva or info about the program (pop out boxs or something). and you can turn this on or off at anytime also. just an idea. I remember the channel "G4" used to show "star trek" with all this extra info around it.

That is an interesting idea.

I don't see why this can't be done.