superdeluxe

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/09/02/hb...bd2ed1b3e71908

I approve of this.

RichC2

Yup

johnnysd

The Wire is a show that they could just start up again if they wanted and would only take a couple episodes to establish what the last decade held for them. The Wire with truly modern surveillance could be really interesting. Wonder if it was filmed with proper framing for HD.

Timber

I don't buy Blu's anymore but this would be a must purchase for me.

bunkaroo

There's been a thread running about this in HD Talk. Simon has been on record before saying 4:3 is the preferred ratio. I'm sure they protected for 16:9, but I am skeptical about how it will affect the feel of the show. I'll check them out before I buy anything.

dave94

Completed and airing this month!

https://twitter.com/sepinwall/status/539905614982684675

rocket1312

Here's a link to David Simon's blog which answers just about any question someone might have about the conversion from 4x3 to 16x9.

http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-in-hd/

bluetoast

In conclusion, not the OAR.

Dan

I guess I "get" why they'd want to move it into a 16:9 ratio for modern audiences... but why the hell wouldn't they keep an OAR version in HD available for the majority of fans who have been begging for it? This is just going to piss off a lot of people.

JTH182

Cool, I haven't gotten around to watching this yet, so I'll just wait for HD. Will it be on HBO Go, or what?

kstublen

I appreciate that David Simon was actively involved in this and isn't sugar-coating the results. It's nice to see some honesty that while the show benefits from the conversion in some instances it also suffers in others.
This. I'm not sure why they wouldn't at least make an HD version of the OAR available. What's the harm in doing that?

I think it's funny how we've sort of come full-circle in messing with aspect ratios. Years ago it was taking movies and modifying them to "full screen" which really takes away from scenes and gives you an incomplete version of the movie. I guess the reasoning was that "modern audiences" hated the bars and wanted their entire television screen to be filled with the image. And now we're moving in the opposite direction: taking things that were intended to be viewed in 4:3 and "stretching" them to fit the 16:9 aspect ratio.

Geofferson

Per the article, looks like it'll premiere on HBO Signature and HBO Go sometime this month. I perused the online guide through next week and didn't see anything, so presumably the latter half of the month.

dave94

December 26th for HBO Signature and HBO Go.

lisadoris

I just started re-watching The Wire and I'm happy with it in OAR. I have to re-buy the DVDs to hopefully the price will go down with the impending blu release.

JTH182

HBO Signature? So they remaster it in HD and play it on a channel Comcast customers don't get in HD? Well damn. Hopefully it goes OnDemand too, because as I just remembered, I don't get HBOGo on my Playstations (again, thanks Comcast)

RoyalTea

Is it really the opposite direction? or a perpendicular direction?

Guru Askew

I think we can all agree that the people 10 years ago who wanted to fill their 4x3 screens were idiots who had no right to compromise what they watched to fill their screens but all the people who are now demanding their 16x9 displays to be filled by modified content are perfectly rational and justified in wanting their screens to be filled.

In all seriousness, if you read through Simon's blog you'll pick up on three things:

1, he thinks the show was actually shot in standard definition and is magically being converted into high definition.

2: he doesn't seem to be aware that a high definition version could be created in the original aspect ratio

3: he openly admits that there are moments where the show suffers from the new framing.

If Universal can release Galactica 1980 on Blu in both its original aspect ratio and an HDTV-friendly ratio than HBO can do the same for The Wire.

Dan

Yeah. It's "opposite" in that they're now asking for OLD content to fill their new 16x9 screens, whereas in the past, they were mostly asking for NEW content to fill their older 4x3 screens.

I know you're being sarcastic, but in case it's not clear... these are all the exact same people.

Yeah, that's the exact impression I got after reading through most of it. Sadly, David Simon is a little ignorant on the specs in particular.

EXACTLY. If HBO really wanted to release it in 16x9, that's fine. But FFS... keep an OAR version for the people who actually CARE about this show. Hell, if Twin Peaks can also be released in its OAR in HD, there's no reason HBO couldn't show the same respect to The Wire.

The fact is, they went forward with it without his input from the beginning, then when he finally saw it, they said, "Oh, but look at all the HARD WORK we did! You can't just ignore that!" So he compromised, and we now have the equivalent of a 16x9 Pan-and-Scan fuck-up.

dave94

Just over a week til we get to check this out for real.

In case y'all hadn't seen this update by David Simon with comparisons and comments on the reframing.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayli...sions-20141205

RocShemp

It looks like the 4:3 versions were cropped and the 1.78:1 versions remove the mattes from the sides. How exactly was this program shot? Did the DP compose his shots with protection for an eventual widescreen release?

bluetoast

It was always shot for 4:3 first. During season 1, they protected for 1.78, but after that they shot with 4:3 in mind only.

malichai

When's the earliest I'll be able to binge watch all of this?

Navinabob

For me, the increased clarity of picture and the wider sides, even with the loss of top and bottom of the shots, is a fair trade off. I'd rather they kept the OAR, but at least they appear to have taken some care and creative input to get the best compromise they could get.

Compare it to the HD mess that is Buffy & Angel and you'll see Wire fans are pretty darn lucky.

http://www.vox.com/2014/12/12/7385261/buffy-ruined

Brian Gentz

Every episode back to back starting December 26th on HBO Signature, I'm guess they'll all be on HBO Go that same day.

JeffTheAlpaca

I think the Audience network on Directv aired all the shows in HD a couple years ago.