rq42

Hi there,

I'm a viewer from the UK and after missing so much of season 1 I think its time I buy it.... Season 2 has just started and I cant see it for obvious reasons!!!

Anyway, there was quite a fuss about the transfers of the dvd boxset.... apparently region 1 and 2 have different transfers etc??? can somebody fill me in on the situation please. which is the better buy???

Thanks!

critterdvd

Region 1 is fullscreen (as the creator/producer wanted it to be) and is how it is broadcasted regularlly.

Region 2 is widescreen like how the show is aired on HDTV feeds

Dalvin

definetly region 2

rq42

oh! big difference then.... surely the hdtv transfer (region 2) wins hands down, as dalvin advised?

but before i buy it.... any reason i shouldnt??? anyone......

ENDContra

Why bother shooting in 16:9 if thats not what you intended? Sounds more like a line from the studio as an excuse to release it in fullscreen.

Good to know its available in widescreen overseas...I wonder if there any other shows released in widescreen overseas that arent here?

Philip Reuben

Can you confirm this? I've seen the packaging in shops and it definitely says 4:3.

Sir_Fireboard

I know I remember people bitching about not even the R2 being in WS, and I remember thinking that it was lame that it was shown that way on Fox, but wasn't taken over to the DVD's. I found this listing the AR as 4:3, but I know that's no guarantee. I'm 99.9% sure that the R2 is in fact in 4:3 though.

bodomnet

I own the r2 box, its 4:3.

Lark

Lots of widescreen (1.85:1) movies are shot in 4:3 open matte. So why would the studios bother releasing these movies (a good chunk of movies available) in widescreen? Oh, because that's how they were intended to be seen. There was a similar issue with the "Wonderfalls" DVD release, where the director wanted it released in fullscreen as that was the OAR but the studio released it in widescreen.

And to the people who recommended that they buy the R2 version because it is widescreen: what ever happened to OAR? The director's intent? It's important to remember that widescreen does not mean that it is the OAR, even if it is shown that way on HDTV.

ENDContra

^But the majority of primetime television shows that are broadcast in HD are centercropped (cutting the sides off) for 4:3...they arent shot open matte. As far as OAR, when I first watched these shows, it was in 16:9...that makes it the original aspect ratio...but a lot of other people originally saw it in 4:3. In reality, the show has 2 aspect ratios, so why not make both available? A DVD can be authored to play a 16:9 movie in 4:3 (centercropping) on a 4:3 TV. In the case of a show like The O.C. or The King of Queens, why not use this method to make fullframe fans and widescreen fans both happy?

And actually, as far as Wonderfalls, there were some episodes that the director intended for widescreen and some intended for fullscreen...I think the studio probably told him they needed to stick with one for some consistency, so they went wide.

Josh Z

There's at least one episode of Wonderfalls that uses extensive split-screen effects that would be totally mangled in 4:3. I thought the entire show looked great in 16:9 and can't imagine why there's any controversy around it.

If a show aired simultaneously in both 4:3 standard-def and 16:9 HDTV, which is the "Original Aspect Ratio"?

The fact is that most hour-long dramatic TV shows are composed for dual aspect ratios these days. A case can be made for either one as OAR.

critterdvd

I don't own the region 2 release, but I got the information that it was in widescreen from reviews. The 16:9 airing of these shows is when the company chops off a little of the top of the screen and a little at the bottom giving it a widescreen look. The same thing was done for season's 1 & 2 of ER for the DVDs.

sureAV421

not on the o.c. it was center cropped.

Yocke

Wasn't Dark Angel released in 4:3 in the states? It's in widescreen over here.

Philip Reuben

That's simply not true. There are masses upon masses of current TV shows being broadcast in both 16:9 and 4:3, where the 4:3 version is a centre crop of the 16:9 version. This definitely applies to The OC - I've watched it in both ratios.

Dalvin

Looks like Warner dropped the ball on this one. Warner is usually so great with their DVD presentations, but sadly missed this one up. There is a little bit about this at Bill Hunt's website, scroll down to: Worst DVD Video


http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...6th/page2.html

ENDContra

Another thing that annoys me are the reviews for some of these sets on this site...they mention that its "presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1". Whether the opinion of the reviewer is that the OAR is 4:3 or not, it should at least be noted that the show was broadcast in 16:9 if its not included. At least then in the case of a show like The King of Queens where it seems no one has a clue as to when the show first started airing in HDTV, I will know whether or not I should email the studio about their decision or not.

Josh Z

TV production doesn't work like feature film production. In order to save film, TV shows are shot using only 3 perfs for each frame rather than 4, which means that the negative has an aspect ratio of approximately 16:9 for each frame (versus 1.37:1 when using 4-perf). The HDTV version is mastered from this, while the 4:3 standard-def version is taken as a center extraction.

Almost all TV shows that air in 16:9 have more picture on the sides of the frame than their 4:3 versions, unless talking about old shows like Kung-Fu that were never actually meant to be 16:9 and have been cropped at the top and bottom for DVD.

Dalvin

Wonderful analysis Josh! I couldn't have said it better myself.