GoldenWheels

Sorry if this isn't the right area for this...it's kind of a movie Q, kind of a DVD Q, but mostly a Netflix Q I guess.

I watched "The Devil's Tomb" with Cuba Gooding Jr. on Netflix streaming last night.

I am watching it and thinking...why are they streaming me a 4:3 pan and scan version of this movie? I am not as in tune with aspect ratios as a lot of you guys (I can't differentiate 1.85 from a 16:9 by a 2.39:1 as some of you seem to be able to just by sight) but I (think I) know a crappy 4:3 pan and scan when I see it...it's pretty obvious on a 16:9 TV and the pans and stuff getting chopped in half on either side was there too.

So I stopped the movie and went back to check my Wii settings...it's set for a widescreen TV, and the Wii menu displays properly. So I figure, well, maybe it's a new Netflix setting (they just updated it so I figured maybe they had added settings, I dunno). But I can't find anything. Then I check some other movies I know display in widescreen streaming...and they did.

So I figure, okay, maybe this was a TV movie or something, and it only exists as 4:3 because it was filmed that way (that wouldn't explain the P&S but was the only thing I could think of at 11:30 and I wanted to see the rest of the movie so I said f it).

But I go to Amazon this morning to check it out....and it is listed as 1.85:1. And it doesn't look like any other version even exists. I guess it was direct to DVD...but i don't know what that means in regards to what the original aspect might have been.

Does Amazon have the wrong AR listed? And maybe I am I just a bit loopy that late in the evening and totally wrong that it was P&S? (very possible I admit--I'm the definition of "knowing just enough to be dangerous" sometimes).

Jay G.

IMDB lists the aspect ratio as 1.85:1
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1147687/technical

I just played the netflix stream on my PC, and it was 4:3. Also checked on my Wii connected to my WS TV, and it was 4:3 pillarboxed (black bars on the sides). So it's definitely modified from its OAR. I'll take your word for it that it's P&S instead of open-matte.

I noticed that it had a Starz logo at the beginning. Maybe Starz only has a 4:3 broadcast master of the film, and thus that is what they gave Netflix for streaming.

Netflix does have MAR titles sometimes, although usually its the other way around. For example, Buffy's OAR is 4:3, but Netflix has it in open-matte 16:9. I think early seasons of X-Files might be this way on the service too.

Edit: here's the trailer in 16:9
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YUhVr57k7L0?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YUhVr57k7L0?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

Vipper II

Starz titles have a tendency to be shown in 4x3 despite the fact they're readily available in widescreen elsewhere, which is why I avoid them at all costs. I guess Starz doesn't think these new widescreen displays will catch on...

GoldenWheels

Thanks guys....baffles me they would stream a 4:3 version at this point in the game. At least I know I wasn't just crazy.

Have to watch the rest of the Starz stuff now for this.

theWitcher

Many, if not most, of the WB "HD" scope titles available for streaming on Netflix I've checked are reformatted to 16x9, just like on HBO.

Which sucks, in my opinion.

Alan Smithee

There's a lot of titles that are correct 16x9 widescreen that are only 4x3 on DVD- including Miracle Mile, Adventures of the American Rabbit and Mac and Me.