CS2005

Hi, I have been buying DVD's for a few years now, just recentlly a few friends have been bringing up the issue of "fake" widescreen and true widescreen format. I don't have a widescreen TV yet, but plan on buying one this summer.
So what are the problems with movies presented in "fake" widescreen?
I did some searching around on the internet, but could only find people discussing if a movie was or wasn't in true widescreen, not what the actual disadvantages were. I know some of the mvoies in my collection are not true widescreen, are these movies basically junk if I buy my new TV?
If this topic has already been discussed, or if this is the wrong board, I apologize.

Groucho

Are you talking about anamorphic vs. non-anamorphic? Or misframed movies?

CS2005

Well the issue they were talking about was more Full Frame movies with the black bars dropped on them.

Groucho

Hmm...I can't really think of any examples of that.

DVDho78DTS

Not sure if these two links will help but they are a good read.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...ic185demo.html
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articl...ic235demo.html

Bugg

A few TV Shows Like season 1 of Kung Fu and Stephen King's IT would probably fit the description of fake widescreen as they where filmed with a 1.33 aspect ratio in mind, but where cropped down to 1.78 for their dvd releases.

Otherwise "Fake Widescreen" is a term used by ignorant folk to describe any soft-matted transfers.

Shagrath

Or he could be talking about movies like Back to School, where the "widescreen" version is just a P&S transfer /w black bars thrown on top. I haven't looked at it in a long time, but I seem to remember that these black bars even cut off half the names in opening credits and people's heads and such.

Mike Lowrey

I'll add a title to this list.

The HBO film, El Diablo appears to be a 'fake widescreen' transfer, as there are some shots that are clearly misframed. Like heads being cut off when I know I remember that they weren't. Because the film was made by HBO in the early '90s, it's pretty safe to assume that it was shot in 1.33.

Jay G.

Here's a good link that shows the different methods of shooting and transfering a widescreen image:
http://www.digieffects.com/frames/tr...lmtovideo.html

As has been mentioned, there is no "fake" widescreen unless the WS image is different than the image that was originally meant to be shown.

An example I can think of is the 16:9 image on the new Ninja Scroll DVD, which crops the original 4:3 frame.

cisco1959

This site is pretty good too.

Widescreen

abintra

The first two seasons of ER are MAR as they were composed for 4:3 but are modified 16x9 for DVD.

Mr. Salty

I have a suspicion his friends are ignorant folk who are talking about soft-matted and/or Super 35 film transfers.

Cygnet74

The Hitcher (1986) was made by HBO Films and the OAR was 2.35:1 even though it debuted on HBO as P&S.

Filmmaker

Just to allay the fears of anyone interested in buying this title, the DVD transfer of BACK TO SCHOOL was recently upgraded and corrected (look for a notation on back regarding the image being 16:9 enhanced to confirm you have the new one) and looks fabulous now. STEPHEN KING'S IT, on the other hand, is a P.O.S. on DVD, letterboxed when it shouldn't be and with several minutes at the end of Side 1 and beginning of Side 2 edited out to turn it from it's original two-part construction into a single movie edit (which makes NO sense whatsoever since you have to flip sides anyway!). If it didn't have the commentary track, I'd have pitched it a long time ago...

DVD Polizei

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is an example of a Fake WS.

There's a scene where Spencer Tracy has his mother and daughter talking to each other via phone (one phone being held up to another phone), and there is a police captain who walks in the room. Well, when you notice the dialogue between Tracy and the captain, it is very clear you are supposed to be seeing the phones! But, you can't! They've been chopped off the bottom of the screen.

There are many other scenes which would have been more entertaining if they weren't chopped.

Bugg

The Hitcher debuted with a theatrical release.

RockStrongo

Could he be talking about HBO HD widescreen broadcasts of some 2.35:1 ar shows cropped to 1.66:1 ar?

The Void

I think he has read about the MGM class action lawsuit. That lawsuit is a joke. There is nothing wrong with any of the MGM movies on the list. They are in their true widescreen aspect ratio. The fullscreen versions of those movies were done open matte which shows more of the image. More doesn't mean better. The movies were meant to be seen with the mattes on in their widescreen ratio.

Here is an article with examples and more information on the silly lawsuit.

http://www.dvdfile.com/news/viewpoin...vdlawsuit.html

JLyon1515

Correct me if I'm wrong (as I'm not a fan of epic films) but aren't the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings films all flippers? When I heard it, I just could get over how lame that was (I mean, I'm all for better picture quality, but having to flip a DVD just bothers me if it's in the middle of a film). I just heard this tho, I'm never confirmed it or not.

FinkPish

First of all, how can you not be a fan of epic films in general? That is like not being a fan of comedies or dramas. You are excluding a whole genre?

To answer your question, they aren't flippers, they are on two separate discs, to keep the image and sound quality at the best possible for the length of the film. And for the length of the films, it is good to have a break halfway through anyway.

milo bloom

I think the lawsuit also has to do with the little graphics on the back of their DVDs. They would show a little graphic that basically showed a scope movie, with lines showing where the panandscan image would crop it. The problem was they were using the same graphic on softmatte movies which is quite truthfully incorrect. You do often see more image in 4x3 versions of those movies, but that's not the point \/ .

Rypro 525

i doubt you were supposed to see the phones because the pan and scan version (i think i saw it on the documenary of the movie) was attrotious on how much they cut.

JLyon1515

Ahhh, ok, not flippers, but still equally annoying. Really, who wants to get up in the middle of a movie?

Anyway, yes, I'm not a fan of epic films. Have you not heard someone say they weren't a fan of horror films, or not a fan of comedies? Well it's the same with me, just not a fan of epic films.

Cygnet74

I know, the point i was trying to make was that just because something was made by a television netwrok, doesn't mean its intended aspect ratio is 1.33:1 by default. another example is Gettysburg which was broadcast full frame, even though Ronald F. Maxwell composed for 1.85:1.

talemyn

That's what multi-disc players with remotes are for . . .