The Shield in Widescreen: Rebuy or keep the Full Screen?
 

Already have seasons 1 - 5 of The Shield in the OOP full screen versions, but am tempted by CircuitCity's sale of $19.99/seaon for the new widescreen versions.

Do any of you have any comments regarding the new widescreen transfers of these sets compared to the full screen version? Since there will be no full screen version of season 6 or 7, I'd like for there to be some continuity with my sets.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

While I had no problem with the broadcast faithful 4:3 versions, I took the opportunity a few months ago to pick up the 16:9 versions at 16.99 each, and was able to actually make more selling the old ones.

Like you, I did this because I wanted a consistent set, and I figured Sony would release S6 as widescreen only.

Isn't the show shot in 16mm, which is 4:3? Wouldn't that mean that these widescreen versions are actually slightly cropped in order to make these widescreen transfers, at least for the previous seasons that may not have taken into account that they were going to eventually be framed for 16:9?

See my post #48 for screencaps in this thread

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....ghlight=Shield

the widescreen versions aren't cropped. This show seems to have been filmed in widescreen, cropped for US broadcast, released in 4:3 for seasons 1-5 in the US, while being 16:9 for overseas broadcast and DVD release. This whole matter is confusing to me. Shawn Ryan said he intended the show to be seen in 4:3 (DVD season 3 commentary) - but I don't know if he's changed his mind since or was all Sony's doing???

Most TV dramas are shot in a 3-perf format, which yields an aspect ratio closer to 16:9. The 4:3 broadcasts are derived from a center extraction, with the sides being cropped off.

This is the opposite of theatrical films, which are shot in 4-perf format for a native aspect ratio of 1.37:1. When those play theatrically at 1.85:1, the top and bottom are matted off.

Shooting in 3-perf saves a lot of film, and hence a lot of money.

I'm waiting for a complete series set. I know as soon as I convert to the new releases a set will be announced.

Absolutely. I'm done buying them. I've ben screwed a couple times by the studios giving exclusives to the latecomers, so if I want to convert to the WS releases (which I didn't know existed prior to this thread), I'll definitely wait until The Shield is finshed as a show and then pick up a Complete Series set that includes bonus material not available separately to the suckers (i.e., the true fans of the show) who bought the earlier releases.

Yeah, but The Shield shoots on 16mm, not 35mm 3-perf. That's why I asked. Even Super 16 is only 1.66:1, which would mean some cropping. It's possible that they take a center cut of the full 4:3 image for the 4:3 transfers and now we are seeing a 16:9 crop of the full 4:3 versions. I'm still confused about how this is being achieved and why it is being done, since, like Jay Derek already posted, Shawn Ryan specifically talks about shooting 4:3 on purpose.

Thanks for letting me know about the sale. I've sold my full screen sets in anticipation of the widescreen ones but I've wanted to wait for a sale. Picked up all 5 seasons for less than what I sold them for.

I also sold my fullscreen sets and rebought widescreen. I ended up having a little cash left over.

well, i just sold my full screens for roughly the same price as I paid for the widescreen versions. As for a complete collection, I wouldn't expect there to be one until December '09 (and well into 2010 when it would be reasonably priced on sale). I also wouldn't expect there to be any additional bonus material, as the existing sets are packed with goodies already.

Lightly cropping Super 16 is pretty common for television as well. Veronica Mars did that, for instance: cropping a 1.66:1 flat negative to 1.78:1, then center-cropping that to 4x3 for standard def broadcast.

Maybe The Shield is doing the same thing as Buffy the Vampire Slayer in its second season. For the longest time, everyone assumed the first two seasons were shot on 16mm with a 1.33:1-ish flat negative, but if you pay close enough attention to the certain flashbacks in the widescreen UK sets from later seasons, it's clear that season 2 was shot wide and center-cropped too. (There used to be a website with stills illustrating this, but it looks like it's gone under.) The episodes weren't composed with widescreen in mind, they've never even aired wide anywhere in the world, but that was apparently just part of the workflow. That, and/or the studio made them shoot wide so the series would have more resale value in syndication when HD becomes dominant. Composing for 1.33:1 even if the 'full image' is wider isn't any different than composing for 1.85:1 but shooting full aperture with TV/video in mind.

I can wait. Time goes faster than you think. And there are many other things to watch in the meantime. I bought the entire set of Homicide when it went on sale last year, and haven't watched one episode of that yet.

As for bonus material, you may very well be right. But, the complete set will probably be cheaper than the individual sets, and come in some cool packaging, like a burning tire or a bag of marked money or something.