Microphones in shot.
- Thread starter Eno
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If you're watching on DVD on a modern TV with overscan turned off, it's a fairly frequent occurrence, at least four of five times a season. There are also several effects shots which don't reach the edges of the screen. Watch when the E goes to warp right at the end of the opening credit sequence. There's a rectangular void at the bottom of the screen where there's an artefact from the matting process.
Remember that these shows were made for CRT TVs which automatically cropped 5-10% of the image in what is known as overscan. TV filmakers back then always framed their shots with this in mind, which is why sometimes you'll see microphones in shot, or the edge of set dressing on flat panel displays with overscan turned off. The thing to do is to turn overscan on in your TV settings when watching the TNG DVDs. Or watch them on a CRT set, if you still have one.
The whole series is being reframed for the Blu-ray format, so you won't see any of the edge junk on that.
Remember that these shows were made for CRT TVs which automatically cropped 5-10% of the image in what is known as overscan. TV filmakers back then always framed their shots with this in mind, which is why sometimes you'll see microphones in shot, or the edge of set dressing on flat panel displays with overscan turned off. The thing to do is to turn overscan on in your TV settings when watching the TNG DVDs. Or watch them on a CRT set, if you still have one.
The whole series is being reframed for the Blu-ray format, so you won't see any of the edge junk on that.
Actually, with the notable exception of "Sins of the Father" which appears to have been overly cropped in the non-VFX shots, the new transfers show us a few percent more (2-3%) on the left and right sides than the DVDs because the old tape masters had only 704 active horizontal pixels out of 720. Those 16 horizontal pixels (roughly 8 on each side) become 32 pixels on the blu-rays (16 on each side). So roughly 34,560 pixels on the sides of the new Blu-rays are showing previously hidden picture information.
Looking at the screencaps over at TrekCore, filming equipment that was previously visible on the sides of the DVDs are now even more visible on the Blu-rays! And due to the fact that the 1.33:1 aspect ratio is being presented pillar-boxed within a 16:9 frame, the right and left sides will be fully visible on any modern flatpanel, regardless of the level of overscan.
Just hand wave it away as a negative temperature, which is actually hotter than infinite temperature.
They make Levar Burton speak Spanish on the Blu-Rays?!?
In the opening scene in SotF on the Bluray, when the camera moves with Kurn off of the transporter pad, you can very clearly see that the transporter room set is missing its ceiling. I'm sure it's on the DVDs too, but it was very obvious the first time I watched the bluray.
In "Birthright Part 1" after Bashir leaves Data at his quarters you can see that Bashir is wearing a pair of white tennis shoes rather than standard Starfleet work boots.
There's the infamous shot of a BTS worker chewing gum reflected in a stage decoration in "Unification II."
And yeah boom-mikes, pieces of stands and other equipment slip in to frame on occasion.
There's the infamous shot of a BTS worker chewing gum reflected in a stage decoration in "Unification II."
And yeah boom-mikes, pieces of stands and other equipment slip in to frame on occasion.
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I remember a few times this happened on Lost and when the DVDs came out they were removed digitally. I'm guesing Paramount never did that for Star Trek.
Given that the capability of doing that on a TV series in the 80s and 90s wasn't quite feasible, no.
Do these things actually detract from anyone's enjoyment of the show? I've noticed a strange black box outside the ready room door, and someone's bag on the bridge (IIRC, the latter was in the first epiosde of the second season), and couldn't care less.
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