TV on DVD pet peeve

[tomswift2002]

Up until recently the CBS and PBS feeds here in Ontario would be broadcast in 4:3 for their Standard-Def feed, so all the shows (even 4:3 commercials that the station was pillar boxing) would be squished because they were sending an anamorphic signal. So on my widescreen TV I would be able to manually stretch the image to its right ratio, but on the older 4:3 TV's in my house everybody would look extremely thin. But I think the problem was more with my cable provider not having their equipment set correctly.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

A pet peeve of fans of the classic TV series Route 66 was that the show was presented in widescreen on DVD when it wasn't filmed in widescreen originally;

Infinity Entertainment Group has been very excited to bring the iconic television program Route 66 to DVD for the first time. We have taken great care in restoring and packaging this beloved classic for collectors. However, it recently came to our attention that there is some confusion in the marketplace about some of the technical aspects of this restoration process.

A key decision in the digital restoration of the series was whether to retain the original full screen 4 x 3 aspect ratio (old tube televisions) or to update to a widescreen format with a 16 x 9 aspect ratio (new digital TVs). Since the restoration process utilized the original 35mm film assets, the goal was to do a high definition transfer, updating the aspect ratio for broadcast on new HD TVs. High Definition transfer which requires an update to the 16×9 aspect ratio for new HD TV Broadcast and future Digital Media delivery, i.e. Blu-Ray DVD and HD Internet.

In this new widescreen format, without vertical cropping the program would appear distorted. During the film transfer, the post production house used a process called tilt and scan which allows a Telecine technician to examine each scene individually and center the frame on the action. Unfortunately, in extreme close-ups, the cropping may occasionally intrude on the original framing, sometimes cutting off a portion of the top of the head.

While we tried to remain as true as possible to the original programming, our overall goal is to not only make the program available once again on television, but to optimize it for the next generation of broadcast and television standards.

Statement released about new “Route 66″ DVDs

Needless to say, the fans weren't pleased.

 

[dub]

I remember one time, I was watching my parents' TV and was annoyed at everything having the stretched-out look and set it to "pillar-box" things presented in 4:3. I left it that way when I was done, and the next time they were watching the TV they began panicking. "Something is terribly wrong with the TV, there are black bars on the sides of the screen." I eventually confessed that I did that and that's the way it's supposed to look. To which they said "that can't be the way things are supposed to look. Everyone's too thin."

LOL...I love old people!

 

[Harvey]

I would be remiss in my company duties if I didn't point out that Shout! Factory has restored Route 66 to its original aspect ratio on DVD.

 

[urbandefault]

When I started buying DVDs flat panel (wide screen) TVs were nowhere near afforable for me, so I insisted on having the fullscreen format. The pan and scan was mildly annoying, but nowhere near as much as having the letterbox on my 25" CRT TV.

Sidebar: I remember the first 25" color TV I ever saw, an RCA console my parents bought when I was a kid (sometime in the 60s--can't pin it down to a year). It seemed enormous compared to the 19" B&W portable it replaced, and they had it until it died around 1980.

 

[Random_Spock]

A pet peeve of fans of the classic TV series Route 66 was that the show was presented in widescreen on DVD when it wasn't filmed in widescreen originally;

Infinity Entertainment Group has been very excited to bring the iconic television program Route 66 to DVD for the first time. We have taken great care in restoring and packaging this beloved classic for collectors. However, it recently came to our attention that there is some confusion in the marketplace about some of the technical aspects of this restoration process.

A key decision in the digital restoration of the series was whether to retain the original full screen 4 x 3 aspect ratio (old tube televisions) or to update to a widescreen format with a 16 x 9 aspect ratio (new digital TVs). Since the restoration process utilized the original 35mm film assets, the goal was to do a high definition transfer, updating the aspect ratio for broadcast on new HD TVs. High Definition transfer which requires an update to the 16×9 aspect ratio for new HD TV Broadcast and future Digital Media delivery, i.e. Blu-Ray DVD and HD Internet.

In this new widescreen format, without vertical cropping the program would appear distorted. During the film transfer, the post production house used a process called tilt and scan which allows a Telecine technician to examine each scene individually and center the frame on the action. Unfortunately, in extreme close-ups, the cropping may occasionally intrude on the original framing, sometimes cutting off a portion of the top of the head.

While we tried to remain as true as possible to the original programming, our overall goal is to not only make the program available once again on television, but to optimize it for the next generation of broadcast and television standards.

Statement released about new “Route 66″ DVDs

Needless to say, the fans weren't pleased.

I don't blame the fans not being pleased. I hate when shows that were originally filmed in full screen, get butchered to be made 'widescreen'. It ends up cutting out parts of the scene itself.

The whole cutting off actors heads would be rather to me, not to mention just making a scene look really odd. I don't know why (other than just for the newer tv's) they have such an obsession with making movies and tv shows that way.

Don't they have a way to do things with out screwing them up royally?

 

[L'Idiot]

You know, looking over those above photos, I got to say, the horse look like a real smug and arrogant bastard in the stretched-out image. The narrow eyes are more prominent, it's like he's in on a joke he's not sharing with you.

Oh, but he is. He is.

 

[Timewalker]

You know, looking over those above photos, I got to say, the horse look like a real smug and arrogant bastard in the stretched-out image. The narrow eyes are more prominent, it's like he's in on a joke he's not sharing with you.

Oh, but he is. He is.

The horse is clearly smirking about something.

 

[StalwartUK]

It's always annoying when shows aren't available in their original aspect ratio. For instance, Thunderbirds, which was originally done in 4:3 was released on Blu-ray in widescreen. It looks absolutely stupid with the tops of the character's heads cut off and stuff. I have no idea why they did it except perhaps that it's a "kids show" and parents would complain if it didn't "fill the screen".

 

[tomswift2002]

It's always annoying when shows aren't available in their original aspect ratio. For instance, Thunderbirds, which was originally done in 4:3 was released on Blu-ray in widescreen. It looks absolutely stupid with the tops of the character's heads cut off and stuff. I have no idea why they did it except perhaps that it's a "kids show" and parents would complain if it didn't "fill the screen".

I still remember the first time I was watching Babylon 5 on DVD, it was on a 4:3 TV, so I noticed during the Season 1 Soul Hunter episode and Sinclair turns the weapon on the bad Soul Hunter, the cropping of the scene cut Sinclair's head off right at the bottom of his eyeballs. But this exists on the 1993 PAL anamorphic masters.

 

[Forbin]

For me, things must be seen in their original format, period.

I caught a Make Room for Daddy on Cozi recently. It was cropped to 16:9 They were doing a whole routine about a dog. I didn't realize the dog was actually lying on the floor in front of Danny until it leaped up for a moment. The cropping had cropped out the whole point of the scene!

Burn in with pillars? Has anyone actually experienced that? Maybe if you had the TV on 24/7 with 4:3 shows running, after a year or so. If you also watch 16:9 shows that keep the whole screen active, I can't imagine a problem.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Burn in with pillars? Has anyone actually experienced that?

You bet. Only took a couple of hours - noticed it right away.

 

[tomswift2002]

One thing I don't like on DVD, especially now in 2014, is when when studio's release shows that were done in widescreen or HD, but the DVD's have the widescreen episodes matted into a 4:3 screen. I remember when "History Detectives" Seasons 9 & 10 were issued on general DVD 2-3 years ago, I was expecting anamorphic widescreen. (I had ordered Season 5 of the show directly from PBS a few months earlier, and all the episodes were anamorphic on DVD-R's). However the general release DVD's were in letterbox format. In 1997 letterbox would've been alright, but DVD's released since 2009?