"Back to the Future" coming to Blu-ray October 26, 2010

My copy arrived today & I watched the first film. It looks great!

 

These movies never get old to me. I grew up watching the vhs of these over and over.

 

Quick aspect ratio question. Aren't the blu ray films in 1.85:1? So when played on a 16:9 HDTV, shouldn't there be space at the top and bottom ("black bars")?

 

There SHOULD be, but lots - probably most - 1.85:1 films are cropped slightly for 16X9 and made 1.78:1. Seems pointless to me - most people would never notice the tiny bars - but that's what the studios tend to do...

 

In most cases I think the matte is slightly opened up to fill the image to 1.78:1 instead of cropping the sides.

 

What are you talking about? The BttF Blu-Rays are 1.85:1. Look at these screenshots from DVD Beaver.

Perhaps your TV isn't set up right? The aspect ratio should be set to "Just Scan" or something like that.

 

Have you watched it or any other 1.85:1 Blu-Rays yet? Do you get any "black bars" on the top or sides on your 16:9 HDTV?

 

You're probably right. In any case, the studios tend to avoid true AOR rather than have tiny black bars, and I think that makes little sense...

 

Depends on the studio. Out of the majors Warner for one tend to open up the image to 1.78:1 and Paramount seem to favour that practice as well. From my experience Sony, Fox, MGM and Universal appears to stay true to the 1.85:1 ratio.

 

Many TV sets has that feature under various names so it is worth to check, then again not all TVs give you that option. If it is set to "16:9" then it will probably overscan the picture.

 

I am going to guess a huge majority of Blu-ray releases with an OAR of 1.85 are in fact correct. I don't recall the last 1.85 film I have caught being cropped or open matte to 1.778 but I know it does happen.

I have this set but haven't even opened it yet, too many discs to watch so this one has been sitting sealed for a couple of years. I had to have it for some reason though.