Most people watching cable tv, still watch non-Hi-Def

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by radickeyfan, Jan 13, 2020.

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  1. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    Can someone tell me what's going on with the aspect ratio induced distortion on this DVD Widescreen version of MGM's "House Of Games"? The image below I shot of my Samsung 16x9 HDtv and is self explanatory of the issue. I get this on Reese Witherspoon's "Freeway" DVD. Does this have something to do with the way it was scanned for anamorphic lens correction? The Criterion BluRay of House of Games may or may not fix this.

    I've tried every setting in my Sony BD player and my Samsung HDtv picture settings. The Widescreen "Fit In Screen" version is the best it can get but the vertical squeeze of heads is just irritating to watch.

    [​IMG]
     
  2. bradman

    bradman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lexington,KY
    He payed for X" of screen and feels cheated when it's not completely full.
     
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  3. Rachael Bee

    Rachael Bee Miembra muy loca

    I've heard many folks say things akin to that like, "I want my screen filled". I was in a Blockbuster back around the turn of the century and the person in front of me in line was returning and complaining about the DVD they'd rented. The first thing out of this man's mouth was, "I didn't buy a G**D*** 50" bigscreen to watch Mother F***ing black bars...." It got worse from there until the manager came out of the back room and threw the man and his equally vulgar wife out. I felt sorry for the poor, little teenage boy working the counter. After the man's initial sentence I said, Maybe you should of read Consumer Reports before you bought a 50" big screen." The wife said something nasty to me and I asked her if she was free for tennis....that scared her. The man behind me, which lived in my apartment complex, who was huge, 6' 8" and 250 pounds, said something that unsettled and scared the vulgar man. About this time the manager came running out and the dumb-butts ran out yelling more obscenities. The manager told us all to flee to the back room if they got back out of their car with possibly a weapon but they drove away.
     
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  4. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    Well that was certainly a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

    Just curious but what is asking the nasty woman if she's free for tennis in reference to? Is it code for something? I'ld like to use it in any future chance encounters with the Griswolds from hell.
     
  5. Rachael Bee

    Rachael Bee Miembra muy loca

    I thought it sounded rather cold after she said something threatening to me. She definitely took it that way. Maybe she thought she was gonna be the ball, which is what I intended.
     
  6. Carrman

    Carrman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    My point was that content and equipment are two separate industries. Manufacturers can sell 4-8K capable screens without any interest in content available. Content producers can keep making their product 2K without caring what devices we are using to consume it.

    If there was a single company that both produced high quality content as well as high resolution and deep color equipment then we would start seeing a match.
    Imagine knowing that when you spend the money for the best possible viewing device, you would be guaranteed uncompressed content to match! Isn't the best over all option right now BluRay? Most of which is up-scaled 2K production anyway....


    The video game industry is an example, both the hardware and content producers need to meet spec in order to provide the end user with quality content that uses the hardware to its fullest extent.
     
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  7. Carrman

    Carrman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    Maybe for some. If I'm watching sci fi, then yes, I'll enjoy it more with a better image as the visual is part of what draws me in.
    Drama, comedy, etc. I'm just enjoying the writing so I can still get enjoyment from watching on an ipad when traveling.

    An old colleague of mine used to ask 'Why waste all that money just to watch I Love Lucy? No one can write like that any more!'
    Still makes me laugh.
     
  8. In regards to video games, the game designers usually have to 'dumb down' thier games to the weakest of the console that it will be played on. One could argue Sony is in a position to do what you said regarding video.
     
  9. Carrman

    Carrman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    I know it's a loose analogy but right now, I can go to a store and buy an HDR, 4K console, TV and game and enjoy the best possible experience. Even better with a PC as a source. Graphics are a huge part of the sell to the end user there.

    For the best possible video experience, I'd really have to do some digging to get my hands on something similar to raw 4K, 10bit, 4:4:4, 60hz, uncompressed media.
     
  10. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    What irritates me the most is not whether every channel broadcast in HD or not, but the fact that they produce content that is narrower than 16:9, so if something is 2:20 to 1 (Picard) people like me, who own 2 32¨TVs, have to put up with a way smaller pics for no reason other than who produced the content, meant for home-watching, on 16:9 TVs, decided we had to get huge black bars on top and bottom of the pic, because the cinematic aspect, that does make sense for movie-watching at a movie theater, looks ¨better¨ and is trendy.
     
  11. Carrman

    Carrman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    You must have gone crazy watching The Grand Budapest Hotel in 3 different aspect ratios!
     
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  12. James Slattery

    James Slattery Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Island
    I prefer to watch my 4x3 content on a 4x3 TV, which is what it is meant for. When they try to make a 4x3 show into 16x9, like they did on one of the DVD releases of Route 66, and you wound up with the tops and bottoms cut off, or like Make Room for Daddy on COZI, where they did the same thing, its awful. Also, why do I see something which appears on my 4x3 set in a box, with black on all sides of the picture? What's going on there?
     
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  13. yamfox

    yamfox Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Nah.
    There are some YouTubers who are shooting their tech news/reviews videos in wider ratios (usually 2:1, like House of Cards and several other Netflix shows), and THAT I find gimmicky and not really justifiable, given it’s just a glorified vlog shot on an expensive camera.
    But programming with actual cinematography, lighting, and some sort of thematic intent to it? Has not even once ever bugged me. But I am one of the folks who likes the aesthetic of it and thinks it gives a more refined big-budget feeling, and that’s probably due to mental associations with the type of content that is usually shot that way (much like my thinking 24 fps has the correct “feeling” for any kind of narrative media). But my basic viewpoint is that directors/showrunners/DPs should just be able to do whatever they think suits their work regarding framing and if black bars bother you that’s entirely on you.
     
  14. COZI is probably being shown in standard def on your cable system. Looking at the Shout Factory DVD release of Route 66, I'm showing it's in 4:3 and it should show correctly (albeit with black bars) on a 16:9 TV, which I just verified.
     
  15. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    It sure is, but I doubt I'm the only one bothered by this. If I spend a lot of money on a BD title made for home viewing, like a concert DVD, I expect it to get the maximum size my TV can deliver, unless it's old 4:3, in which case it's expected. Case in point, the latest Black Sabbath blu ray; so not buying that one because of the narrow aspect ratio, but dowloading the kerrap out of it instead (their lo$$:D). Sure, my BDP can fill the screen by zooming everything, but I hate missing content. This aspect ratio BS is OK for movies, for they are primarily intended to be shown in movie theaters, hence when the domestic version is released, black bars are expected. But a concert DVD intended for home viewing ? Or Netflix series ? Nah:sigh:.

    Glad it doesn't bother you though:righton:
     
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  17. James Slattery

    James Slattery Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Island
    The company which was releasing Route 66, prior to Shout was called Infinity, I believe. They were a hack company. The first half season of the show was put out from a set of beat up 16mm prints, some with audio issues and some edited. They then put out another half season set, don't recall if it was part 2 of the first season or part one of the second season, in 16x9 aspect ratio. This cut off the tops and bottoms of the picture and they received so much criticism that they re-did it.
     
  18. htom

    htom Senior Member

    Location:
    Montreal, Canada
    If you're referring to the original MGM DVD of House of Games it, like Freeway, is non-anamorphic widescreen. Therefore on a properly adjusted setup you should get a smaller picture that is neither the full height of your display nor full width, which is what your first image shows. You could temporarily change the picture setting on your TV or your Blu-ray player but you would also have to remember to change the settings back afterwards. In this case rescaling the image using Zoom (not Fit to Screen and assuming you have it) might be the only way to get the image to almost fill the display area without distorting the picture but it likely won't be an exact fit. In any case the best way about this would be to change only one device's setting at a time.

    There is also the possibility that neither device can rescale a non-anamorphic widescreen image to your satisfaction. The problem is that these particular DVDs were meant to be watched on a 4:3 display.
     
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  19. There is,it's called SONY,and rumors say that they're think about getting rid of Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures,but these are just rumors.
     
  20. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    I was kinda' suspecting the limitations of my Samsung TV and Sony BD player as the cause for the distorted actor's heads no matter the settings on both. Even the "Standard"version (flip side of DVD disc) must be played with different settings that are similar to the top 4:3 image I posted which makes the head proportion look correct. The "Zoom" feature is grayed out on my Samsung HDtv on both cable box and BD player connections through HDMI cable, but I wouldn't use Zoom anyway since I only want the actor's head proportion to look correct. Black bars on the side don't bother me.

    I was hoping the BluRay of House Of Games would fix this widescreen distortion since it got a completely new scan from Criterion as apposed to the MGM DVD. The BD screengrabs at review sites suggests the distortion has been removed when played at full screen 16x9.

    Thanks for the feedback on this.
     
  21. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    Shawn likes this.
  22. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    It should be done the way I illustrated it above. If they don't, complain to the channel.

    We solved this by getting a much bigger 4K TV and watching the show in the aspect ratio the filmmakers intended. 2020 TV shows are not going to work well on older TVs.
     
  23. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    And that, my friend is a lovely first-worldly solution I'd love to implement, but can't afford to replace stuff before is worn out beyond repair. I'll guess I'll just sit closer.
     
  24. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Eh, there's cheap sets out there, especially if you buy one that's a couple of years old.
     
  25. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

    You mean in the States, where I'm not at ?:laugh:
     
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