Buffy In HD- Who Is Responsible for this Abomination?

But its in HD! You're welcome.

Seriously though, complete disaster. But I'm not sure who's responsible. I had assumed it was Fox.

But yeah. Stick with the correct aspect ratio and color timing of the DVDs. They're still affordable and the best way to get your Sunnydale fix.

 

I just watched this yesterday. Had no idea this was handled so poorly. Some of the reveals from the aspect ratio change are hilarious. There's just crew members standing there in frame.

 

I've been hearing about this for about a year, I think. I'm sure glad it came out over streaming and not with a blu-ray release, because I'm afraid I would have jumped on a blu-ray release immediately without understanding just how messed up these are. Geez. Just use the original TV aspect ratio for goodness' sake. Don't know why studios are so damn insistent on making everything "widescreen" even if it means butchering the content.

 

It's simple. That's what the great unwashed demand these days. Showing things in 4:3 is tantamount to it being in B&W!

 

Its crazy some of the things highlighted in that video. Such as - zooming in MORE than they did on the original 1:33 aspect ratio in some scenes. So not only do you have instances where the widescreen exposes elements never meant to appear onscreen (around the sides), but also times where elements meant to be highlighted are lost due to inexplicable zoom shots.

I have to wonder who they hired to do this because the results speak for themselves. There are actually instances where the HD looks really good, but overall its wildly inconsistent. Like they had different teams working in tandem with nobody on the same page and no real familiarity with the show.

I actually find it pretty interesting as it shows how wrong things can go, and its a little surprising it doesn't happen more often.

 

I'd guess that the inexplicable zoom shots were done because the WS shots had even worse 'elements' in the L/R edges (than the ones they allowed through elsewhere). So they zoomed in the 4:3 area so that they could maintain WS while cropping out what would have appeared in a non-zoomed WS shot.

 

Oh my. I just read that this is the version Netflix uses now?

:::hugs his Buffy dvds:::

 

That is way, way F'd up. Inferior people should not be employed: one of the first rules of mastering is, "first, do no harm." It ain't rocket science to match the original color, or at least lean pretty hard in that direction. I suspect either morons did it, or Fox redid it at a very cheap facility that didn't care, or it was done very quickly without enough time, or several of the above.

I always, always request a standard-def version for shows or films I'm redoing in HD so I have an idea about framing and color so we can at least go in that general direction. There have been cases where the creative people in charge say, "I hated that look -- I insist on making it look different," and sometimes it really is an improvement. In all cases, there's more detail, assuming you're scanning from the camera negatives. But there ain't no excuse for crappy framing -- that's an easy fix.

Yes, this is sadly true. (I will say no more.)

 

I watch plenty of stuff on Netflix in 4:3!

 

Is it? I thought it was exclusive to Pivot. I watched Buffy a few weeks ago on Netflix and I could have sworn it was the standard version. I'll have to check that out again.

Ironically enough, I noted a couple years ago that the version of "Once More With Feeling" is in correct aspect ratio on Netflix, but on the DVD it is in fake widescreen! But I can live with that better than I can live with visible cameramen, boom mikes, and incorrect colors and day/night filters.

A long time ago, I sold my VHS collection of Dark Shadows: Revival Series and got the DVD set, and was disgusted to find out that the pilot was the broadcast version (the VHS one was an extended director's cut) and the day/night filter was not applied at all. So all the night scenes are obviously shot in daylight. It's small consolation that the VHS picture quality was pretty poor. Wish I'd ripped the VHS's, or at least held on to them until I could watch the DVD's. They're re-released the package since then but I have no idea whether they ever corrected the problems. Probably not worth it for the probably small number of people who want that series.

 

I don't see Buffy on Netflix or Amazon. I see it on Hulu at 4:3.

 

It must have expired VERY recently. I watched a couple episodes back when all the 20th anniversary brou-ha-ha was going on and I was reading a new Buffy article every day at AV club.

 

Heh heh. Firesign Theater quote.

 

"Not responsible!"
"Shoes for industry, shoes for the dead!"