[nebuchadnezzar]

I just popped in Identity

after pressing "Play" in the Main Menu (Title) Screen you are asked whether you would like to watch the feature in "Widescreen" or "Formatted to 4:3"....
after this choice has been pondered

, and a selection made ... another screen appears...do you want the "Original Theatrical Release" or "Extended Cut"

No flipping over discs or trying to figure out which disc to play.....

On top of these goodies, you still get Deleted Scenes in the Special Features submenu.
The only audio track is Dolby 5.1, so no choices to make there.
EVERY movie should be released this way ...

 

[grinch]

Quote:

Originally posted by nebuchadnezzar EVERY movie should be released this way ...

i disagree. everymovie should be released widescreen only, which keeps the bitrate higher on the video and makes for an overall better looking picture. pan&scan must die!

but yeah, seamless threading is pretty cool. it's sad that so few movies/studios have taken use of it though. i still dream of a release of star wars where both the original cuts and special editions are on the same dvd of each movie. oh well.

 

[cyberhazard]

Yes all DVD's should be like that.

Cool movie too. Nice twist, never saw it coming.

 

[nebuchadnezzar]

I agree, all movies should be released in Widescreen.
However, I have a friend who still can't understand why "they put those stupid black bars on the top and bottom of the screen"

I think when/if Star Wars is released it will probably be on multiple discs.

It was a pretty cool movie...entertaining. Good casting.

 

[bootman]

Quote:

Originally posted by grinch i disagree. everymovie should be released widescreen only, which keeps the bitrate higher on the video and makes for an overall better looking picture. pan&scan must die! but yeah, seamless threading is pretty cool. it's sad that so few movies/studios have taken use of it though. i still dream of a release of star wars where both the original cuts and special editions are on the same dvd of each movie. oh well.

While I also hate P&S, not everyone (especially renters)
have a large enough viewing screen so that a WS movie can be properly enjoyed.
(ever wonder why so many DVD players have a zoom function?)

I personally feel that more studios should put out open matte versions of film instead of P&S.
Most film is shot in open matte (roughly the same 4:3 scale as 35 mm and P&S)
then matted to WS for theater release.

I'm not sure what is the native format for the newer HD cameras.
They in fact maybe 16:9 from the start so that directors don't need to go back and matte to WS.





For those that don't know, A P&S is a matte of the WS version.
(a matte of a matte. bad)

 

[bootman]

Some studios do a good job going to P&S from WS.

Check out Pixar's A Bugs Life for a great example.
They actually re-rendered a good deal of the movie for P&S.

I actually enjoy both versions on my non-HD 43" Sony.

This is not the norm though.

 

[grinch]

i was pretty sure that 90% of directors do not use an open matte scheme for filming. but either way, i am not a big fan and don't see the big deal.

i'd rather watch the widescreen version of any movie, reguardless of what the size of the screen is. anything else is a edited version of what the director wanted, which to me sort of kills the whole deal. of course, i do have a 16:9 tv though.

also i'm still not sold on the whole open matte deal. i've seen screenshot comparisons from lord of the rings and there was plenty of scene missing from the right and left edges of the frame. sure there was a slight bit more vertical data, but i'm not willing to bork up peter jackson's vision just for that.

also, most movies are matted for a reason. boon mics and stuff like that might end up showing if they just showed every film unedited. i am pretty sure that most directors film widescreen though.

sure in a bug's life they re-rendered it to make it look okay, but this doesn't mean i think the widescreen version is ten times better. just watch the opening credits and the difference is so horrible. widescreen version = big beautiful scene with the tall tree to the left and the credit information to the right. p&s version = tree is all you see centered in the picture, and the credits written on top of it. i don't see how anybody could prefer actually this, but i guess that's just me, and i HAVE been watching widescreen versions of movies at home since i was 12 or 13 (laserdiscs rule!).

 

[bootman]

I agree with you that WS is superior to P&S.
But the majority of people (non-videophiles) would rather have the screen "filled up" than matted.
I like the push for HD TVs just for this reason.
It pushes the average folk into accepting WS as the new norm.

 

[averydonovan]

I prefer widescreen for the rare time I watch a DVD, too. But all I have to watch it on is a 17" computer monitor, which uses the standard 4:3 ratio. So when watching a 2.35:1 anamorphic screen the picture gets awfully tiny.

And not all HDTV monitors are widescreen. I've seen plenty that are 4:3 but can still display an HD picture in all it's detailed glory.

 

[Habib]

I rather watch WS on my 13inch TV than P&S on my 21inch monitor. How would you feel, if 10% of treble and 10% of bass is cut out of your music.

That's mp3!

 

[usc goose]

Quote:

Originally posted by Habib I rather watch WS on my 13inch TV than P&S on my 21inch monitor. How would you feel, if 10% of treble and 10% of bass is cut out of your music. That's mp3!

agreed. pan and scan is freaking annoying. of course i usually try and keep such comments to myself lest i come off as a film snob. but screw it. pan and scan sucks it long and sucks it hard.

 

[Hirsch]

Quote:

Originally posted by grinch i disagree. everymovie should be released widescreen only, which keeps the bitrate higher on the video and makes for an overall better looking picture.

Absolutely! I refuse to buy the DVD's of Casablanca, or Gone With the Wind, until they are released in widescreen

For those who don't get the joke, most movies prior to the early 50's were released in 4:3 aspect ratio. So, the movies above would have to be vertically pan and scanned to release them in a widescreen format.

My own preference is to view movies in the format intended by the director. For the time being, that's a 4:3 set with 16:9 capability...despite most of my watching being in 16:9. A 4:3 set that can do an anamorphic squeeze deals with 16:9 far more gracefully than a 16:9 set deals with 4:3 (although 16:9 sets are getting better at 4:3 lately, I think).

 

[Habib]

Ooops, that's what I meant to say. I want to watch it the way it was intended to be seen.

 

[kelly]

What I'd like to see...

1) as grinch said, no pan & scan whatsoever

2) the defautl behavior to be to include all bonus material

3) the theatrical cut accessible from the main dvd menu

4) each bonus scene checkable individually from a configuration menu with preferences that save to a flash device inside the dvd player

 

[grinch]

Quote:

Originally posted by Hirsch Absolutely! I refuse to buy the DVD's of Casablanca, or Gone With the Wind, until they are released in widescreen For those who don't get the joke, most movies prior to the early 50's were released in 4:3 aspect ratio. So, the movies above would have to be vertically pan and scanned to release them in a widescreen format. My own preference is to view movies in the format intended by the director. For the time being, that's a 4:3 set with 16:9 capability...despite most of my watching being in 16:9. A 4:3 set that can do an anamorphic squeeze deals with 16:9 far more gracefully than a 16:9 set deals with 4:3 (although 16:9 sets are getting better at 4:3 lately, I think).

what you're describing really isn't pan&scan since there is no panning or scanning going on to make the cut of the movie. most of the movies of that time were not filmed in widescreen, like kubrick's work. the ratio was usually areound 1.66:1 or 1.35:1. as i believe i stated earlier, my preference is for what the director intended, and as most directors of that time filmed their movies that way, that's what i enjoy. i do own a few, but not many (kubrick's box set, marilyn monroe boxset 1, etc.) that are all "4:3" or close to it because they were originally filmed that way.

my 16:9 tv does 4:3 just fine, however i never set it to stretch the screen. one of the many glories of having a front-view is that my sidebars are black, not grey or white like they are on a lot of plasmas and rear-projection tvs. any kind of stretching gives me a headache and makes me want to choke whoever's holding the remote control at that time.

kelly makes some good comments, though i usually enjoy bonus scenes separate, but playable in an "all in a row" type deal. funny how it's the really small companies like Troma that are the only ones to take advantage of the amazing features that the media is capable of using. oh well, maybe hd-dvd will be better?