useless info on packaging

Mordib · Post by **Mordib** » 30 Sep 2005, 10:11

so today i spent a good hour strolling round the respective sales at virgin, hmv and music zone. no real outstanding bargains but one thing that did catch my eye was Icon's shiny release of 'dog day afternoon'.

picking it up to take a closer look i checked out the aspect ratio printed on the back which was apparently "Standard (Suitable for most tv's)". Is this some new dumbing down trend in the tech specs or are icon just unhelpful prats??

m.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 30 Sep 2005, 10:35

Most TV's?

I take it that means a 4/3 transfer.
Surely a 4/3 transfer is suitable for all TVs?

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 30 Sep 2005, 10:45

grim_tales wrote:Most TV's? I take it that means a 4/3 transfer.
Surely a 4/3 transfer is suitable for all TVs?

Surely in that case a letterbox widescreen transfer is suitable for all TVs as well? Its just a cock up on the part of the company who sent the DVD information to the designer more than likely...

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 30 Sep 2005, 10:54

Yes you're right it is.

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 30 Sep 2005, 20:27

dog day afternoon is actually a warner release.on their early releases of which dog day afternoon was one they labelled everything "standard" unless it was 2:35:1. dog day afternoon is actually 1:85:1 anamorphic.

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 30 Sep 2005, 21:30

Grrr! Ratios are 1.85:1 and 2.35:1!

Sorry, just a little pet peeve of mine...

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 02 Oct 2005, 00:58

Sam's correct. Warners arsed up their early batches of DVD packagings with incorrect format information. I have several DVDs the same. Batman and The Specialist for example both say "standard" (which to me gave the impression of full-frame) but are actually 1.85/16:9. In fact I've never seen a Warner widescreen DVD that wasn't 16:9 enhanced.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 28 Oct 2005, 18:57

grim_tales wrote:Surely a 4/3 transfer is suitable for all TVs?

Not exactly it doesn't look perfect on a WS TV.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 28 Oct 2005, 19:04

Thats true.

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 28 Oct 2005, 20:28

bradavon wrote:
grim_tales wrote:Surely a 4/3 transfer is suitable for all TVs?
Not exactly it doesn't look perfect on a WS TV.

It does if you watch it with the TV in 4:3 mode - no distortion, just borders either side of the picture.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 30 Oct 2005, 17:14

IronMonkey wrote:just borders either side of the picture.

Case in point. I said "perfect"

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 30 Oct 2005, 18:27

on 4:3 mode, the image on my television bends at the sides. Especially on bright scenes with a lot of 'white' light.

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 30 Oct 2005, 19:25

bradavon wrote:
IronMonkey wrote:just borders either side of the picture.
Case in point. I said "perfect"

It is just about perfect - just because it doesn't fit your screen doesn't mean its not perfect. A square will never "perfectly" fit into rectangle, but at least you're getting the picture in the right shape!

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 30 Oct 2005, 19:26

gasteropod wrote:on 4:3 mode, the image on my television bends at the sides. Especially on bright scenes with a lot of 'white' light.

One of the drawbacks of CRT I'm afraid. The curving can be reduced when the TV is properly set up in the service menu though...

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 02 Nov 2005, 14:42

I hate watching anything on my WS TV using the 4:3 mode. It make look better from one point of view but those black borders are so huge.

No thanks. Give me minor cropping any day (i.e - the WS mode designed for 4:3 aspect ratios).

gasteropod · Post by **gasteropod** » 02 Nov 2005, 16:07

IronMonkey wrote: One of the drawbacks of CRT I'm afraid. The curving can be reduced when the TV is properly set up in the service menu though...

I'm afraid I haven't been able to find out how to access mine - if indeed it is actually possible to on my TV...

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 02 Nov 2005, 23:24

You get used to the vertical black bars on a 16:9 TV same as you do horizontal ones on a 4:3. Not a big deal IMO.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 06 Nov 2005, 02:07

Markgway wrote:You get used to the vertical black bars on a 16:9 TV same as you do horizontal ones on a 4:3. Not a big deal IMO.

Ditto for me too. I actually PREFER watching 4:3 OAR stuff in 4:3 mode on a 16:9 TV, since there's ZERO overscan.