Nope, I want Speed Racer too, I’m expecting a seizure.
Also, yes, most Blu-rays should still have black bars on the top and bottom to keep the proper aspect ratio. Some movies don’t, depending on how they were shot, but most do.
Aw, that’s kind of lame.
So with that said, I’m just better off with the “full screen” version even tho I got a wide screen TV, huh? Or will that only make black bars on the and left and right sides T_T
Regardless, I thought it would remove them kind of like how some PS3 games would remove the bars if you have a wide screen TV and have it set to the right resolution (nothing has to be changed in game).
Yeah, what Milky said.
TV’s have an aspect ratio of 1.78:1.
If the aspect ratio = 1.78:1, there will be no black bars.
TV shows on Blu-ray will fill the screen perfectly, like Heroes, Prison Break, Lost, etc…
If the source has an aspect ratio higher than that, you’ll have black bars on top and bottom. Most movies are higher than 1.78. For example, Hellboy is 1.85, Batman Begins is 2.40. There are many movies in between.
If the source has an aspect ratio lower than that, you’ll have black bars on left and right sides. Very few movies are filmed this way. Clockwork Orange and Nightmare Before Christmas are 1.66.
The black bars are a good thing. Why? Because it means you’re watching the movie in the aspect ratio that was intended by the director. Removing the black bars would entail chopping off the sides of the movie, or even worse, stretching the picture. You wouldn’t go to the movie theatre with a box wrapped around your head so you can’t see what’s happening on the far left and far right. There’s no reason to watch a movie in “fullscreen”.
And in any case, the black bars on a widescreen tv will be thinner than the black bars on a 4:3 SDTV. Right…?
http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=5528
That link has links to more information if you are interested in reading about aspect ratios.
But really, Bokchoy nailed it already. Your TV probably has a zoom feature, but why not watch the entire film as intended?
I just picked up Speed racer on the way home. Watched a few scenes, it is one of the best PQ Blu-rays I have seen, very impressive. They shot it in HD, so it never had to be transferred over from film, and it shows in the crispness. Look forward to watching the whole thing soon, when it’s earlier in the day so I can crank up the volume.
Nice, I might have to pick it up then. Sucks that they decided not to include a lossless audio track. Just DD 5.1.
Any deals going on?
I saw Transformers on HD DVD. It was pretty good, but the Blu version is better (although I will say that I saw the HD DVD on a store display model, so it was probably set to “torch” mode).
Anyway, I was just reading about the digital remastering process last night, and old movies will still look better on Blu. Here’s why: The 35mm film the movie was probably shot on still has a higher “resolution” than 1080p (obviously that’s hard to say because film doesn’t really run on resolution). So, what they do is they clean up the film and then scan each frame several times.
When you change a game to widescreen, it changes the resolution to fit the screen. It does change it in game because the game has to support this resolution.
And for the rest, what bokchoy said.
And don’t get full screen, it will make things worse. Full screen is chopped off at the sides to get the picture to fit a 4:3 frame, so you’ll be missing picture, and if you try to fill the screen, you’ll be stretching it. So not only will you be missing part of the frame, you’ll be making it look worse by stretching it.
Just deal with the black bars, you’ll be watching it the way it was shot and intended to be viewed.
Before he died, Sidney Pollack made a featurette that explains black bars. It’s probably on Youtube, and you guys should look it up.
Yup, pretty much. The thing is, resolution isn’t everything and the film deteriorates over time. The Godfather DVD collection was pretty shitty quality, and much of that is attributed to the aging (and poor preservation) of the original master. The digital remaster looks promising and will definitely be the best the movie has ever looked since it was in theatres.
I’m happy knowing that every movie that comes out on theatre will look (and sound) amazing on Blu-ray. I just hope that classic films get the Blade Runner treatment for the Blu-ray release. I’m praying for Star Wars Original trilogy to be as good when that’s ready to come out.
If the master is in poor condition, remastering can only make it look marginally better.
Iron Man will be on Blu on the 30th.
Rumor has it that Tower.com is shipping it right now, though, so I’d get on that.
EDIT: Nevermind. They goofed. It is cheaper than Amazon, though.
Iron Man got some pretty good reviews. Maybe another Transformers.
Looking forward to Iron Man, gonna be a good one.
Got my latest package today, Transformers looks great. nice to finally have a good looking version, the DVD looks like crap upscaled to me. Kill Bill looks amazing and has uncompressed sound as well, very highly recommended, one of my new favorites.
Bokchoy, turn on AMP for some of the fight scenes in Transformers, I know you aren’t a fan, but it makes it them look pretty cool.
Hahaha, sure. I’ll try that. By coincidence, I just bought a new AV Receiver last night, and was JUST going to use Transformers fight scenes to play around with it.
Man, Kill Bill isn’t out in Canada for another month. This sucks.
EDIT: The action scenes in Transformers is pretty cool on high AMP. Especially when they transform. I love the scene when the Autobots gang up on Devastator.
Blu Ray version of Kill Bill uncensored?
I’m not buying Kill Bill until the Weinsteins release TWBA.