3 ms·

A much more significant problem to me is when streaming services don't preserve the original aspect ratio. Like cropping to make a 4:3 show 16:9 or a 2.35:1 mo

A much more significant problem to me is when streaming services don't preserve the original aspect ratio. Like cropping to make a 4:3 show 16:9 or a 2.35:1 movie 16:9.

bsimpson 5y ago
They're both crimes against film.
- cronix 5y ago
  No films were harmed in the making of this digital product.
jwlake 5y ago
Movies usually have several terrible cuts, tv versions are usually much much worse than the bluray versions. Streaming is a mixed bad, sometimes better. Disney+ actually bringing out good versions (IMAX) hopefully will force others to improve.
- seanicus 5y ago
  And don't even get me started on the effect of these vendors' compression methodologies. I watched the Burton Batman movies when HBO MAX debuted and I couldn't believe how dogshit they looked due to their dark palette not playing well with the very aggressive compression. Esp. wild when you consider the amount of money the the Batman movies have brought in for WB. It's their flagship franchise and I assume the highest brand recognition of any IP they own (sorry, Bugs). HBO didn't roll out 4K content until months later, though, so things may have improved since then.
grumbel 5y ago
Taking a show originally cropped for 4:3 and expanding the image to 16:9 can also lead to fun results when microphones, lightstands and crew are in the parts of the picture that where originally cropped out. Buffy was a famous victim of that. And fitting for the topic, there is a Matrix - Open Matte trailer on Youtube, was never broadcast in that form, but an interesting watch at what is in the full picture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GdG4Ryt9ro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GdG4Ryt9ro
- deadbunny 5y ago
  That's the least of the Buffy upscaling sins. They replaces sfx with objectively worse ones, they wrecked the colour balance, the cropping is insane. It was also always intended to be 4:3 for the entire run. https://buffy.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:BuffyHD/What%27s_Wrong_with_Buffy%27s_HD%3F https://buffy.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:BuffyHD/What%27s_Wro... Now that Matrix trailer is how I remember it from my 3 visits to the cinema and dozens of times on VHS! Much less green tint.
muz754 5y ago
Babylon 5 had a terrible widescreen release on DVD, that cropped all CGI. For once, a streaming service did it justice - HBO Max remastered it and re-released it in all of its 4:3 glory in 2021: https://www.reviewgeek.com/68825/babylon-5-returns-to-hbo-max-and-it-doesnt-look-like-garbage/ https://www.reviewgeek.com/68825/babylon-5-returns-to-hbo-ma...
- stormbrew 5y ago
  The annoying thing about B5 is, according to JMS (the showrunner) it was shot with an intention to be compatible with widescreen framing, and the digital effects people were supposed to be making effects similarly compatible, but they didn't. So it left things in a really awkward state for people making a DVD release in the peak "BUT MAH PIXULS" era. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just the entirely (or mostly) CG scenes that weren't composited to widescreen, but it was also stuff like when they shot one of their plasma weapons. The DVD releases wound up switching to really nasty upscales of broadcast footage cropped to 16x9 for just those shots. Was particularly bad in the first season.
post_break 5y ago
Baywatch was remastered and unfortunately went 16:9 instead of keeping 4:3. It looks really good but I don't think it should have been cropped.

A much more significant problem to me is when streaming services don't preserve the original aspect ratio. Like cropping to make a 4:3 show 16:9 or a 2.35:1 movie 16:9.

bsimpson 5y ago

They're both crimes against film.

cronix 5y ago
No films were harmed in the making of this digital product.

jwlake 5y ago

Movies usually have several terrible cuts, tv versions are usually much much worse than the bluray versions. Streaming is a mixed bad, sometimes better. Disney+ actually bringing out good versions (IMAX) hopefully will force others to improve.

seanicus 5y ago
And don't even get me started on the effect of these vendors' compression methodologies. I watched the Burton Batman movies when HBO MAX debuted and I couldn't believe how dogshit they looked due to their dark palette not playing well with the very aggressive compression. Esp. wild when you consider the amount of money the the Batman movies have brought in for WB. It's their flagship franchise and I assume the highest brand recognition of any IP they own (sorry, Bugs). HBO didn't roll out 4K content until months later, though, so things may have improved since then.

grumbel 5y ago

Taking a show originally cropped for 4:3 and expanding the image to 16:9 can also lead to fun results when microphones, lightstands and crew are in the parts of the picture that where originally cropped out. Buffy was a famous victim of that. And fitting for the topic, there is a Matrix - Open Matte trailer on Youtube, was never broadcast in that form, but an interesting watch at what is in the full picture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GdG4Ryt9ro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GdG4Ryt9ro

deadbunny 5y ago
That's the least of the Buffy upscaling sins. They replaces sfx with objectively worse ones, they wrecked the colour balance, the cropping is insane. It was also always intended to be 4:3 for the entire run. https://buffy.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:BuffyHD/What%27s_Wrong_with_Buffy%27s_HD%3F https://buffy.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:BuffyHD/What%27s_Wro... Now that Matrix trailer is how I remember it from my 3 visits to the cinema and dozens of times on VHS! Much less green tint.

muz754 5y ago

Babylon 5 had a terrible widescreen release on DVD, that cropped all CGI. For once, a streaming service did it justice - HBO Max remastered it and re-released it in all of its 4:3 glory in 2021: https://www.reviewgeek.com/68825/babylon-5-returns-to-hbo-max-and-it-doesnt-look-like-garbage/ https://www.reviewgeek.com/68825/babylon-5-returns-to-hbo-ma...

stormbrew 5y ago
The annoying thing about B5 is, according to JMS (the showrunner) it was shot with an intention to be compatible with widescreen framing, and the digital effects people were supposed to be making effects similarly compatible, but they didn't. So it left things in a really awkward state for people making a DVD release in the peak "BUT MAH PIXULS" era. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just the entirely (or mostly) CG scenes that weren't composited to widescreen, but it was also stuff like when they shot one of their plasma weapons. The DVD releases wound up switching to really nasty upscales of broadcast footage cropped to 16x9 for just those shots. Was particularly bad in the first season.

post_break 5y ago

Baywatch was remastered and unfortunately went 16:9 instead of keeping 4:3. It looks really good but I don't think it should have been cropped.