I started watching this movie on Encore, ch 340 HD and was surprised to find it is scaled 4x3 (black bars on both sides). Is this common for the premium HD channels not to present movies in this fashion? Seems they would reserve the ones in this aspect ratio to the non-HD channels?
Shawshank Redemption- not full screen in HD?
- Thread starter mhowie
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Every now and then I see a movie on EncoreHD that's 4x3, but I don't think it's too common. I don't remember ever seeing 4x3 on any of the StarzHD channels.
Hmm, a few weeks ago, I was disappointed to find that my recording of The Last Starfighter was not HD on Cinemax. Seems they are not there yet.
I was watching the Bond Unbound marathon on Sunday, and "You only live twice" was in letterbox. All the others I saw on Sunday were full screen HD.
Crazy, isn't it? I saw them airing Die Hard of all things in 4:3 on the Enocre HD channel. This is not typical of the HD premiums at all. I have them all with FIOS and most of what they air is good. They do pan and scan on some to be 16x9 for movies that are wider such as Transformers. The Showtimes are the best at maintaining OAR. One guy on another board asked me 'what do you expect from Starz Encore?' when I spoke out about Die Hard being in 4:3 pan and scan on Enocore HD. We went back and forth for a while. He thinks Starz looks like crap but pretty much everything I have seen on Starz loooked good.
Keep in mind that Encore is the low end part of the Starz Encore family. Where Starz is the CEO of the company, Encore is the janitor. They will never be as good as Starz but having two very popular movies (Die Hard and Shawshank) cropped to 4:3 on an HD station is just unacceptable. Maybe as time goes by they will stop doing this.
4x3 for Alien every time they showed it also. Oh... and of the James Bond movies, You Only Live twice was both 4x3 and letterboxed. TCM doing this I can understand. But if Encore is going to avoid widescreen they should at least also avoid the silliness of letterbox. The zoomed picture was terrible and no better than a zoomed SD channel. Certainly worse than a zoomed DVD. I dont know how it works but do stations have to pay more to show movies in HD widescreen as opposed to 4x3 (HD or not)?
So far I have only watched Dr No and Goldfinger on the DVR so I dont know if any of the others are 4x3 either. I hope not.
So far I have only watched Dr No and Goldfinger on the DVR so I dont know if any of the others are 4x3 either. I hope not.
Encore HD is pointless if they are going to show crap in 4:3 all the time. They need to cough up the cash for the 16x9 HD rights.
They have about 3 or 4 movies that are shown that way, pretty much all have been posted above, get over it already. They show countless older movies that the other premiums never touch. Let me know when you see the pre-Brosnan Bond movies commercial-free in HD again, OAR or not.
Forget the OAR..... we are asking for 16x9 instead of 4:3... that is certainly not too much to ask. Die Hard and Shawshank were both near or at the top of the box office during the years they came out. They are big movies. Too big to be cheapened down to 4:3 on a perfectly good 16x9 HD feed of a channel. Encore either needs to pony up the $$$ for the 16x9 HD rights or air cheaper movies. That is discraceful to put Encore HD out there and then air such popular movies in 4:3.
I cannot believe you are making excuses for them and accepting of that.
Name some movies that are as big as Die Hard and Shawshank Redemption that Encore HD had aired in HD. I am interested in knowing. If I see an old gem in the guide and decide to DVR it, should I expect to go to watch it and see it in 4:3?
I guess I'll start monitoring it better to see what they are up to. I just can't believe you are OK with them doing that. Are you the type that just deals with it when you ask the waitress for another napkin and they forget about it? You just accept it. "Oh well, she most have forgot, she is busy." It is OK by you!
i watched this movie last month on encore and it was in hd. now this month it isn't. you can also see it on hdnet movies from time to time. looks awesome on that channel
I don't go off the wall crazy because those two movies, Alien, and 1 or 2 more ever have been presented that way. At least in the Dish guide, it clearly states HD or not, so you're able to prepare your precious DVR, I can't speak for the other providers. There's others like Running Man and Road Warrior, which were shown that way, and now have HD airings, so they're obviously trying.
Encore HD very rarely shows 4:3 movies. Alien is one I remember, also You Only Live Twice. There have been a couple more but not many. The movies usually look good and 95% of them are HD. It isn't that big of a deal, I just don't watch the ones that are 4:3. I get EncoreHD included with my top250 package so I don't pay any extra for it. I guess I actually do but I get the 250 package for other channels and consider it a bonus.
The HD marking is usually correct on Encore, but not always IIRC.
You could see from the opening credits that some films were much wider than 16:9. As the initial credits ended they cut it to 16:9. Oh well, no OAR for the purists but better than 4:3.
It is disappointing to see 4:3 when HDNetMovies has the OAR version for these films and others.
It's like trying to find closed captions (CC) on MGM and some others.
-Ken
You could see from the opening credits that some films were much wider than 16:9. As the initial credits ended they cut it to 16:9. Oh well, no OAR for the purists but better than 4:3.
It is disappointing to see 4:3 when HDNetMovies has the OAR version for these films and others.
It's like trying to find closed captions (CC) on MGM and some others.
-Ken
Your definition is for industry produced DVDs.
I watched the movie full screen - HD - 16:9 - no side bars!!!!!!!!!
wutever,
fred
We always hear that you get what you pay for. Well I pay for HD on Encore, which requires 16x9 if that OAR exists or is close to it. It doesnt have to be 2.35 and a good quality upscale is ok if HD isnt available yet. Nor would I want Casablanca to be cut off at the top and bottom to make it 16x9. But at the very least there is no reason for a big black picture frame. That doesnt mean I am purist because there are always reasonable compromises. It still raises the question. What is it about these few movies compared to the larger whole? If there is a legitimate technical problem then so be it. Otherwise there is no reasonable excuse.
Also, if for example a bluray player doesnt always show a correctly formatted DVD in OAR HD (upscaled or otherwise) then it is faulty and I am not going to say oh well. There are always exceptions, such as an old non-anamorphic widescreen movie.
Also, if for example a bluray player doesnt always show a correctly formatted DVD in OAR HD (upscaled or otherwise) then it is faulty and I am not going to say oh well. There are always exceptions, such as an old non-anamorphic widescreen movie.
Jade was that way on one of the Max's last night. I guess I may have to reconsider my .01 subscription....I am with you on the OAR, I like HDNet Movies for that reason, along with the fact that they show alot of classics. Currently in the 3 month free window with Platinum, so I'm happy.
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