There are several tutorials on how to synch up a 5.1 track to a .ts file...most of it (if not all) can be done with free/shareware. As far as DTS, Manzanita MP2TSMM can do it but you will not like the price tag.


I thought that to get these HD streams onto your computer in the first place required that the Copy Protection bit within the HDCP protocol not being set.

I'm pretty sure my local Comcast has the bit set for "Copy Once" for HBO/Cinemax which rules out sucking these movies into a PC.

I thought that to get these HD streams onto your computer in the first place required that the Copy Protection bit within the HDCP protocol not being set.

I'm pretty sure my local Comcast has the bit set for "Copy Once" for HBO/Cinemax which rules out sucking these movies into a PC. The "copy flag or field" is in the MPEG stream, IIRC. HDCP is just the encrpyption mechanism between DVI/HDMI endpoints. The receiver, when it processes the video data, never knew if it was encrypted or not along the way. Firewire uses a different encryption mechanism (5c?).

larry

I thought that to get these HD streams onto your computer in the first place required that the Copy Protection bit within the HDCP protocol not being set.

I'm pretty sure my local Comcast has the bit set for "Copy Once" for HBO/Cinemax which rules out sucking these movies into a PC.

Not necessarily. (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/home.htm)

Some cable companies have the 5c flag set to copy free. The RH5000 mod is for satelite captures not cable...unless you are lucky to have a Motorola Cable box that you own...very rare.

the Deer Hunter on UHD is in OAR!

Some cable companies have the 5c flag set to copy free. The RH5000 mod is for satelite captures not cable...unless you are lucky to have a Motorola Cable box that you own...very rare.Not only do you have to have an HD Motorola cable STB; you have to be able to modify it, which rules out using the device with leased boxes. See this (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/cableinfo.htm).

I don't know how "rare" the Motorola boxes are. Fairly many Cox systems use them and I thought Comcast (the largest cable MSO in the country) uses them more or less exclusively. I have a friend who works at TiVo and they've developed a version of their IPG that runs on the Motorola DCT DVRs commissined by Comcast.l

Recently on MC HD (Shaw Digital Cable Channel 302) ...

"The Legend of Zorro" with DD5.1 sound

"Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow" with DD5.1 sound ... reference quality picture and sound.

The Pelican Brief on Showtime HD this afternoon in 2.35:1 OAR. Looks great!I searched to see if it was listed, your post was 6 months ago... Showtime played The Pelican Brief (http://imdb.com/title/tt0107798/) again this week. Looked nice. But only Stereo.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/1696/pelicanbi1.th.jpg (http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/1696/pelicanbi1.jpg)

"City of Angels (http://imdb.com/title/tt0120632/)" on HBO.

2.35:1

Best looking movie I've seen in months. It was on my DVR today so I pressed play a couple of hours ago to see how the PQ looked... I got sucked into watching the whole damn movie.

"City of Angels (http://imdb.com/title/tt0120632/)" on HBO.

2.35:1

Best looking movie I've seen in months. It was on my DVR today so I pressed play a couple of hours ago to see how the PQ looked... I got sucked into watching the whole damn movie.It's a shameful mockery of an excellent film, Wim Wender's Wings of Desire (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093191/) (don't be put off by those gallery pictures; the film is only in B&W at the beginning, a part of the story). I'll never understood Hollywood's compulsion to create lousy remakes of perfectly good foreign films :rolleyes:. (Okay--a few of them are reasonably good, like Point of No Return and Dangerous Laisons :)).

Mr. Nice Guy in OAR on Starz-HD.

Though it's not technically OAR (1.85:1 would be OAR; it was 16:9, but is still listed as OAR on Showtime's web site), but Groundhog Day looked pretty spectacular on Showtime HD…

Oh my God! I never thought I'd live to see the day, but TNT-HD is actually showing a scope film in OAR! It's Domestic Disturbance, by the way.

Granted, I haven't had TNT-HD since day-one, but in the past 6+ months no movie I've ever seen on this channel has been given this treatment.

HBO showed Days of Thunder in OAR yesterday, looked fantastic.

Cinemax had Heaven can Wait (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077663/) with Warren Beatie on the other night.

It wasn't a scope-type aspect ration but it was presented in true 1.85:1, and was NOT zoomed in slightly to fit the 1.78:1 HDTV frame.

Heaven Can Wait was one of the worst transfers i have ever seen.

Have you ever tried to watch the DVD version? The HD transfer was SUPERIOR on EVERY level. The washed-out appearance and overall soft look is attributed to the visual style of the film. Let's face it, the age of the movie is helping any either. My D-VHS copy looks as good as it gets; short of a total restoration...NOT!

Star Wars, Episode III is on HBO-HD right now in 2.35:1. Is this a new policy by HBO, or just Lucas forcing them to show it OAR to get the rights to it? It's great to see, either way. PQ is awesome.

Sudden Death on Universal HD this past weekend was in 2.35:1. Looked great.

Star Wars, Episode III is on HBO-HD right now in 2.35:1. Is this a new policy by HBO, or just Lucas forcing them to show it OAR to get the rights to it?

It's surely not a new policy by HBO. Beyond that, I don't think anybody knows.

Fever Pitch is 2.35:1 on HD in Canada compared to the HBO cropped version.

In Her Shoes 2.35:1 in HD in Canada compared to the HBO Cropped Version, although its interesting the cropped version takes a bit off the bottom that the cropped version shows.


http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/5909/ihshbojh4.png (http://imageshack.us)
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/3764/ihscdnse5.png (http://imageshack.us)

In Her Shoes 2.35:1 in HD in Canada compared to the HBO Cropped Version, although its interesting the cropped version takes a bit off the bottom that the cropped version shows.


http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/5909/ihshbojh4.png (http://imageshack.us)
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/3764/ihscdnse5.png (http://imageshack.us)
This is called "open matte", where instead of zooming, they open up the frame to get rid of the dreaded (OH NO!) black bars.

What do you want from at 4AM in the morning, lol. I'm lucky if my brain functions then (of course many argue it never does).

Also, while I am posting - Walk the Line 2.35:1

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/4315/wtlhd1ww9.th.png (http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wtlhd1ww9.png)http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/3254/wtlhd2lx4.th.png (http://img49.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wtlhd2lx4.png)

The Parent Trap (1998) on Starz! HD.

Friday Night Lights was in OAR on Starz-HD as well.

I am new to the HDTV 16:9 world. While I do like a movie in it's original form or OAR, I do like my large screen filled. The above example of the "open matte" seems a very accepable compromise to me. Zooming or stretching ruins the PQ far more than chopping.
Untill reading this thread, I was baffled at how movies shown on Dish HD channels filled the screen, yet still were very sharp, clean and clear and didn't seem to chop much off.
Are there DVD's that can do this, or is this a technology only available via HD broadcasts?

The open matte isn't what fills the screen in most instances; I believe that the cable networks like HBO mostly just zoom in on the center 16:9 portion of the frame as they create the transfer from film for broadcast.

How would a DVD player do this? If it's playing an OAR film, it would have to know the original format of the film to zoom in on the section which would fill the screen. Some digital televisions can approximate this with their ZOOM mode.

Open matte (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_matte) is a filming technique; they shoot the film in one format while framing each scene in the intended format. They remove the extra parts of the picture on the top and bottom when projecting it or creating an OAR transfer for television or DVD distribution. "Full-frame" 1.33:1 versions don't leave anything out--they just omit the matte to reveal stuff that the director didn't intend for people to see. If they're not really careful when shooting, this stuff can include microphones, cables and other pieces of equipment. In one hilarious example of this (A Fish Called Wanda), some people walk into a room to find John Cleese's character naked; when you add the extra stuff on the top and bottom, you can see that he's wearing pants or shorts.

http://www.twowiresthin.com/aspect/images/wanda_1w.jpghttp://www.twowiresthin.com/aspect/images/wanda_1.jpg

Friday Night Lights was in OAR on Starz-HD as well.

Not in High definition it wasn't.

Not in High definition it wasn't.


details :D

Long timer lurker, first time poster! :)

After being totally pissed off at most of HBO's awful cropping lately (Skeleton Key and Constantine look like they're cropped on the sides AND top) ...I was shocked to see Beverly Hills Cop 2 in 2.35:1 this evening!

Bird on a Wire on UHD was OAR. Transfer looked very good even with grain.

Saving Private Ryan OAR on HBOHD.

PQ is best described as gritty. From what I have read this is what Spielberg was trying for.

5.1 during the landing is incredible. Never gets old.

I believe this thread is for ARs wider than 1.85:1

1.85:1 and 1.78:1 presentations are not news and would fill up this thread quickly.

Well, actual 1.85:1 presentations of films are newsworthy; too often they're just blown up to 1.78:1. :(

details :D


Friday Night Lights was an upconvert, not true HD.

CITY OF ANGELS was on Cinemax the other night OAR. It looked great in HD, hope Warner releases it on HD DVD.

King Kong 2005 on Canadian Movie Channels

Jarhead on the Canadian Movie Channels

Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) on Canadian Movie Channels

"The Jackal" with Bruce Willis on UHD a couple of nights ago. PQ was pretty good, but the sound wasn't.

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid tonight in 2.35 OAR on InHD. Looked very good for an "older movie."

Godzilla (1998) yesterday in 2.35 OAR on Showtime. Looked washed out.

Very often a film will start out in OAR, like Alien3 on INHD last month and stay that way until the credits are over, (about 5 minutes in in Alien3's case) and then BAM, jump to being cropped. Almost more annoying than being cropped the whole time as it sets you up!
So anyone seeing 2:35, 2:40-1 films begin in OAR, watch a few minutes in to be sure. I gave up on Alien3 and deleted it from the HDdvr the minute it jumped to being cropped....

Very often a film will start out in OAR, like Alien3 on INHD last month and stay that way until the credits are over, (about 5 minutes in in Alien3's case) and then BAM, jump to being cropped....

Yeah, I know that trick. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid was 2.35 OAR from beginning to end (and everything in between). It seems like a long time since InHD had a 2.35 OAR movie.

Very often a film will start out in OAR, like Alien3 on INHD last month and stay that way until the credits are over, (about 5 minutes in in Alien3's case) and then BAM, jump to being cropped. Almost more annoying than being cropped the whole time as it sets you up!
Maybe they should show a warning like this before it starts...

"This film has been modified to fit your screen"

[
Godzilla (1998) yesterday in 2.35 OAR on Showtime. Looked washed out.

Interesting enough the bitrate was WAY down on this (roughly 4Mbps) from the last time Showtime showed it (not that it looked spectacular then).

That in itself had me wondering about it - if they were showing the upconvert by mistake (which they showed the first airing of this back in the Spring by mistake) - even before your post.

Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) on Canadian Movie Channels

I am wondering if this one is really HD, fwiw.

I find it interesting that Canada would have gotten a HD print of it with a low bitrate (which it is) and STARZ only could end up with an upconvert?

I find it interesting that Canada would have gotten a HD print of it with a low bitrate (which it is) and STARZ only could end up with an upconvert?

It was on Sky Box Office (PPV service) in August/September here in the UK, and IIRC the HD counterparts. No idea what the PQ was like though.

From a quick glance the Canadian one seems real to me. Bit soft, but I've seen worse. Doesn't really surprise me that Starz are showing an upconvert or bring me to any suspicion, that sounds like business as usual for them :)

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid tonight in 2.35 OAR on InHD. Looked very good for an "older movie."

Unfortunately, it was the original edited release. It would've been nice if they'd used a later version.

Very often a film will start out in OAR, like Alien3 on INHD last month and stay that way until the credits are over, (about 5 minutes in in Alien3's case) and then BAM, jump to being cropped. Almost more annoying than being cropped the whole time as it sets you up!
So anyone seeing 2:35, 2:40-1 films begin in OAR, watch a few minutes in to be sure. I gave up on Alien3 and deleted it from the HDdvr the minute it jumped to being cropped....
Seems like INHD does that for all movies that are wider than 16:9. I think it's to make sure that none of the opening credits get chopped off by the cropping. As soon as there is a camera cut after the credits are over, the zoom kicks in.

I am wondering if this one is really HD, fwiw.

I find it interesting that Canada would have gotten a HD print of it with a low bitrate (which it is) and STARZ only could end up with an upconvert?

Actually this is happening more and more lately (I hate it, BTW). Good example would be with Con Air that StarzHD has been showing an upconvert for months now while SkyHD (granted its a UK channel) had an exceptional true HD transfer. Other movies have shown up on Canada PPV HD before they showed up in the US. Jarhead was another one that showed up first north of the border (OAR to boot) and then open matte on Cinemax/HBO a few weeks later.

That's why I have dumped HBO(until Sopranos and entourage start up again) and Starz. I have kept Showtime cause of Weeds and Dexter and because they are goodwith OAR, except they don't have that many new blockbuster releases. I have some great HD movie material from Europe and it blows away what HBO/starz,showtime is showing. I have E*, so i would have said that only HDNET can compete, in PQ wise, but not anymore.

[QUOTE=dneily]ABC and InHD have been inconsistent in how they present large aspect ratio movies. Uncropped large-aspect-ratio movies are almost non-existent on HBO. It would be very helpful to have a thread on this forum for reports of uncropped, large OAR movies on these three networks.

Guns of Navarone is scheduled on Showtime at 1:15 pm today, listed as HD and
OAR.

All the Star Wars movies on Cinemax.:D

The Guns of Navarone on Showtime. A bit grainy but acceptable.

!!!!! The Hunt for Red October !!!!!!!

It's on right now.

!!!!! The Hunt for Red October !!!!!!!

It's on right now.

great looking...except for the overly-done blue-screen at the end ;)

The Hunt for Red October this evening on HBOHD was fantastic. Props to HBO.

Crappy 2.0 sound.

Crappy 2.0 sound.

Of course, this movie has been shown in OAR about a zillion times before. Even though it was 2.0, it still sounded quite good. Sorry to hear that the sound ruined the movie for you.

About A Boy on UHD.

About A Boy on UHD.


http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/4959/uhdlgb01kc8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


What a DF. Hope you are happy with it.

Maybe they should show a warning like this before it starts...

"This film has been modified to fit your screen"

I think this is exactly what they should be doing.

That "powered by LG" thing pisses me off, I hope they dont keep using that.

Whoa! That logo looks massive!

It should probably be mentioned though, for those who don't get UHD yet, that they don't keep the logo on-screen for the entire film, like TNT does. It pops up once every hour(?), for about 10 seconds. Help me out here, HFA.

Or have they changed that? I shut down my recording of that film, because my cable system was glitching the video constantly, and freezing for up to 30 seconds at a time. Peculiar, because when I checked after the film, the problem was gone. I observed the same behavior a week or so ago, when UHD aired, "Jesus Christ, Superstar".

- Tim

Whoa! That logo looks massive!

It should probably be mentioned though, for those who don't get UHD yet, that they don't keep the logo on-screen for the entire film, like TNT does. It pops up once every hour(?), for about 10 seconds. Help me out here, HFA.

Or have they changed that? I shut down my recording of that film, because my cable system was glitching the video constantly, and freezing for up to 30 seconds at a time. Peculiar, because when I checked after the film, the problem was gone. I observed the same behavior a week or so ago, when UHD aired, "Jesus Christ, Superstar".

- Tim

10-12 seconds and remember it moves.

Shows up several times during a title so more than once an hour. It will only get worse - think TNT-HD. They had literally no pop ups in the beginning. Look at the comments today for Gone With The Wind.

Maybe coincidence, but your glitches occurred with 2 of the few OAR titles they have aired.

Just wait til people see it in BSG and Firefly tonight.

EDIT: Looks as if its at least once per segment in those programs tonight.

Munich

bitrate isnt bad for OAR, movie could be sharper. I am wondering if SS filmed it this way (like some others he has done of past historical events) to make it seem older, especially as they mix in the old television footage.

As referenced in its own thread, Crash was shown 2.35:1, DD5.1 over the week-end on Showtime-HD. Strangely the debut of Crash on Showtime was cropped just a week earlier.

Was a little soft for a modern release but still a worthwhile addition to ones library until the BD release becomes available.

I bet the BD wont have pop ups that Showtime has in movies either.

So much for the people that wouldnt take action early on.

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/4966/crashsho3rn2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/6967/crashsho4by9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

MUNICH will be on HBO HD on January 6th. Unfortunately it will probably be cropped. All of the Universal titles on HBO HD usually are.

MUNICH will be on HBO HD on January 6th. Unfortunately it will probably be cropped. All of the Universal titles on HBO HD usually are.

History would be in your favor, but since it's SS, he has about as much clout as Lucas with HBO/Cinemax, so there is a chance.

Okay, those ads during the credits didn't bother me, but during the movie, that's completely unacceptable for a pay movie channel :mad:!

For 2.35:1 OAR movies (which is what this thread is about), those Showtime pop-ups appear to cover up very little of the movie itself. They mostly cover up the bottom black bar. So if you use a constant-height setup, or if you have a blanking feature, then you could hide the pop-ups entirely, or almost entirely.

Erik,

>...those Showtime pop-ups appear to cover up very little of the movie itself. They mostly cover up the bottom black bar. <

Right you are. On my 90" wide screen, I'd "only" have to crop off about 1.5-1.75" from the bottom.

> So if you use a constant-height setup, or if you have a blanking feature, then you could hide the pop-ups entirely, or almost entirely. <

Yeah, trim 4-5% off the bottom all the time, just to avoid this garbage, which shouldn't be there in the first place. Thanks for making excuses for them!... I'm sure it will be a big help.

- Tim

Brajesh,
> ...ads during the credits didn't bother me, but during the movie, that's completely unacceptable <

Ah, the credits are part of the movie. Oh, nevermind.

Besides, it's fairly obvious that though they've finally reached your threshold of tolerance, and you find it "unacceptable", they've still got a ways to go before they tick everybody else off. For them, it's a question of: when does it happen? how often does it happen? how long are they up? how much of the screen do they cover?

If you're asking those questions at all, you've already missed the point. And with that mentality, expect to see the trend deteriorate in a downward spiral into trash city... ending up eventually somewhere in the TNT neighborhood. :(

- Tim

Yeah, trim 4-5% off the bottom all the time, just to avoid this garbage, which shouldn't be there in the first place. Thanks for making excuses for them!... I'm sure it will be a big help.
I wasn't trying to make excuses for them. I was just pointing out a way to work around the problem.

Anyway, according to my measurements, the pop-ups cover the bottom 2.2% of the movie's scanlines.

XBOX Live Market Place is good for OAR. I downloaded Poseidon in HD and it was OAR - picture and sound very good. Others report V for Vendetta as OAR in HD. Star Trek - Original Series is also OAR in HD (4:3) and never looked so good - kudos to Microsoft.

When a Stranger Calls

Tim, I agree w/you. But, let's be honest, how many of us actually sit through the credits? How often? When SHO had ads during credits, I didn't like them, but it didn't bother me as much as some purists here. Once they popped-up in the middle of the movie, they crossed the line for a pay channel. For you, they crossed the line at the credits.

Tim, I agree w/you. But, let's be honest, how many of us actually sit through the credits? How often? When SHO had ads during credits, I didn't like them, but it didn't bother me as much as some purists here. Once they popped-up in the middle of the movie, they crossed the line for a pay channel. For you, they crossed the line at the credits.


As stated in multiple threads, once the credits were breached, this was a guarantee as next - only most were too blind to believe it.

CITY OF ANGELS on HBO is OAR 2:35.

Tim, I agree w/you. But, let's be honest, how many of us actually sit through the credits? How often?
I do, every time.....I am a music fan, and always check out soundtrack song credits.

Very nice presentation in OAR on INHD.

Unfortunately I couldn't make it past the first 30 minutes of this movie. Ugh -- not my cup of tea at all, despite being interested in Bob Dylan's appearences in this film and songs in the soundtrack....

Hostel on Movie Central HD in Canada.

"The Newton Boys" was shown OAR on HBO this morning. No furutre showings are scheduled on the channel, though.

"The Newton Boys" was shown OAR on HBO this morning. No furutre showings are scheduled on the channel, though.

Yep, it was on the channel 3 previous days this month already. This was the last showing.

Yep, it was on the channel 3 previous days this month already. This was the last showing.
I wouldn't be surprised if it showed up on Cinemax within the next 2 months, and back on HBO within 6 months.

Capote

Very nice presentation in OAR on INHD.

Unfortunately I couldn't make it past the first 30 minutes of this movie. Ugh -- not my cup of tea at all, despite being interested in Bob Dylan's appearences in this film and songs in the soundtrack....

One of my all time favorites. Different strokes...

It's rare for Sky not to show a movie in it's OAR over here, but here's some recent showings some might find interesting;

Narnia
Ghostbusters II
Doom
Finding Neverland
Serenity
Unleashed
Escape from L.A.

Some Summer stuff on PPV at the moment like X3, Da Vinci Code, PotC2 (in two weeks IIRC). King Kong + Star Wars OT on New Year's Day too :)

It's rare for Sky not to show a movie in it's OAR over here, but here's some recent showings some might find interesting;

Narnia
Ghostbusters II
Doom
Finding Neverland
Serenity
Unleashed
Escape from L.A.

Some Summer stuff on PPV at the moment like X3, Da Vinci Code, PotC2 (in two weeks IIRC). King Kong + Star Wars OT on New Year's Day too :)You might want to say where "over here" is, as your public profile is left blank.

I'll assume that you're in the UK and everything is being shown at 25fps?

You might want to say where "over here" is, as your public profile is left blank.

I'll assume that you're in the UK and everything is being shown at 25fps?

Ah yes, sorry, that would be correct indeed on both counts (UK + 25fps).

You might want to say where "over here" is, as your public profile is left blank.

I'll assume that you're in the UK and everything is being shown at 25fps?


I realize you are a DF but when he says he is viewing it on SKY, how many other SKY systems do you know of besides that one? Those with a partial brain can figure that out.

The Producers - Canada - HBO is not.

Okay, those ads during the credits didn't bother me, but during the movie, that's completely unacceptable for a pay movie channel :mad:!
I don't like them even during the credits, but I find they are more likely to pop up during primetime and/or premiere showings. I try to schedule my recordings on overnight followup showings to try to avoid these as much as possible. I wish they wouldn't do it at all, though.

Ah yes, sorry, that would be correct indeed on both counts (UK + 25fps).Nice that everything is OAR although I could live without the speedup. You'd think for HD they would have just abandoned that already and come to a standard. Oh well.

High Tension was on SHOHD in OAR and mixed Dubbed/Subbed 5.1 track...awesome transfer and awesome movie

High Tension was on SHOHD in OAR and mixed Dubbed/Subbed 5.1 track...awesome transfer and awesome movie
Showtime broadcasts most of their movies in OAR.

I just noticed that Scott as well, they have a statement on thier website (Shotime) that says that they will play OAR whenever it is possible, which seems to be most of the time and it looks wonderful, saw White Water Summer (I think that is the correct title) and it looked real good.

Saw Star Wars Ep 3 and Ep 1 on HBOHD looked like OAR 5.1 Ep 3 this past weekend and Ep 1 today. Ep 1 though seems to look "off" for some reason Ill have to go ack and actually watch it though to make sure.

I just noticed that Scott as well, they have a statement on thier website (Shotime) that says that they will play OAR whenever it is possible, which seems to be most of the time and it looks wonderful, saw White Water Summer (I think that is the correct title) and it looked real good.

Saw Star Wars Ep 3 and Ep 1 on HBOHD looked like OAR 5.1 Ep 3 this past weekend and Ep 1 today. Ep 1 though seems to look "off" for some reason Ill have to go ack and actually watch it though to make sure.

Episode 1's HD transfer is definitely "off" from the others. Dark and murky. No "pop" whatsoever.

Cinemax showed Conspiracy Theory in OAR yesterday. PQ was a little soft but pretty good.

Last year Starz cropped "Pulp Fiction" to 16:9
http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/7901/pf1starzhd9iq.th.jpg (http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/7901/pf1starzhd9iq.jpg)

Last night they showed it in 2.35 OAR:
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/1982/pulpfictiongn6.th.jpg (http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/1982/pulpfictiongn6.jpg)

Thanks Starz... much better!

Last year Starz cropped "Pulp Fiction" to 16:9
http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/7901/pf1starzhd9iq.th.jpg (http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/7901/pf1starzhd9iq.jpg)

Last night they showed it in 2.35 OAR:
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/1982/pulpfictiongn6.th.jpg (http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/1982/pulpfictiongn6.jpg)

Thanks Starz... much better!

That's probably the same OAR transfer that Showtime had.

Guns of Navarone 2.35 OAR scope for free Comcast HD OnDemand.

I have noticed too that Showtime has been showing a lot more movies in OAR recently. Hope that HBO and MAX jump on board with that trend too. I am always fearful that those in charge will get tired of hearing complaints about "the black bars on my new HDTV" and keep butchering the OAR.

I have noticed too that Showtime has been showing a lot more movies in OAR recently.

Recently...? Showtime has always been committed to OAR on their HD movies, without exception. I can't remember a single instance of zooming/cropping on that channel. That's why they and HDNet Movies are the only two movie channels that we can always count on to "get it right" for movie lovers. They are to be commended - the others, condemned.

Recently...? Showtime has always been committed to OAR on their HD movies, without exception. I can't remember a single instance of zooming/cropping on that channel. That's why they and HDNet Movies are the only two movie channels that we can always count on to "get it right" for movie lovers. They are to be commended - the others, condemned.

Hmmm...didn't realize that Showtime was one of the "good guys" all along like HDNet. Guess I must be I have not been watching many 2.35:1 movies on them.

Sure was painful to see the LOTR trilogy cropped on one of the other channels! Maybe some day Showtime will show them, that would be wonderful.

Recently...? Showtime has always been committed to OAR on their HD movies, without exception. I can't remember a single instance of zooming/cropping on that channel. That's why they and HDNet Movies are the only two movie channels that we can always count on to "get it right" for movie lovers. They are to be commended - the others, condemned.
SHOs sister TMC HD is OAR as well. Too bad their title selection is so anemic.

Cinemax is showing North Dallas Forty in OAR and it looks fantastic.

Cinemax is showing North Dallas Forty in OAR and it looks fantastic.

I would be curious to see that as the HDNET airing from a few months ago looked horrible.

Dante's Peak is up in what looks to be OAR on TNT right now.

Dante's Peak is up in what looks to be OAR on TNT right now.
Dante's Peak is on UniversalHD, not TNT-HD. It is indeed OAR and the picture quality looks very good. The sound appears to be the usual UnivHD 2.0 in a faked 5.1 presentation.

Last year Starz cropped "Pulp Fiction" to 16:9
http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/7901/pf1starzhd9iq.th.jpg (http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/7901/pf1starzhd9iq.jpg)

Last night they showed it in 2.35 OAR:
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/1982/pulpfictiongn6.th.jpg (http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/1982/pulpfictiongn6.jpg)

Thanks Starz... much better!

Starz video bitrate 7.46 Mbps

The first Showtime airing of Pulp Fiction in 2005 came in very similar to where Starz current version is. The last flight on Showtime in April of last year came in at 9.81Mbps for the video.

http://archive2.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6009759&&#post6009759

MAY 2005,SHOWTIME,Pulp Fiction,1920x1080i,7.50Mbps Video ,384Kbps Audio,8.27Mbps total

Seabiscuit in OAR on ABC-HD 1/20 8pm EST

http://img131.imagevenue.com/loc563/th_46308_snapshot_20070120_0000_122_563lo.jpg (http://img131.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=46308_snapshot_20070120_0000_122_563lo.jpg) http://img154.imagevenue.com/loc349/th_46313_snapshot_20070120_0003_122_349lo.jpg (http://img154.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=46313_snapshot_20070120_0003_122_349lo.jpg)

KPAX on UHD 2.35 fake DD5.0.

Real Genius on HDNet Movies. No DD 5.1, though. 1/23/07 at 10 AM Mountain time.

All movies on HDNet Movies are OAR

Real Genius on HDNet Movies. No DD 5.1, though. 1/23/07 at 10 AM Mountain time.It was also OAR when Showtime HD ran it a several months back (back before the egregous Showtime graphics…)

UHD showed October Sky last night in OAR with their fake 5.1 as usual.

UHD showed October Sky last night in OAR with their fake 5.1 as usual.Great movie. I finally gave up on them and hooked up R+L RCA cables to my cable box and now at least I have proper Dolby Digital PLII.

UHD showed October Sky last night in OAR with their fake 5.1 as usual.

And on screen pop-ups promoting upcoming features as well - but DF did get his OAR with pop-ups so he must be happy.

Marc commented:
> All movies on HDNet Movies are OAR <

Pretty much true, though not precisely. Many times (though not always) they will air a 1.78 transfer from a 1.85 film. Not a huge deal though.

- Tim

Peter Weir(Witness, Master & Commander, The Truman Show, Dead Poet's Society)'s GALLIPOLI was OAR on Cinemax-HD this morning. There are no currently scheduled future showings.

Pitch Black on SHO was OAR and 5.1. Nice looking transfer too.

Yesterday, SHO telecast Tombstone in 2.35:1 OAR. TNT and HBO/Cinemax has shown this movie countless times, but always cropped.

The Showtime print looks good. :) :)

dneily,

glad you caught it. For the record, SHO also aired Tombstone in 2.35 OAR about a year ago.

- Tim

MI2 in OAR on TNT last night.
Nice PQ too.

ALIEN NATION right now on Cinemax, OAR 2.35:1. Nice transfer!

OnDemand has a few movies in OAR.

Encore HD is showing Money Talks in OAR, looks very nice.

Fearnet is showing Escape From New York in OAR, looks fantastic when the screen isnt covered with banner ads.

Patch Adams is on Universal HD right now in OAR.

ALIEN NATION right now on Cinemax, OAR 2.35:1. Nice transfer!Yes. and they don't list it as being in HD which is odd for them...So, SD? Didn't think they did that.

OnDemand has a few movies in OAR.

Encore HD is showing Money Talks in OAR, looks very nice.

Fearnet is showing Escape From New York in OAR, looks fantastic when the screen isnt covered with banner ads.

Interesting, I don't have any HD on fearnet presently. I have Escape from New York in the SD listings, and it certainly isn't OAR, but I don't have anything at all in HD on fearnet right now. Funny how all the different Comcast customers have such varying programming.

I think 'The Crow' is OAR , I have very thin black bars top and bottom, which may very well be 1.85, they're awfully thin though.

Patch Adams is on Universal HD right now in OAR.
Shame one has to pay for OAR by giving up real surround sound. Wish UHD would fix that.

Mission Impossible 3 on Showtime is OAR this month! The bit rate must have been turned up last Sunday because I haven't seen HD look that good on a movie channel for a long time.

Catch-22 was OAR on Cinemax-HD last week. Haven't watched it yet, but the picture looked very sharp.

Keep an eye out for repeats!

can anyone explain to me why?
and how?
abc have uncropped versions of say pirates in HD?
why do movie companys crop it for the blu ray \hd release

why does hd abc leave it uncropped?

can anyone explain to me why?
and how?
abc have uncropped versions of say pirates in HD?
why do movie companys crop it for the blu ray \hd release

why does hd abc leave it uncropped?I think you're confused.

Companies (for the most part) don't crop for BD/HD release, and they crop for broadcast, that's why we have this thread- to point out how rare it is when an uncropped broadcast movie shows up.

Then there's something called "open matte" for movies shot in the Super35 format. I didn't see tonight's broadcast of Pirate's of the Caribbean on ABC, but I would bet it was open matte, and if it was, that's why it filled your screen.

I think you're confused.

Companies (for the most part) don't crop for BD/HD release, and they crop for broadcast, that's why we have this thread- to point out how rare it is when an uncropped broadcast movie shows up.

Then there's something called "open matte" for movies shot in the Super35 format. I didn't see tonight's broadcast of Pirate's of the Caribbean on ABC, but I would bet it was open matte, and if it was, that's why it filled your screen.

edit.
okay I understand a bit more Now I skimmed through this helpfull thread
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=827529&page=30&pp=30

but im still lost to why there is more on Open matte and thats what we see on tv

why dont we see that full picture on Blu-ray?
i dont get by what u mean by the dont crop the picture, theres less of it on Blu ray and more on Open Matte, so doesnt that mean they do cut it?

okay?
im still confused

I compared shot to shot BD vs HD'ABC and there was significantly more in the scene
at the opening scene were commmodore or whatever is talking about pirates after the young eleizabeth sings. You can see 3 more rails and all the buttons on his shirt, on the blu ray version one rail and one button.

Because ABC is showing the Open Matte version. Removing the mattes that the director placed on the OAR in the theaters and the Blu-ray release.

Because ABC is showing the Open Matte version. Removing the mattes that the director placed on the OAR in the theaters and the Blu-ray release.
sorry my previous post was before i read you're response
I get it now
thank you's for educating my noobish questions

one last question

why do they add the Matte?
isnt it better that we get more of the film and Picture?

why do they add the Matte?
isnt it better that we get more of the film and Picture?

Creative license. Movies are produced for theaters and it seems that most directors and DP's (Directors of photography) prefer scope better (2.35:1 or wider). I also prefer scope.

Creative license. Movies are produced for theaters and it seems that most directors and DP's (Directors of photography) prefer scope better (2.35:1 or wider). I also prefer scope.
thanks again for the help

I dont really mind either All I want is the best possible Picture quality, as in clarity not size.

Creative license. Movies are produced for theaters and it seems that most directors and DP's (Directors of photography) prefer scope better (2.35:1 or wider). I also prefer scope.
It depends on the content of the movie. 2.35 films look best when there are lots of large scenes in large areas where they can impress the audience with wide panoramas full of detail. 1.85 films are better for films where there will be lots of close ups and scenes in average sized rooms.

It's difficult to get a closeup of an actor's face in 2.35. A person's full face in 1.85 will only show their forehead to their chin in 2.35 with even more irrelevant stuff on the sides. This does not look natural to me at all.

The choice is really difficult in films that have both small and large sets. Alien is a classic example of that.

I will be posting the ABC version of POTC this weekend.

Catch-22 was OAR on Cinemax-HD last week. Haven't watched it yet, but the picture looked very sharp.

Keep an eye out for repeats!
By the way -- I got to watching this last night, and the picture was spectacular in every way! If it comes on again and you're so inclined, I'd highly suggest checking it out....

Radio Flyer was 2.35:1 OAR on UHD

What a terrific transfer. My D-VHS looks stunning!

TNT is showing Minority Report in OAR right now. Sweet!

^^Amazing PQ

Convoy, 2.35:1 on SHO-HD.

dneily commented:
> Radio Flyer was 2.35:1 OAR on UHD <

Yes. Too bad they ran popups over the film. (One big blue one for Stargate Atlantis, about 20 minutes in, and I forget the other one, because I shut down the recording at that point.)

- Tim

Electric Horseman was 2.35:1 OAR on UHD yesterday.

Watched 'Hunt for Red October' on HDNet last night.

Walt

Watched 'Hunt for Red October' on HDNet last night.

Walt
Everything on HDNet is OAR, so if something is listed there, you can safely assume that it will be OAR

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind on UHD. It's even 5.1 which is shocking for UHD. Opening it to 1.78 would mess up a couple of shots because some funny scenes has the bottom of Sam Rockwell's face cut off so you only see reactions in his goofy eyes.

I was pretty thrilled that among all the tedious repeats on Starz HD that an OAR HD transfer of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" showed up last week. It may have prevented me from canceling Starz HD in favor of Netflix.

I was pretty thrilled that among all the tedious repeats on Starz HD that an OAR HD transfer of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" showed up last week. It may have prevented me from canceling Starz HD in favor of Netflix.
Are you SURE that it was in HD? It's never been listed as being in HD before.....

Flash Gordon a lot of fun to watch on HDNET movies.

Has anyone paid to watch Comcast's OnDemand HD version of 300? Is it OAR?

Has anyone paid to watch Comcast's OnDemand HD version of 300? Is it OAR?I wouldn't waste my time with ppv OnDemand. Almost every movie is not OAR (if that's what you're looking for).

I wouldn't waste my time with ppv OnDemand. Almost every movie is not OAR (if that's what you're looking for).
Is there any way to tell if a PPV movie is OAR before you watch it?

Are you SURE that it was in HD? It's never been listed as being in HD before.....
Titan TV lists another showing as HD on 8/23 9:30AM Pacific Time.

I love the DVD I have for its clarity, but the Starz-HDw showing looked sharper than that.

Admittedly, I was comparing the Starz-HDw to my *memory* of the DVD.

I wouldn't waste my time with ppv OnDemand. Almost every movie is not OAR (if that's what you're looking for).

I realize that. But my original question remains. I'm not asking about almost every movie, I'm asking about a specific movie, 300, that is available on some systems in HD On Demand but not on others ... they're promoting its availability, making it sound special, and it would be nice to know if this particular film is OAR.

Almost thought that ENEMY OF THE STATE was going to be OAR via Encore HD On Demand (and free!). But after the opening scene and the credits, it switched from 2.35:1 to 1.78:1. Still looked nice...and did I mention it was free? ;)

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK in HD was free OnDemand a few months back. It was shown in 2.35:1. Trade-off was the Fear.net popups and ID bug.

Titan TV lists another showing as HD on 8/23 9:30AM Pacific Time.

I love the DVD I have for its clarity, but the Starz-HDw showing looked sharper than that.

Admittedly, I was comparing the Starz-HDw to my *memory* of the DVD.
Awesome. Thanks for the heads-up. I'll have to fire up the DVR! :)

Cider House Rules was OAR on Comcast HD On Demand

Titan TV lists another showing as HD on 8/23 9:30AM Pacific Time.

I love the DVD I have for its clarity, but the Starz-HDw showing looked sharper than that.

Admittedly, I was comparing the Starz-HDw to my *memory* of the DVD.

Caught the 8/23 showing. Looked excellent, thanks!

9/7/07

Hollywood Homicide - 2:35:1 on Fox National Television

9/7/07

Hollywood Homicide - 2:35:1 on Fox National Television

Unfortunately, Fox butchered it, it's missing 10 minutes compared to its original length.

"El Aura", a very good little crime caper/slight thriller in Spanish was, amazingly, shown in HD/OAR on Cinemax 2 nights ago. Not sure when/if it will be shown again, but keep a lookout.

Not only is it amazing that Cinemax showed it in OAR, but Cinemax seems to not have HD versions of many of the foreign films that it shows, so it cool that it was shown in HD at all, but even more cool that it was OAR.

Scott

Braveheart on HBO HD

A Cry in the Dark 2.35:1 on UHD

A Cry in the Dark 2.35:1 on UHD

Slightly off-topic, but did it have commercials inserted in the broadcast?

Slightly off-topic, but did it have commercials inserted in the broadcast?

I transferred the movie to tape, and have not watched it yet.

However, I've never seen a movie on UHD with commericials, although I expect that will change sometime soon.

Also, the movie ran 121 minutes, which is the exact length of the film.

I transferred the movie to tape, and have not watched it yet.

However, I've never seen a movie on UHD with commericials, although I expect that will change sometime soon.

Also, the movie ran 121 minutes, which is the exact length of the film.

OK. I've seen reports that UHD is now showing commercials, interrupting its films. :(

Maybe with a full 2 hour movie in a 2 hour slot, there was no time for commercials.

Scott,

that is correct. UHD started showing commercials within films at the beginning of the year. They promote it as "Limited Commercial Interruptions" at the beginning of each film, and insert as many 5-minute commercial breaks as will fit... approximately 5 min of every 20 min. If a film lasts long enough, it may have few to no commercials. They also have new lead-in graphics. AFAICT, they haven't started editing anything out of films (yet).

Previously, they may have had anywhere from 5-25 minutes of commercials and interstitial fillers, collected at the end of a film. Now they distribute them within the movie. :(

Episodic programming has always had interleaved commercials on UHD (for as long as I've had access to the channel). It was just movies that were uninterrupted... before.

- Tim

...5-25 minutes of commercials and institial fillers, collected at the end of a film. Now they distribute them within the movie. :(

Episodic programming has always had interleaved commercials on UHD (for as long as I've had access to the channel). It was just movies that were uninterrupted... before.

Interesting word... I always enjoy looking up something new. Although maybe you meant interstitial (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?interstitial)...interstitial

Main Entry: in·ter·sti·tial
Pronunciation: \ˌin-tər-ˈsti-shəl\
Function: adjective
Date: 1646
1: relating to or situated in the interstices
2 a: situated within but not restricted to or characteristic of a particular organ or tissue —used especially of fibrous tissue b: affecting the interstitial tissues of an organ or part
3: being or relating to a crystalline compound in which usually small atoms or ions of a nonmetal occupy holes between the larger metal atoms or ions in the crystal lattice
— in·ter·sti·tial·ly \-shə-lē\ adverb

Braveheart on HBO HDJust transferring to D-VHS as we speak.

Alas, only DD2.0.

Nevertheless...

Clarence,
> Interesting word... I always enjoy looking up something new. Although maybe you meant interstitial... <

Yep! Absolutely. I thought that was what I typed, but see I dropped a syllable. At least I didn't "misspell" it. ;) That's what happens when I multi-task at work. :)

Also, after some additional viewing of UHD, I see that my conclusions based on a sample set of 2 were premature. 5 minutes appears to be the maximum length break, but on "American Flyers" they had one 1 minute and one 2 minute break in the first hour, and one 3 minute and one 1 minute break in the 2nd hour. So 7 mins of commercials added to a 1:53 film, totaling 2 hours.

- Tim

caught the end of Ferris Bueller's Day Off on UHD last night. It was 2.35:1. I think it's being shown again later in the month but there was nothing in my guide yet.

What OAR means BTW?

In Mexico there's an HD channel that broadcast movies 24/7 w/o commercial interruption, all the movies are either zoomed or upconverted, none of them show black bars on top/bottom, they look pretty good like this, there's some like Monsters Inc, that looks almost 1080p.

The thing I like about no black bars that these movies are easier on the eyes, most importantly anti-burn mark on Plasmas..

What OAR means BTW?"Original Aspect Ratio", which may mean black bars top and bottom (letterboxing) for ARs wider than the 1.78:1 of high-definition television screens. Many movies are 2.35:1 or 2.40:1 or 1.88:1 in theatrical presentation (other less common formats have been used), all of which will have black bars if shown OAR. It just means showing the entirety of each frame as shot by the director.

I don't believe that this thread was created for arguing the merits of presenting films in OAR on HDTV, but rather to give people who prefer them a way of giving each other a heads-up when they catch them. If you want to read such arguments, there's a ton of that back at the beginning of the thread.

caught the end of Ferris Bueller's Day Off on UHD last night. It was 2.35:1. I think it's being shown again later in the month but there was nothing in my guide yet.I actually saw FBDO in the guide the other day and set it to record. when I checked it last night the opening screen actually said in big bold letters (among other things), "This film is being shown in it's theatrical release screen ratio (or something similar), with limited commercial interruptions"! DD 5.1 too!


ron

The other change I've seen on UHD is when they do show scope films (AR 2.35), they now move their UniversalHD logo _up_ into the active area. Previously, it was low enough that most/all of it was in the black bar region, and could be cropped off on projection systems.

- Tim

P.S. Some other scope films I've seen on UHD recently were:

- Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story '93
- Earthquake '74
- All the Queen's Men '01
- I.Q. '94
- End of Days '99

In the last month, Starz-HD has had 8 OAR scope films:

- Cider House Rules, The '99
- Cars '06
- Operation: Dumbo Drop '95
- Curse of the Golden Flower '06
- Keeping Mum '05
- Neverwas '05
- Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon '00
- Rush Hour '98

HDNet Movies has had too many to list here (probably 20+).

One of my favorite movies is "Tombstone" which I've seen on MAXHD and SHOHD a number of times in OAR. Well tonight its on STARZHD it was shown horribly cropped. It's a Panavision 2.35:1 movie so it can't shown open matte and thus much of picture is lost.

There is really no HD channel left on Comcast that reliably shows OAR movies, and this includes OnDemand.

HD programming has regressed in the last several years, with fewer and fewer of OAR presentations on the premium channels. Unfortunately, this is partly due to a lot of clueless people who belong to this forum who got on the phone and complain that their "screen isn't filled."

I'm at the point where I'm going to cancel all my premium subscriptions and shell out for a HD DVD player.

The only saving grace is some of the great network programming being produced in HD.

Fantastic Four is showing on FX HD in OAR of 2.35 and it looks and sounds good.The sound is out-of-synch with the image.

Black Rain on HBO HD last night.

The other change I've seen on UHD is when they do show scope films (AR 2.35), they now move their UniversalHD logo _up_ into the active area. Previously, it was low enough that most/all of it was in the black bar region, and could be cropped off on projection systems.

- Tim

P.S. Some other scope films I've seen on UHD recently were:

- Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story '93
- Earthquake '74
- All the Queen's Men '01
- I.Q. '94
- End of Days '99

In the last month, Starz-HD has had 8 OAR scope films:

- Cider House Rules, The '99
- Cars '06
- Operation: Dumbo Drop '95
- Curse of the Golden Flower '06
- Keeping Mum '05
- Neverwas '05
- Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon '00
- Rush Hour '98

HDNet Movies has had too many to list here (probably 20+).

How did EARTHQUAKE look? I'm sure the sound wasn't at all improved over that travesty of a mix on the DVD, but I wonder how the film looked in HD? Was it as grainy as the anamorphic DVD looks? EARTHQUAKE was a very "smooth' looking film theatrically, so I was shocked at the grain on the DVD - I'm hoping the HD doesn't look like that.

Ghost and the Darkness on UHD: 2.35:1

Fantastic Four on FX. Hard to believe FX is showing a movie in OAR.

Disclord asked:
> How did EARTHQUAKE look? I'm sure the sound wasn't at all improved over that travesty of a mix on the DVD, but I wonder how the film looked in HD? Was it as grainy as the anamorphic DVD looks? EARTHQUAKE was a very "smooth' looking film theatrically, so I was shocked at the grain on the DVD - I'm hoping the HD doesn't look like that. <

I'll go back and take another look, but from what I recall, the film was 'smooth' looking, with just a hint of grain. I didn't watch the whole thing, just enough to verify it was complete.

The audio on UHD is almost always "fake 5.1". I doubt this was any different.

- Tim

TNT appears to have the OAR bug now.

They showed Titanic in its OAR.

Showtime showed Deep Impact in its OAR.

I wouldn't waste my time with ppv OnDemand. Almost every movie is not OAR (if that's what you're looking for).

i took a chance on DEATH PROOF and it was actually OAR, 2.35:1 on comcast on demand PPV.

TNT appears to have the OAR bug now.

They showed Titanic in its OAR.

Showtime showed Deep Impact in its OAR.

As a general rule, Showtime presents all movies being shown in HD in OAR.

The audio on UHD is almost always "fake 5.1". I doubt this was any different.

- Tim
Actually, this is no longer the case. All of the movies that have recently made it into rotation (last month or 2) are shown in proper 5.1.

Scott

Disclord asked:
> How did EARTHQUAKE look? I'm sure the sound wasn't at all improved over that travesty of a mix on the DVD, but I wonder how the film looked in HD? Was it as grainy as the anamorphic DVD looks? EARTHQUAKE was a very "smooth' looking film theatrically, so I was shocked at the grain on the DVD - I'm hoping the HD doesn't look like that. <

I'll go back and take another look, but from what I recall, the film was 'smooth' looking, with just a hint of grain. I didn't watch the whole thing, just enough to verify it was complete.

The audio on UHD is almost always "fake 5.1". I doubt this was any different.

- Tim

What do you mean 'fake 5.1'?

He means the UHD audio is almost always forced to the 5 speakers, regardless of what they're showing. It's screwed up with the exception of the newer TV shows and movies.

Fright Night OAR 2.35 - Comcast OnDemand. Fun movie, freebie too (if you don't mind putting up with the Fearnet popup crap).

Looks to me like this classic was shown completely in OAR. Picture quality looked excellent.

Don't see any future screenings listed. :(

I.Q. on UHD was OAR.

UHD has ben offering a lot more movies in OAR lately. Dirty Harry, End of Days, Days of Thunder are three of the most recent.

I happen to prefer OAR and it would really be nice if they would post this information next to the HD logo in the menu so viewer would know beforehand.

UHD has ben offering a lot more movies in OAR lately. Dirty Harry, End of Days, Days of Thunder are three of the most recent.
By and large UHD has always shown their movies in OAR.

I.Q. on UHD was OAR.

and nice 5.1 sounds too!

I happen to prefer OAR and it would really be nice if they would post this information next to the HD logo in the menu so viewer would know beforehand.Good luck with that because for the most part broadcasters have abandoned OAR.

Looks to me like this classic was shown completely in OAR. Picture quality looked excellent.

Don't see any future screenings listed. :(

I've been crossing my fingers that it would be in OAR since I saw it on the schedule. Best western ever. Looked fantastic...best I've ever seen it. Cropping a Leone movie should be made unconstitutional.

"Forrest Gump" on ABC HD tonight. When it was on last year, it was OAR on HD, with letterbox bars. SD was 4:3 cropped.And tonight it is in OAR, too. I wonder how many people are watching the SD feed because it fills up their whole screen.

And tonight it is in OAR, too. I wonder how many people are watching the SD feed because it fills up their whole screen.

Idiots saying "what the hell are these bars doing on my HDTV?"

At least you can watch it. We have the WORST ABC affiliate in the country in Cleveland. WEWS is showing the movie "Twister" in SD instead!!! What a bunch of F*****G morons!!!

You ain't missin' much. Commercials every 10mins. Blah. Can't wait for the BD version of this one.

I could have sworn I posted in a thread about Gladiator on Cinemax/Starz HD channel (I can't remember which channel I recorded). It is in open matte so you are seeing more than what's contained on the DVDs. Comparing the 2 there's only a very slight cropping of the right hand side of the frame and it could be due to my TivoHD overscanning or something.

larry

The Professional on HBO HD. (no more showings in the near future)

I almost started a thread about how awful Saturday (yesterday) was for OAR.

Cinemax showed Hot Fuzz sans bars. TNT decided that The Bourne Supremacy should be showed pan and scan with stretch-o-vision. The HD DVD for that has been out for nearly a year. I know there's a HD master. WTF? :confused:

Was Road to Perdition on ABC OAR, open matte, pan and scan or cropped?

Death Proof on Starz HD was in OAR. This gives me hope that Grindhouse will be shown in OAR and with all trailers and stuff. I recorded Death Proof off of E* and it came under 4gigs. Now I have homemade blu-rays of Planet Terror and Death Proof, soon Grindhouse. Cool!

Waking Ned Devine looked good in 2.35:1 OAR on UHD last night.

Contact has made the move from the HBO channels a few years back to Starz! HD in its OAR glory.

Amazing PQ with incredible colors. Let's hope we get this one on BD someday.

Bill,

I didn't go back and pull my tape of "Contact" from HBO, but I have it flagged in my logs as OAR. Was the HBO airing their usual 1.78 crop-job after all?

- Tim

P.S. Also, I see they have this in a 2:30 slot, while IMDB and my tape log lists its runtime as 2:33. Can you comment on the actual runtime?

Bill,

I didn't go back and pull my tape of "Contact" from HBO, but I have it flagged in my logs as OAR. Was the HBO airing their usual 1.78 crop-job after all?

- Tim

P.S. Also, I see they have this in a 2:30 slot, while IMDB and my tape log lists its runtime as 2:33. Can you comment on the actual runtime?

When it ran on HBO and Cinemax, it was also OAR as the transfer dated from the days before HBO made their "all 16:9" edict after early uneducated HDTV owners started their "I bought an HDTV to not see black bars!" whining.

Can't comment on the runtime but Starz! like other networks does list the start time of the next film on the hour even if the previous film runs over by a few minutes, so if you're going to record it, I'd play it safe and pad it a little.

(You wouldn't miss any content, as the credits are easily three minutes long.)

Didn't think to check the audio format.

Death Proof on Starz HD was in OAR. This gives me hope that Grindhouse will be shown in OAR and with all trailers and stuff. I recorded Death Proof off of E* and it came under 4gigs. Now I have homemade blu-rays of Planet Terror and Death Proof, soon Grindhouse. Cool!

4 GB for a 1.5 hour movie??? And I thought Cablevision compressed a lot! I thought the 7GB I got it at was pretty bad...I guess I should be happy I don't have E*.

BTW, Grindhouse was very nice...All OAR with the previews, etc. 16GB for all 3 hours, so not a bad compression job there.

Waking Ned Devine looked good in 2.35:1 OAR on UHD last night.

HD Net Movie channel is one of the few channels that show all their movies in OAR. As far as HBO and other channels that are not showing movies in OAR, they have no interest in educating viewers as to why there might be small black bars at the top and bottom of some movies. These networks want to make sure that "average" viewers don't complain about the bars.

I have a friend who recently purchased an HDTV and asked me why he was seeing the black bars on some movies. When I explained the aspect ratio issue he was fine with it.

4 GB for a 1.5 hour movie??? And I thought Cablevision compressed a lot! I thought the 7GB I got it at was pretty bad...I guess I should be happy I don't have E*.That comes out to either about 6 Mbps or 6.4 Mbps (depending upon whether we're talking about 4 billion bytes or 4 times 2-to-the-30th power bytes). As a carefully hand-tweaked multi-pass encode, it might be decent. HD movies in the Xbox Live Video Store average about 6.6 Mbps and they're often quite good, but they're also 720p24 (I think). 6.4 Mbps for a 1080i60 presentation seems likely to be somewhat strained, despite the best efforts of the people who worked on it.

How'd it look to you, Largo? What cable system were you watching it on?

the reason why the file is so small is because E* has Starzhd as an mpeg4 channel. The quality is actually not too bad. Grindhouse came out to close to 7 gigs.

Kucharsk wrote:
> When it ran on HBO and Cinemax, it was also OAR as the transfer dated from the days before HBO made their "all 16:9" edict... <

Thanks, Bill.

> Can't comment on the runtime but Starz! like other networks does list the start time of the next film on the hour even if the previous film runs over by a few minutes, so if you're going to record it, I'd play it safe and pad it a little. <

I thought they usually had interstitial padding between movies, and all started on 5-min boundaries. But you might be right... if it runs over just a bit, and the next film does need it's entire time slot, they might "slop" over a bit.

> (You wouldn't miss any content, as the credits are easily three minutes long.) <

I like getting the whole film, credits and all, and with a TiVo, not padding the extra 3-mins would mean chop-chop, since it goes strictly by the advertised/reported time-slot for all programs. Failure to pad with TiVo can lead to much knashing of teeth, which is why I usually double-check with IMDB first. :( A lesson learned the hard way.

- Tim

For Contact on Starz on 4/1...

OAR 2.35:1
Dolby Digital 5.1 (my Cinemax HD copy is only 2.0)
and most importantly...NO ANNOYING STARZ BUG!

Beautiful transfer as well. Nice job Starz!

Ratatouille on Starz! HD.

Spectacular OAR 2.35:1 presentation with a great HD picture, almost as good as the Blu-Ray, marred only by a highly annoying occasional full color Starz! HD bug in the right hand lower portion of the screen.

I was quite surprised to see The Patriot being shown in 2:35 OAR on HBO last night. I hope they will start doing more of that with recent movies.

I was surprised and delighted to have DVR-ed Grease from Cinemax and saw that it was presented in a proper widescreen format!

The little bit that I sampled looked excellent.

Mojo, or at least the former INHD used to, and the original Oceans 11 was part of their line-up. And I think IFC does, or is going to.

____________________________________________________
Palladin

Chance favors the prepared mind

kucharsk wrote:
> Ratatouille on Starz! HD.

Spectacular OAR 2.35:1 presentation with a great HD picture, almost as good as the Blu-Ray, marred only by a highly annoying occasional full color Starz! HD bug in the right hand lower portion of the screen. <

Bill, they recently converted over from their obnoxious yellow "starburst" logo to a more subtle white/gray, so you may want to do another capture for posterity.

The "glow" from the previous logo actually impinged on the scope area, while the new logo lies completely outside. Handy if you've got a PJ with blanking.

- Tim

Magnum Force on MAX HD was in HD OAR on 5/15 10PM EDT.

Body Snatchers on MOJO HD was in HD OAR last week. mmmm... Meg Tilly in HD. :)

You Kill Me with Ben Kingsley, Téa Leoni, and Luke Wilson now on MAX HD, May 18.

Beautiful transfer.

Roy

Grabbed it at 6:30 this morning and checked the playback & it was clearly OAR. A nice little OAR 2-fer with "You Kill Me" from last night!

earlier in the thread someone said Crouching Tiger is OAR. Is it dubbed or subbed? I hope it is dubbed so I can remux with different audio. I hate hard coded subtitles.

oh yeah Wed. May 21 Starzhd 11:30 PM CT and Thur. May 22 4:00PM CT

The logo seems to stay low enough that most of it gets cut off.

earlier in the thread someone said Crouching Tiger is OAR. Is it dubbed or subbed? I hope it is dubbed so I can remux with different audio. I hate hard coded subtitles.

oh yeah Wed. May 21 Starzhd 11:30 PM CT and Thur. May 22 4:00PM CT

The logo seems to stay low enough that most of it gets cut off.

If I recall correctly, it was subtitled, which is my preferred way to watch a foreign movie.

Titanic in OAR on TBS, 8/7c on May 24.

Casino Royale on SHOWTIME East HD looks like OAR right here and it is nice looking

http://thumbnails.imagebam.com/686/248d446852019.gif (http://www.imagebam.com/image/248d446852019)

No logo all throughout on starzhd. Incredible. was subbed as well.

EDIT: sorry about that. the movie was crouching tiger, hidden dragon. I thought I quoted myself.

earlier in the thread someone said Crouching Tiger is OAR. Is it dubbed or subbed? I hope it is dubbed so I can remux with different audio. I hate hard coded subtitles.

oh yeah Wed. May 21 Starzhd 11:30 PM CT and Thur. May 22 4:00PM CT

The logo seems to stay low enough that most of it gets cut off.

No logo all throughout on starzhd. Incredible. was subbed as well.Is this a test? I believe that I recognize the actor--Zhang Ziyi, isn't it?--but she's been in about 20 films where she might have been dressed and coiffed like that in a scene. That frame doesn't jog my memory. What was the film?

What was the film?
Hint: crouching.PNG is the filename of the full-size image.

Hint: crouching.PNG is the filename of the full-size image.Actually, you don't get to see that name unless you download the image. I'd examined the properties of the image in the web browser, but what gets displayed is some numeric temp-file name.

Mystery solved--thanks.

Bobby on Showtime
http://thumbnails7.imagebam.com/730/23b46c7298212.gif (http://www.imagebam.com/image/23b46c7298212/)
1920x810 = 2.37
OAR = 2.35

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308055/tvschedule
Wed. June 4 8:00 PM SHOWHD
Thur. June 5 6:00 PM SHOWHD

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (again. this time on Cinemax)
http://thumbnails3.imagebam.com/730/e785577298216.gif (http://www.imagebam.com/image/e785577298216/)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091042/tvschedule
Wed. June 4 7:15 PM MAXHD

1920x810 = 2.37
OAR = 2.35

Heads up...looks like Once Upon a Time in the West will finally be back on CinemaxHD this Friday (6/13) at 3:40am. If you like this movie don't miss it; it looked fantastic.

Se7en in OAR (2.35:1) on Starz! HD.

Except for the obnoxious sunburst Starz! HD logo in the right hand corner on occasion, it looked great.

Oceans 13, surprisingly, 2.35:1 OAR on HBO.

I recorded it this evening off TWC/HBO -- only browsed the first 15 minutes or so. I would've thought it would've been open matte Super-35.

Oceans 13, surprisingly, 2.35:1 OAR on HBO.


I thought I was watching the wrong channel when I saw that. I wonder how long they will keep it up for and if they'll extend it beyond the Sunday nigh premiere to all movies?

I thought I was watching the wrong channel when I saw that. I wonder how long they will keep it up for and if they'll extend it beyond the Sunday nigh premiere to all movies?
Star Wars III was definatlely also 2.35:1 on HBO -- and maybe some of the other Star Wars movies too. But 2.35:1 is definately the exception, not the rule.

I really dislike HBO when 2.35:1 anamorphic panavision movies are cropped to 1.78:1, like the original Die Hard, or Flags of our Fathers. But I don't mind HBO presenting open matte Super-35, for movies like "Hairspray" and "Evening". If its filmed in Super-35, then there's more vertical in the source so there was like 5% cropping required for 1.78:1 on Hairspray.

I thought I was watching the wrong channel when I saw that. I wonder how long they will keep it up for and if they'll extend it beyond the Sunday nigh premiere to all movies?

I suspect that Weintraub has the clout to demand that it only be shown on HD in OAR if he wanted to.

I highly doubt this is the start of a "trend" knowing how pigheaded the powers that be at HBO are.

Ocean's 13 was 2.35:1 but it seemed the PQ was pretty bad. Most likely that's Comcast's fault since they've started putting 3 channels per QAM on the DC system. :mad:

Ocean's 13 was 2.35:1 but it seemed the PQ was pretty bad. Most likely that's Comcast's fault since they've started putting 3 channels per QAM on the DC system. :mad:

Possibly. I thought it was excellent over TWC. It was far better than the version I saw from Xbox Marketplace.

Looks like Braveheart yesterday on Cinemax was OAR; at least the few minutes I saw. It was being recorded on my TiVo so I can verify later whether the whole film is in OAR or whether it switches back and forth (like Alpha Dog).

Looks like Braveheart yesterday on Cinemax was OAR; at least the few minutes I saw. It was being recorded on my TiVo so I can verify later whether the whole film is in OAR or whether it switches back and forth (like Alpha Dog).
Braveheart has been on HBO a few times and it was in OAR each time. It has been encouraging that AMC is starting to show some movies in OAR, as well.

Wow, I had no idea CROUCHING TIGER was shown in HD. Wish I could have that one on DVHS! :eek: The BD is nowhere in the future.