Poll: Do you prefer OAR content or modified to fit 16x9 screen?

[wasch_24]

Sean...I don't think that "video format" menu works at all. It does absolutely nothing! I can't see the picture shifting up or down or horizontally at all.
But is this what madpoet was referring to? Is that the Factory Settings Menu?

wasch 24...You think it might be the DVI input? I can't try anything else on it because the only device I own with DVI is the STB. Via component inputs the only thing shifted is the Voom STB also, so I'm almost positive that this is a STB issue.

Thanks in advance for posting your findings tomorrow!

I couldn't replicate the clipping my wife noticed in a DVD. The only channel that I could see being clipped last night was HDNews. Especially when the weather was on. I could only see the bottom half of the words on the top of the screen. When I hit the Voom button the small image in the upper right showed that there was a substantial ( if I had to guess I would say about 1.5" on my 65" screen) amount of image missing. I tried cycling through the resolutions with the red button on the front of the STB and it didn't go away. I also haven't been able to replicate the clipping on any SD Voom channels or CATV. Since both my DVD and STB are going through my receiver and into the same input in the TV. I think it is some setting that I can't find in the STB that is causing it.

 

[vurbano]

I really dont mind either way at this point. Im glad to get as much HD as I can. In the future I might complain about not having the whole movie on my screen, but as long as it isnt stretched like espnhd I do not mind having the whole widescreen TV filled with HD material.

 

[rang1995]

i vote for OAR but to tell the truth watching the crimson pirate an old 1;33 movie on a 65" filling the screen in HDTV "ain't so bad""Not losing anything

 

[digideal]

OAR is the only way to go, really. If your TV can't handle, go get a new one! really, why would you want it to be stretched? It skews the images and you loose the PQ. OAR is the way to go

 

[rang1995]

But in the case of Crimson pirate it dosnt seem stretched..i have watched the original dvd and really think this was nicer.if it is stretched(which it must be)it's not noticable which is good

 

[madpoet]

92 votes... not bad at all. Hope the results do indeed get passed on.

 

[Sean Mota]

92 votes... not bad at all. Hope the results do indeed get passed on.

This is good and it will be passed on... Right now we get 100% full screen movies in Cinema 10 and to balance it out, it will be great if at least 50% is done in its OAR.

 

[DarrellP]

I have a projector so burn-in is not an issue for me. I watch the picture in "Normal" mode, which will give me whatever the source is delivering. I could care less if I am seeing a 4:3 picture or a 16:9 picture as long as it is showing in the format it was intended to be shown.

I don't like zooming/stretching 4:3 content because it looks really bad on a big screen when this is done. I sometimes even scale it down to it's actual resolution so I have an even smaller image on the screen, producing a more viewable image.

 

[Tvlman]

Ilya is right. Stanley Kubrick is the best example of this. Some of his films like "The Shinning" were shot in a format different from the way they were shown. (I use "shown" instead of "released because the Academy Format could accompany more than one format.) In the Shinning if you go to the OAR it looks like a standard motion picture but he shot with a lot of room for widescreen. He preferred to end up with a quality negative allowing enough space to accompany wide screen formats.

 

[kirkdj]

I would like It MY Way

I would like to have a box that is able to convert it to what ever aspect I choose......the OTA signals have bars on each side regardless of any settings on my box.....and what I hate is that the OTA HD signals that I receive on my standard 36" sony 4:3 tv can't be converted to fill the screen....I still get the bars on each side....oh I can crop it but that cuts a lot of the menu bars off on each side.....why? Because VOOM apparently doesn't have it together yet I guess!

 

[vurbano]

The only way to view a film is in its original aspect ratio and its original language as intended by the director. Anything less is pure artistic butchery.

But since it is common to release a movie in both formats for sale, the directors are aware of this, so how do you know the directors now are not shooting for both presentations? In fact they are if you think about it, or many of the actors would be completely out of the picture in 16x9.

I think the cinema10 should do 50-50 just to stop the argueing from both sides. On one hand I like OAR sometimes on the other I like my screen filled sometimes.

 

[vurbano]

This is good and it will be passed on... Right now we get 100% full screen movies in Cinema 10 and to balance it out, it will be great if at least 50% is done in its OAR.

Exactly, and at this point that would be what would help voom grow the most.

 

[TheForce]

"Director's intent" is something dreamed up by OAR zealots to aid in their argument against the ones who want films modified from their theatrical release OAR. The reality is that most director's who shoot major films are quite aware of all the release venues for their work and therefore monitor the shooting process and editing process with both 4x3 and Theatrical release AR crop marks on the VTO monitors. (VTO=Video take off). Thus, the "Director's intent" is most likely, a film creation that is intended for both 4x3 venues and theater release. The theater is rarely if ever 4x3 today. Most common are 16x9 or close to ie and 2.39. In most larger film productions, Director's are quite aware of the business model for all the markets for their film and work their art to satisfy the needs to make a profit, a huge profit.

What I have always said is that I prefer to have my movies in OAR or more accurately, OTAR for Original Theatrical Aspect Ratio release when in HDTV. And, in 4x3 full screen when in "made for TV" broadcast. Therefore, all my DVD's and HDTV viewing should be OTAR while the SD channels should be 4x3 full screen. I don't like letterboxed movies on a 19" TVSET in a hotel room. I prefer OTAR on my 120" screen at home.

The other myth argument for filling the screen is burn in. From my experience, burn in is really only a problem with Plasma screens. They are the most susceptible of all viewing screens. CRT's will burn in too but unless you hold a cropped image with black on the 4x3 phosphor targets for months at a time, it will not show the problems of burn-in. Plasmas on the otherhand can show burn-in in just 8 hours of a black bars in the display. So do we need to ruin the OTAR of all movies to protect owners of Plasmas? I say no, hell no. If people were dumb enough to buy such a fragile display for that kind of money and dumb enough to not use their own internal stretch modes, then let them buy a new one when their screens wear out. I had to buy new tubes for my CRT when they burned in after 4 years of 16x9 viewing on the 4x3 targets so why can't the Plasma owners who can afford those $5000 and up screens just buy a new one when it burns too? Don't feel sorry for them and don't feel the need to suffer through modified movies because they cry it ruins their expensive plasma.

 

[deeann]

Plasmas on the otherhand can show burn-in in just 8 hours of a black bars in the display. So do we need to ruin the OTAR of all movies to protect owners of Plasmas? I say no, hell no. If people were dumb enough to buy such a fragile display for that kind of money and dumb enough to not use their own internal stretch modes, then let them buy a new one when their screens wear out. I had to buy new tubes for my CRT when they burned in after 4 years of 16x9 viewing on the 4x3 targets so why can't the Plasma owners who can afford those $5000 and up screens just buy a new one when it burns too? Don't feel sorry for them and don't feel the need to suffer through modified movies because they cry it ruins their expensive plasma.

Wow Don, that was kind of (unexpectedly) harsh. It really hasn't come up in other threads we've both been in other forums (I'm assuming you're the same Don Landis), but I have a plasma and am definitely *not* rich (had to sell a bunch of other stuff a couple of years ago to be able to afford it). Like Rudolpht mentions earlier in the thread a properly calibrated PDP should handle OAR content fine, I just always suggest that people mix up the viewing to balance the wear (with the exception of the first couple of hundred hours when the phosphors are brand new, then you'll want to run most of your 4:3 content zoomed or stretched to full screen). After that- just keep a good mix of aspect ratios, use the wobbler (or orbiter) if you want and enjoy.
BTW- I'd bet quite a few of us can't just 'buy a new one' if we burn it in, but at the same time, I'm not seeing the 'crybaby whining' (to paraphrase) you're talking about. I would hope most people purchasing this display type have done their research ahead of time. If not- well that's their own problem.

That being said, I prefer to watch movies** in OAR, I've had movie marathons of 2:35 content and after over two years of daily use on my plasma, doing just fine burn-in wise.

Yes, it is a type of display that needs to be taken care of- but I don't mind taking a bit of effort to properly care for my equipment 'cause I'm rewarded with the fantastic picture I'm getting.

** Broadcast SDTV I really don't care about so I zoom it and crop out all of the tickers, bugs, banner ad's and other crap that's on most of the basic channels these days.

 

[Ilya]

Back to the OAR topic, if I may...

There is one case when director's intent is very clear and cannot be questioned: old B/W movies that were never intended for wide screen. Cropping them for sure goes against director's intent. Let me illustrate this with an actual screen snapshot from The Man With A Movie Camera. The one on the left is what many of us saw on VOOM, the one on the right, perhaps not exactly OAR, shows what is missing. I hope no comments required. I am just glad Dziga Vertov will never see what's done to his work... :shocked

Ilya.

 

[eschu97611]

Back to the OAR topic, if I may...

There is one case when director's intent is very clear and cannot be questioned: old B/W movies that were never intended for wide screen. Cropping them for sure goes against director's intent. Let me illustrate this with an actual screen snapshot from The Man With A Movie Camera. The one on the left is what many of us saw on VOOM, the one on the right, perhaps not exactly OAR, shows what is missing. I hope no comments required. I am just glad Dziga Vertov will never see what's done to his work... :shocked

Ilya.

Comments always required-You know thaT by now Ilya, right????LMAO

 

[TheForce]

"I would hope most people purchasing this display type have done their research ahead of time. If not- well that's their own problem."

Yeah, that about sums up my opinion better without being harsh! Thanks for saying it better. I do believe the Plasmas will be a dieing technology as we begin to see better and better PQ from LCD's. BTW- we burned in a Plasma with our TV show logo static graphic after a 6 hour shoot. We used a rented Plasma as a background for the show. Glad that Plasma didn't belong to me. Sorry if I characterized all Plasma owners as rich enough to not care about how expensive and fragile they are.

 

[xtc]

I don't know any of this mumbo jumbo. I just want to see my 52" widescreen comletely filled up, no black lines anywhere. I don't understand why this is a problem. I have Dish Network right now and my tv is filled completely. And I have no problems. If i dont get this when Voom gets installed in a week and a half. I'm leaving Voom as fast as I subscribed to it.

 

[vinnyv07]

I just feel if they modify any picture to fit the 16x9 screen then it loses picture quality. You would see a great difference in the picture quality in the CIN10 ch's if they started showing the movies in OAR format. Ch's like INHD and HDNET and Discovery they are a different story. They are filmed in HD and look great filling the entire screen.

 

[slffl]

Well I noticed the other day on Animania that the cartoon was basically a 4:3 that was zoomed and cropped. Now this was HORRIBLE! If this is how they're going to get their 16:9 content, by cropping and zooming 4:3, then it's unwatchable to me, even moreso than movies cropped to 16:9.

BTW, I just cancelled VaVaVOOM because nothing is shown in OAR. I was hoping for the CSR to ask me the reason, but he didn't. I hope word gets to the execs somehow. (yes I know VOOM doesn't control the movie channels).