http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/ Engadget Comments for Steven Soderbergh calls out the aspect ratio villains: HBO, AMC - We're talking about you http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/Aug 7th 2009 8:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
so you mean to tell me you really do need 2.4:1 aspect ratio films? I don't like to turn my head in the theatre just to see brad pitt's face.

And it's so sad. I pay $1500 for a WIDESCREEN tv. I put on a sodoborg movie and I have 3 inch black bars on top and bottom. My tv is 52" wide but somehow I get less image and more black bars than I paid for.

There's no need to go more than 1.85:1. ]]>Aug 7th 2009 10:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/Aug 8th 2009 8:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
That's what you're wishing on the world.]]>Aug 8th 2009 6:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/If you hate black bars so much, get a front projection then you can go with Constant Image Height with no blackbars!]]>Aug 8th 2009 4:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
What about theater owners who spend tens of millions of dollars constructing multiplexes full of 2.4:1 aspect ratio screens? And the IMAX operators who have huge investments in gigantic 1.44:1 screens? Do they have the right to have their screens filled too?

The fact of the matter is that there will never be unified one aspect ratio for all entertainment as long there is artistic freedom and a free market (personally I think this is a good thing). So just leave the damn content the way it was made and use the zoom button if you have to have your screen filled that badly (surely your 1500 dollar TV has one of those, right?). The rest of us would like to have the choice.]]>Aug 9th 2009 12:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
...if all footballs were the same size?
...if healthcare was all the same?
...if we all lived in identical homes?
...if we all wore the same clothes?
...if we all had the same hairstyle?
...if all food was prepared the same?

...yes that would be an awesome world]]>Aug 7th 2009 11:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/Aug 7th 2009 11:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.runco.com/cinewide.html]]>Aug 8th 2009 1:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://widescreen.org/multimedia/nimoy.mov Check out widescreen.org for more information. ]]>Aug 8th 2009 12:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/Aug 8th 2009 12:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
This comment just hurt my brain. ]]>Aug 8th 2009 12:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
I watch AMC for one show, and one show only, Breaking Bad. ]]>Aug 8th 2009 1:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/Aug 8th 2009 1:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/Aug 8th 2009 1:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
Not Quite.

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) airs uncut and commercial free. Also, the original aspect ratio is kept as many of the films are 4x3 aspect ratio do to it being the standard of the time. Also, Those films that are wider than 4x3 are letterboxed on TCM.]]>Aug 8th 2009 5:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
My 4:3 SDTV is great, I can watch my satellite tv without having to worry about all the useless crap on the sides of the screen]]>Aug 8th 2009 1:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/Aug 8th 2009 2:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
Not only does TNT stretch horizontally, but they stretch vertically (at a different rate) and then crop. The result is a custom distortion that cannot be corrected by the user. Properly, this should be called "Distort-o-vision."]]>Aug 8th 2009 3:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/Aug 8th 2009 4:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/Aug 8th 2009 6:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
The other local PBS station airs a 4:3 chopped version of TOH during the morning and the full 16:9 version in the evening. Why they feel a need to offer a chopped version only in the mornings is crazy, but then again I am seeing it in other scenarios, too.

Even in cases where the screen appears to be a transmitted 16:9 the L/R edges still seems a little chopped off giving the appearance of a zoomed condition. Either these people are clueless in their jobs, apathetic to presenting something good, or agendized to giving you the very worse.]]>Aug 8th 2009 9:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/Aug 8th 2009 10:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
So, these companies would rather have a screaming minority than a screaming majority...thus, the pan-and-scan wonders of the HDTV era...]]>Aug 8th 2009 10:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
I don't think the problem is that they're trying to please the wrong people, the problem is that they honestly don't understand aspect ratio. It would be one thing if they were consciously trying to please their customers, but the choices they make are so inconsistent and bizarre that the only explanation is that they are every bit as confused as the HDTV owners you're talking about.]]>Aug 8th 2009 12:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
Uh, use the film's original AR? NOT AT IFC!]]>Aug 8th 2009 11:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
I will never forget watching Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow on an HD cable channel (I think it was TNT) when they were showing it twice in a row. The first time was upscaled, stretched out, distorted SD completely butchered to look awful, then it started again one second after the first play ended for the second play-through and it was a pristine quality perfect widescreen HD movie.

How could they possibly be so bad at this that they clearly can't even TELL THE DIFFERENCE between the two? That's absolute madness.]]>Aug 8th 2009 12:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/01/29/philips-56-inch-cinema-21-9-hdtv-gets-showcased-on-video/

if you lived in europe.]]>Aug 8th 2009 11:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
Just last month some moron flipped out on me because 2001: A Space Odyssey had those "Goddamn black bars still!" and that "I didn't know what HD is".

If I could have reached through the phone to choke him, I would have right there. I have a hard time thinking of a better movie to keep in it's original ratio than that.]]>Aug 9th 2009 2:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/07/steven-soderbergh-calls-out-the-aspect-ratio-villains-hbo-amc/
I'm kind of glad I don't have cable or satellite anymore if this is the kind of shenanigans that are going on these days. I just rent everything I want to watch on Blu-ray or DVD from Netflix. Not only am I getting the best quality possible I'm also getting the film the way it was intended to be seen.]]>Aug 9th 2009 12:50PM