HD Widescreen Question
 

As much as I like the idea of having shows in HD, I don't really understand why someone would want a show in widescreen that was filmed and aired in fullscreen. If it was meant to be fullscreen, then it seems to me that reformatting it to widescreen won't show you any more of the video than the fullscreen video. I would understand if it was filmed in widescreen but many TV shows are filmed in fullscreen. I hope someone can explain it to me.

Well, actually, many television shows are now being filmed with HD cameras, and have for 2-3 years now (or more).

A "fullscreen" television show is usually a cropped version of the HD feed. Even if the original shots were done in full 35mm size, you wouldn't have access to that -- you only get what's available from the broadcast, which is far removed from the camera.

OK. What about cartoons, since they don't use a camera? I've heard of cartoons that were originally aired in fullscreen being available in widescreen on HD channels. Does what you said work the same way for cartoons?

Which ones? Many new cartoons are actually animated in wider format. In fact, some of the very first cartoons, such as Tom & Jerry and various Looney Tunes, were drawn in Cinemascope and comparable wide formats.

The only ones I know of are American Dragon: Jake Long and Lilo And Stitch: The Series. I think some of the shows on Disney XD HD are in widescreen also. I can't be sure since I don't get that channel. It's probably just the new cartoons on that channel.

Yeah, I don't know why somebody would want a matted/cropped 16:9 butchered version of a 4:3 show.

i prefer the original no matter what it is.. dont want short and fat people or talll and to skinny lol

I believe the term is called "Stretchovision".

What gets me is, when they have a TV show that was recorded in widescreen, but they only sell the show in fullscreen! I'm currently working on Becker in widescreen - why? Because the retail set is only available in fullscreen! So, since Universal HD has been airing Becker in widescreen, I'm rebuiding my Becker set (I did a complete one in FS). Since I own 4 widescreen TVs, it's worth it to me.

So, are you saying that a 4:3 version of a cartoon that is matted/cropped into 16:9 is butchered and I should just stick with the 4:3 version? The reason I ask is because I've been talking with wayshway who has Jake Long and Lilo And Stitch in fullscreen but he's recording Jake Long in HD widescreen in order to make a new set. He also said that Konfusion is making a new set with the HD widescreen source.

I looked back at his PM and I see that wayshway said that American Dragon and Lilo and Stitch were filmed in widescreen but aired in full screen during it's original run.

I don't know that Lilo & Stitch were widescreen animated.

Many early 16:9 HD shots were created knowing most people would view the cropped 4:3 broadcasts, so the left and right portions of the image were "dead air", nothing more than backgrounds. Some shows, like My Name Is Earl even planted HD-only jokes in the dead space (i.e., Randy held a sign once saying "HD is great", or something to that effect). In more recent years, wide shots are now important, so cropping is butchering now.

Inversely, cropping a 4:3 to "fill the screen" on a 16:9 set is equally retarded, as is stretching an image.

Some movies, like Lord of the Rings, were actually shot taller than 16:9, but the intention was to crop, so equipment, powerlines, etc -- crap -- is seen in the uncropped shots. You'd not want that, and it's not released anyway.

"Full screen" movies are panned/scanned to 4:3 off a 16:9 print, whereas many television broadcasts are straight cropped, no panning/scanning.

well those are def real widescreen there is extra footage on the sides.. stuff that was missed. i hope they end up getting more disney stuff like that.

Even if Lilo & Stitch The Series is widescreen animated, I doubt anything important is shown there -- it was known in the industry at the time that 4:3 was the primary viewing device. That show ended back in 2005-2006, when HDTV was still just a niche saturation, only beginning to show steady growth against 4:3 sets. Indeed, it was 2006-2007 that 4:3 started to be clearanced off showrooms -- it's how I ended up with my newest 4:3 sets (an 20" EDTV LCD, and a 27" CRT) for peanuts.