aspect ratio of old classic movies

[vhelp]

so i like to watch metv's svengoolie old classic movies, saturday nights. here in NY they are on channel 43 through directv at 10pm. my dish/dvr is SD 720x480 format since i don't have the HD version of their receiver. anyway.

i was surfing the dvr's tv listing and saw that they are airing an hard to find movie (on tv), The Island Earth, 1955. its in color, and it appears in the 1.33 aspect ratio, although the opening credits were matted a little.

i was just wondering, what aspect ratio format is it showing currently on your broadcast service ? fullscreen, 1.33, 1.37, 1.77, 1.85, ... ? i thought they they might be showing it in widescreen for those with HD systems.

directv, METV-NY, channel 43, svengoolie, host of tv old movies

edit: a conversation about the movie's original and tv broadcasted presentation formats.
Aspect Ratio of Original Film

[Mr.Delusional]

I don't think that MeTv shows anything in widescreen. For my local broadcast (Kansas City) it's 1.33:1! Looks like there was a region 2 1.85:1 dvd release.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Island-Earth-Jeff-Morrow/dp/B0012138L4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8...s+island+earth

[netmask56]

From DVD Beaver

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/reviews/tie.htm

Looks like the directors position was for WS projection ie the projectionist applied a matte
If you want to see it with various matte's use VLC to play it back.
I have a full open frame version DVD and it looks OK as 1.85:1
I streamed it from my PC to my 16:9 Samsung and seemed OK unlike many genuine 4:3 films that have been matted..

[vhelp]

@netmask56, thanks for that link.

well, just to add to the hall of records, here is today's current broadcast aspect ratio for SD format from the METV network as captured last night with the Pinnacle Studio AV/DV capture card using virtualdub and the UT codec. you can see how much they cropped off in last nights SD broadcast, from the original releases.



compare (the above image) to the one's below, from the website url: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/reviews/tie.htm

(Image Entertainment - Region 1- NTSC TOP vs. Universal Studios - Region 1 - NTSC MIDDLE vs. Universal - Region 2,4,5 - PAL BOTTOM)

** see the website for those details.