Star Trek VI Weird Aspect Ratio?

[Thunder In Paradise]

Hey, has anybody watched or copied this DVD? Have you noticed that it has a really weird aspect ratio? It's like 1.78 on the top, and 2.35 on the bottom, making the picture appear off-center. I know this was corrected, or looks corrected, in the DC edition just released. The movie was originally shot in 2.1 : 1.

[vhelp]

Thunder,

D/L dvd2avi v1.85 and have a look at the aspect ratio.

* Video/Clip resize..
* select Video aspect [TV 4/3] and flip through Cinema 1.85 and Cinema 2.35

See which one has the least black bars. Chances are, it will be a 2.35
that shows the least black bars.

When you finish doing this, next..

* select (Reset) button, and see if the video stretches w/ the black bars.
If it does, and the people look taller, than you have an Anamporphic dvd,
else you probably have a Letterbox'ed version ?

-vhelp

[FulciLives]

If I recall this movie was shot in Super 35mm or some similiar process where you basically shoot in a full frame 1.33:1 ratio then it is masked for theatrical release but can be masked any number of ways for video.

I had the widscreen LaserDisc when it first came out and I don't recall it being off centered. I also by accident bought the full screen LD and did notice that there was more info on the top and bottom in most shots compared to the widescreen LD

Never seen the DVD of it though the new DVD release is tempting but I've bought most of the STAR TREK movies on VHS and then LaserDisc so how many friggin' times can you buy the same movie.

I'll wait until super duper HDTV 3D Hyper DVD is out before I upgrade again.

Same reason a friend of mine won't buy the BOND films (which he loves). He pointed out to me that they will always be around and get re-issued over and over again in any number of current or upcomming video formats so why buy them.

He just rents them whenever he is in the mood.

Anyways he has them all on VHS and in widescreen thanks to various cable TV channels and at 47 years old he has seen them all like a bazillion times each so it's not like he gets the urge to watch them all that often. When he does he just rent which ever one he wants to see on DVD.

He kinda has a point there at least with ubber popular films.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Robert Simandl]

The Undiscovered Country was indeed filmed in Super35, a format that used 1.33 negatives with the intention of masking to 2.35 for the theatrical presentation.

My own opinion, I didn't think they did too good a job. When seeing this flick in the theater, I was noticing things were always tight on the top and bottom.

In that respect, the LD (and first DVD, which used the same master IIRC), were an improvement because the top and bottom were opened up a bit.

I haven't seen the new DVD so can't comment on that one.

[energy80s]

So this is one film that would definately benefit from a fullscreen 4:3 version. In a similar vein, I believe that Battlestar Galactica is the same - with the full verson being shown on TV and a cropped 16:9 version released on VHS & DVD.

[Thunder In Paradise]

Yes, this is the letterbox version. Yes, I was aware of that. The reason I posted was because the actual video picture aspect ratio is 2.35:1. Now, normally, movies shot at that ratio have the same amount of black underneath the picture as it does above the picture. On this movie, that's not the case, that's what I was saying earlier. The amount of black underneath the picture is the standard amount of "black bar" that's supposed to be underneath the picture when shot at 2.35:1. Above the picture though, the amount of "black bar" is more similiar to that of a movie shot in 1.87:1, or as I call it, crap widescreen. :P So, like I was saying before, the black bar amount underneath the picture is normal, the black bar amount above the picture is less then it should be. Hence, the image appears to be "above" center because there is less matting on the top of the frame.

[vhelp]

hi Thunder..

Just re-reading your post, and your latest one. I understand more clearly
what you are describing now :P

However..

Here are a few things to add in the analyising:

A) - the boarder (be it normal, or weird) are not a factor when dealing w/ a
.......final output on your tv set, becuase perhaps, your dvdplayer will fix
.......this automatically, or it just so happens, that enough of your video
.......area is centered closely enough for tv viewing. Weather the studios
.......or other entities that put this disk together is not the issue

B) - can you measure your "actual" picture area ?

C) - what are the exact measurements for ea. boarders (post here)

What I'm on about here, is that if we can determine that the "video area" is
w/in a given measurement, that that is all that really matters, when the
viewing area is fine (when watched on a normal tv set) I'd be interested in
knowing how it would look though, on an acutaly widescreen tv set

-vhelp