Thank you for showing so many films in their correct aspect ratios - likewise More 4 and Channel 4. I was one of many who complained about the 16:9-ing of everything, but no one seems to have said thanks for changing. The films even look sharper and cleaner. Perhaps this is because there is less digital processing (or it maybe because I've cleaned my TV....) Libretio, and others: we can't hope for perfection in this world. Where you want a really perfect copy of a film, it's right to buy a DVD. After all, the original creators get a percentage of it. That's why I've bought 'Battle of Britain', etc, but I'm happy to record films I like a lot, because I can't afford to buy everything. For example the first film F4 showed in its correct AR, 'Radioland Murders'. The critics rubbished it, but I like all the different musical styles and the nostalgia.
Thank you for showing so many films in their correct aspect ratios - likewise More 4 and Channel 4.
Big thumbs up from me, too. Though I don't recall either More 4 or Channel 4 doing much to preserve aspect ratios (THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST notwithstanding) - on every terrestrial/Freeview channel other than Film 4, most everything is cropped/altered to 1.78:1. Not the case with most foreign-language films, of course, but even then, there's no consistency from one film to the next (the Infernal Affairs trilogy and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON were all cropped on those channels, though Film 4 did screen the former at the correct ratio recently.
we can't hope for perfection in this world. Where you want a really perfect copy of a film, it's right to buy a DVD.
True enough. Even if all the broadcasters suddenly switched to showing everything at the correct AR, they can't provide 5.1 sound (for example) for those films which were recorded that way, at least not at the moment. But NICAM stereo is 'good enough' for those who just want to kick back and watch a movie on TV.
For example the first film F4 showed in its correct AR, 'Radioland Murders'. The critics rubbished it, but I like all the different musical styles and the nostalgia.
Each to their own, and all that. Besides, who gives a stuff what critics think, anyway?!
Besides, who gives a stuff what critics think, anyway?!
Many Americans unfortunately - which in turn influences the American majors to consign films to the vaults that aren't going to make any money on DVD, due to the lack of public interest thanks to the weight of popular critical opinion (eg The Devils).
Melville's Le Cercle rouge was shot at the 1.66:1 aspect ratio. The Film4 broadcast on 21st June presented the film correctly. Sorry if, for some reason, the film didn't appear to you in the way that both we and the director intended.
Thank you, as always, for your comments on this topic.
Yes, thank you for starting to show films correctly.
I will now be watching the channel, I'd deleted it from my Freeview box and didn't bother looking in on my cable and satellite boxes, as I refuse to watch cropped films.
Originally posted by Libretio: True enough. Even if all the broadcasters suddenly switched to showing everything at the correct AR, they can't provide 5.1 sound (for example) for those films which were recorded that way, at least not at the moment. But NICAM stereo is 'good enough' for those who just want to kick back and watch a movie on TV.
I don't quite understand this part of the post.
Sky broadcast some of their channels in AC3 (DD) 5.1, there is no reason for others not to.
Dolby Pro-logic is often transmitted on channels broadcasting in Stereo as Pro-Logic is encoded in the stereo signal, granted not as good as AC3 5.1, but better than nothing.
Also. NICAM is only used on analogue terrestrial channels, on cable and Freeview they use MPEG stereo (though both could use AC3 but don't) and satellite uses MPEG stereo with also some channels using AC3 too.
To be honest, I'm more of a widescreen nut than an audio nut, but if it's true there's no technical impediment to Freeview channels broadcasting in 5.1, then I'd like to know why they don't. Unfortunately, if they switched to 5.1 tomorrow, we'd get a whole swathe of films that were originally released in mono or 'standard' Dolby Stereo (matrixed surround) remixed in 5.1, and from my experience with this kind of thing on DVD, it almost always sounds bleedin' awful. Unless they've spent a fortune on the remix, which isn't always the case.
