They'll see a black bar at the top and at the bottom of the screen. The alternative is to crop the edges, losing some of the picture.
The Minearverse 3: The Network Is a Harsh Mistress
[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls and The Inside), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.
They'll see a black bar at the top and at the bottom of the screen. The alternative is to crop the edges, losing some of the picture.
Oh that does not sound that bad at all.. as long as its the bars and not the croped edges.
tommyrot - A few months ago, Tim said:
Wonderfalls is meant to be seen full screen, with some exceptions. But let's just say full screen and leave it at that. It's not like Firefly where we meant for it to be 16x9 and they wouldn't let us. they wouldn't let us to point where there was no frame at all because we were all CANCELLED AND SHIT.
Huh. I remember that now. So it's weird that they'd release it widesreen. Maybe just the "few exceptions" will be widescreen?
I assuming the "few exceptions" are things like the main titles, and the tourist photo-shoot panoramic camera intro to the first act of "Karma Chameleon."
The "few exceptions" also included the episodes Cocktail Bunny and Caged Bird. At first they were debating releasing only those two in widescreen and the rest in fullscreen, but it looks like they've decided to go with widescreen for all episodes.
I thought it would have been odd watching the episodes in fullscreen then it switching to wide for just two episodes. As long as there aren't crew members at the side of the shot, this uniformity makes me happy.
Actually, just gimme DVDs. If the crew members looked inconspicuous, that'd be fine. If they were with the boom mics and looking into camera, then no. How much would that make Tim cringe? But if it was Bryan with a boom (and I have no idea why he would have a boom) looking into camera, oh yeah...
Perhaps Fox Home Entertainment will step up and use the completely ignored pan-and-scan on-the-fly feature in the original DVD specs. A series like Wonderfalls is perfect for that type of presentation. Those with 16x9 TV sets or a preference for widescreen presentations can watch the episodes in that fashion while those who prefer to have their 4x3 set filled with image can have their DVD player crop off the sides of the image. The bitrate for the episodes may need to be higher than normal to support both screen ratios, but that should only force the addition of one more disk to the set.
I have seen widescreen versions of the four broadcast episodes and they looked fine to me. No crew and no equipment to be seen on the sides. The composition of the shots didn't look overly spacious either.
Yay!
My depression over having a Tivo with nothing to record gets less every day till December. (Since I seem to be one of the only members of the board not interested in Christian's buttocks) :-)
Those with 16x9 TV sets or a preference for widescreen presentations can watch the episodes in that fashion while those who prefer to have their 4x3 set filled with image can have their DVD player crop off the sides of the image.
My TV has that option (new Sony).