Got the widescreen....got the blueray....a couple of questions please

[ipri]

Hi....Do blueray versions of old films really show as Hi def?.....wer'nt they recorded on non hi def cameras??

also...why so many options for screen display?...surly technology can cope with a film that fills the entire screen without distorted people....my best picture leave 3" band at top and bottom of the screen!......I did'nt really need such a big screen after all!!

Thanks for any help.......are there any sites that can give me more info on this topic? ian

 

[Frank Harvey]

Film resolution is far higher than Bluray resolution, so as long as an old film has been mastered well enough, it too has the ability to look stunning. I'm reliably imformed that Errol Flynn's Robin Hood looks amazing.......

 

[aliEnRIK]

Most movies are still made on analogue cameras and have a much higher definition than blurays. ie ~ film is actually downscaled to fit onto blurays

As for the screensizes ~ thats for the people that believe more options are somehow better (As is the case with all the extra 'processing modes' they put on tvs these days when theyre simply not needed).

 

[Clare Newsome]

ipri:
Hi....Do blueray versions of old films really show as Hi def?.....wer'nt they recorded on non hi def cameras??

Hi there!

Vast majority of old movies are shot in film, which is inherently higher-resolution. More in my blog on the Blu-rays of the 1960s Bond movies.


ipri:

also...why so many options for screen display?...surly technology can cope with a film that fills the entire screen without distorted people....my best picture leave 3" band at top and bottom of the screen!......I did'nt really need such a big screen after all!!

Thanks for any help.......are there any sites that can give me more info on this topic? ian

And this is all about aspect ratio - the size a movie or TV show was shot at. And yes, you will get black bars top and bottom with the most popular widescreen format, as a cinema screen and TV screen ain't the same size!

 

[Alec]

So when we see films in the cinema, we are seeing them at their best, unless we see them in an imax, which is better? But imax actually does require different filming methods (cameras?) doesnt it?

EDIT - how high is the native resolution of film?

 

[Clare Newsome]

al7478:So when we see films in the cinema, we are seeing them at their best, unless we see them in an imax, which is better?

Only potentially. You should at least be seeing the film as the director intended, at the correct ratio and with full surround sound.

However, there are so many variables re projection quality, speaker quality, quality of print/digital copy etc... You could end up with better picture and sound quality watching on Blu-ray at home!

al7478:

But imax actually does require different filming methods (cameras?) doesnt it?

Yep.

 

[Alec]

Thanks clare. i was being more simple minded than that tho - i meant just interms of the display resolution - tho i guess aspect ratio comes into it too. I must admit i have very little understanding of aspect ratio.

"al7478 - asking the dumb questions so you dont have to".