[opendtv] Re: 70th Anniversary Blu-ray and standard DVDs of the Wizard of Oz

  • From: Cliff Benham <flyback1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:02:22 -0400

Hello John,

I'm using two players; a Sony BDP-S350 and a Philips BDP5005.
I have tried the "4:3 pan and scan" mode and all other combinations of screen format and output settings on both players and none will produce a 4:3 image from the NTSC outputs when playing a blu-ray disk containing a 1.33:1 aspect ratio film. I have tried another film besides the Oz disk with the same results.
Have I found a bug in the blu-ray design specifications? Did Sony and Philips decide to ignore 4:3 displays when designing Blu-ray?
This year and last mark the 70th anniversary releases on Blu-ray of several significant Technicolor films from 1938 and 39; Robin Hood with Errol Flynn, Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and others.
These are benchmark films that have been meticulously restored to look as good now as they did then or even better. Warner spent 18 months on the Oz restoration.
These films represent the best of the Technicolor System Five art and they all have an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. 4:3.
If the Blu-ray editions of these films won't play properly in their correct aspect ratio then this is a big deal.
The Oz disk does not play properly on my 16:9 RCA HD set either. The image is slightly squeezed horizontally using 1080i through the component input. See pics. 

Cliff

John Shutt wrote:

Cliff,

What specific make and model Blu-Ray are you using?  The instructions for
the Philips BDP-7200 Blu-Ray player specifically shows a "4:3 pan and scan" 
NTSC mode, which is what I always set on my DVD players when connected to a
4:3 television.
Manual: http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/b/bdp7200_f7/bdp7200_f7_dfu_aen.pdf 

Read Page 35.

John

----- Original Message ----- From: "Cliff Benham" <flyback1@xxxxxxxxxxx>



In the picture monitor screen shot below, the squeezed 1:1 aspect ratio
of the Blu-ray NTSC output is quite evident. The Ring around Leo should
be perfectly round. It is oval.

JPEG image

JPEG image

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