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Info & Discussion: Fullscreen Laserdisc / DVD Preservations — Page 2

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Any one have a list of open-matte films? I think I read here somewhere that many 1.85:1 films were open-matte.

I like open-matte a lot, especially when the film took fullscreen into consideration during filming/post. I think 'Truman Show' is an example. However, many DVDs that were presented with open-matte on DVD are presented as widescreen on later releases. 'Truman Show' also another example of this.

BTW, I prefer '28 Days Later' fullscreen (open-matte) DVD because it was filmed on DVCAM. Note, there is one quick transition scene that looks off in '28 Days Later' fullscreen (open-matte) DVD.

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I have a german languaged (and with German Starting Credits) open matted Version of George A. Romeros European 'Argento' Cut of "Dawn of the Dead". (Sorry, not english friendly.)

I really love open Matted Versions with more informations, and I think it should be common to bring both Versions to the masses (like the original "Evil Dead" BD).

I also remember that my VHS Tapes of "Desperado" and "From dusk till dawn" were open matted.

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower

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I think the VHS of Top Gun is open matte. As one of my favorite movies ever, I watched it a million times as a kid. So certain little unimportant things are burned into my memory.

I bought the movie on DVD around 2006 or so and knew something was wrong right from the opening Paramount logo. I noticed certain things from the top and bottom were missing but wasn't 100% sure. The part that confirmed it for me was when Tom Cruise and Tom Skerritt are walking and talking about how Maverick's father died, and I couldn't see Tom's cowboy boots when the camera pulled back.

So I rebought it on vhs. The scene where Mav and Goose say the "Need For Speed" line shows them completely from head to toe. The "widescreen" dvd cuts off their knees and the top of Anthony Edwards head. The "widescreen" blu-ray cuts them off at the waists, and cuts off Edwards head completely.

I've also noticed a bit of "zoom" for the opening credits of The Terminator (still have that on vhs as well).

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There is a full frame Top Gun DVD out there.

Where were you in '77?

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Regarding Top Gun, the original R1 DVD release has both widescreen and fullscreen versions on the disc. The widescreen version is 2.00:1 though

an idea I had with Top Gun was to have three different versions on a BD-25 (in SD) and the option to toggle between aspect ratios (1.33:1, 2.00:1 and 2.35:1) but have them all synched up to the same soundtracks 

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The Back To The Future trilogy is available in open matte on VHS, Laserdisc and DVD.

I have another film with Michael J. Fox called "The Secret of My Success" on Laserdisc and it's open matte.

On Laserdisc, I also have Predator (P&S), The Twilight Zone (I think it's P&S), Frantic with Harrison Ford (P&S).

All of these are French Laserdiscs besides the BTTF trilogy.

Spider-Man 1 & 2 are available in Fullscreen on DVD. Spider-Man is a true open matte presentation since it was filmed on flat 35mm. The second movie was shot on Super35 in 2.39:1 so it's half opened/half cropped exactly like T3.

The Big Lebowski does exist on DVD and it's a true open matte version without any real cropping issues.

BeetleJuice, The Faculty, The Matrix trilogy, Reservoir Dogs... all of these are available on Fullscreen DVDs as well.

“English, motherf***er! Do you speak it!?”

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SilverWook said:

There is a full frame Top Gun DVD out there.

 Thanks for letting me know. Imma look it up right now.

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ilovewaterslides said:

The Back To The Future trilogy is available in open matte on VHS, Laserdisc and DVD.

I have another film with Michael J. Fox called "The Secret of My Success" on Laserdisc and it's open matte.

On Laserdisc, I also have Predator (P&S), The Twilight Zone (I think it's P&S), Frantic with Harrison Ford (P&S).

All of these are French Laserdiscs besides the BTTF trilogy.

Spider-Man 1 & 2 are available in Fullscreen on DVD. Spider-Man is a true open matte presentation since it was filmed on flat 35mm. The second movie was shot on Super35 in 2.39:1 so it's half opened/half cropped exactly like T3.

The Big Lebowski does exist on DVD and it's a true open matte version without any real cropping issues.

BeetleJuice, The Faculty, The Matrix trilogy, Reservoir Dogs... all of these are available on Fullscreen DVDs as well.

 I haven't seen it myself, but I have read that that there is an open-matte version of Predator out there as well...

Also, there is a full frame/open matte version of The Matrix available on myspleen.  Have not watched it yet myself, but there is also a thread here about it.

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I concur re Predator, the open matte version showed way more info.

Wasn't it on Laserdisc?

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The information in the replies are great to know. However, it seems most consumers and the powers that be don't seem to care for open-matte.

It's a shame many films are matted before distribution rather than use the technology & options built into players/displays to (soft-)matte (real-time). It's true in some cases PQ would suffer, however in many cases I don't think PQ would suffer too much.

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skoal said:

The information in the replies are great to know. However, it seems most consumers and the powers that be don't seem to care for open-matte.

It's a shame many films are matted before distribution rather than use the technology & options built into players/displays to (soft-)matte (real-time). It's true in some cases PQ would suffer, however in many cases I don't think PQ would suffer too much.

 It seems to be that with Widescreen TVs the consumers tend to want the matted releases to fill their Screen. Also much Open matted filmed movies where intented to be matted for Cinema, but Full Screen movies where cheaper to shoot compared to anamorphic lenses.

USA seems to Tietze only country with Full Screen and additional Widescreen releases in that times for home entertainment, in Germany wie usuelle got either fullscreen (first Time releases, ie. Dawn of the Dead, Cujo and Killing Zoe) or Widescreen releases. Or After a New Master was obtained a Second or third Release using the Widescreen Master. (all newer Dawn of the Dead are Widescreen).

Some Comparisons are up at the DVD area of caps-a-holic.

Top Gun open matte 2:1 vs. 2.35:1

Hellraiser 3 (old german Red Edition DVD Full screen open matte)

Terminator 3 (Canadian Full Screen DVD)

Just to name some...

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower

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TylerDurden389 said:

SilverWook said:

There is a full frame Top Gun DVD out there.

 Thanks for letting me know. Imma look it up right now.

 The two disc special edition came in widescreen and fullscreen versions.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Top-Gun-DVD-/321648726542

There have been two fullframe edtions of Predator. I don't know for sure they are open matte though.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Predator-Insert-Slip-Cover-DVD-Collectors-Edition-Full-Screen-/231450917050

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Predator-Full-Screen-DVD-/181626227834

Been thinking of picking up the two disc version to get the commentary that's not on the original Blu Ray. I bought the widescreen version years ago, but when I finally opened it, there were two disc 2's in the box!

Where were you in '77?

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MrBrown said:

skoal said:

The information in the replies are great to know. However, it seems most consumers and the powers that be don't seem to care for open-matte.

It's a shame many films are matted before distribution rather than use the technology & options built into players/displays to (soft-)matte (real-time). It's true in some cases PQ would suffer, however in many cases I don't think PQ would suffer too much.

 It seems to be that with Widescreen TVs the consumers tend to want the matted releases to fill their Screen. Also much Open matted filmed movies where intented to be matted for Cinema, but Full Screen movies where cheaper to shoot compared to anamorphic lenses.

USA seems to Tietze only country with Full Screen and additional Widescreen releases in that times for home entertainment, in Germany wie usuelle got either fullscreen (first Time releases, ie. Dawn of the Dead, Cujo and Killing Zoe) or Widescreen releases. Or After a New Master was obtained a Second or third Release using the Widescreen Master. (all newer Dawn of the Dead are Widescreen).

Some Comparisons are up at the DVD area of caps-a-holic.

Top Gun open matte 2:1 vs. 2.35:1

Hellraiser 3 (old german Red Edition DVD Full screen open matte)

Terminator 3 (Canadian Full Screen DVD)

Just to name some...

 The Top Gun caps are quite the revelation. I'm going to have to look at my HD DVD version again sometime. Probably the same as the Blu Ray I would guess...

Where were you in '77?

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SilverWook said:

MrBrown said:

...

Top Gun open matte 2:1 vs. 2.35:1

...

 The Top Gun caps are quite the revelation. I'm going to have to look at my HD DVD version again sometime. Probably the same as the Blu Ray I would guess...

 The HD-DVD from USa is stated to be 2.40:1 while the german one is stated to be 2.35:1 at ofdb.de. But I think both will be the same with the BD aspect ratio...

edit:

The US DVD with the 2.00:1 and the Full screen Version is stetd to be Pan & Scan in the Full Screen Version.

Well I always say "Full Screen" but today with standard 16:9 TVs old full screen is more to be a pillow boxed narrow screen :)

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower

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I wonder if the 3D Blu Ray has the same ratio?

Where were you in '77?

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SilverWook said:

I wonder if the 3D Blu Ray has the same ratio?

 Stated to be 2.40:1 according to the ofdb.de entry.

Edit:

There is a caps-a-holic comparison between the UK Special Edition BD and the US 3D BD...

...it is indeed the same AR.

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower

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Another one that's a historical curiosity now. The recomposed for 1.33 version of A Bug's Life. It's a mix of opened up shots, re-rendered scenes where the character's positions have been tweaked, and pan and scan.

Where were you in '77?

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TylerDurden389 said:

I've also noticed a bit of "zoom" for the opening credits of The Terminator (still have that on vhs as well).

The Terminator was shot 1.33 with hard matting in-camera, so full-screen 4:3 releases are cropped. If you watch a 35mm print of the trailer open-matte, you will see the black bars of the physical matte box (attached to the camera lens) change size from shot to shot.

I've seen both trailers open-matte, there's stuff like the animated electricity spilling into the black bars, and the shot of Arnie in the police car has the small lens flare of the siren light just barely spilling over into the black area.

There'a a clip of a Derann Super 8 print on YouTube, it's a camcording but you can still see that the shots of Arnold are hard-matted, and the insert shots of his hand are open-matte. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpINxrNE8J4

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Some more caps-a-holic links, with Full Screen comparison versions:

Cujo (UK and CH Versions are Full Screen.. well CH Version is very bad...)

Killing Zoe (the old German release in the comparison was Full screen.. without english Audio)

Braindead (okay, UK and AT are not Full Screen, but has an odd AR)

The Dentist (German languaged DVD is Full screen... not english friendly)

Jackie Brown (old German DVD was Full Screen. WideScreen was achieved with a subtitle track containung Black Bars...)

Jason goes to Hell (UK DVD)

American Ninja 2 and American Ninja 3 (both have Full screen US releases)

Army of Darkness (old German DVDs)

and as an example: First DVD Releases of Stanley Kubrick movies, like "Full Metal Jacket"

And here is (maybe again?) the link to the comparison of Euro Cut of Dawn of the Dead (first german release is 1.33:1 open matte)

Very Bad Things (old german Full Screen DVD open matte, but slightly censored)

...and we never should forget old Disney Movies. ie.: The Djungle Book...

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower

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As far a full frame Kubrick releases go, the 2001 releases with Digitally Restored and Remastered on the cover are preferable to the 1999 releases. (The covers are virtually identical aside from that addition.) The 99's were rushed out after Kubrick's passing, (and timed to Eyes Wide Shut) and are mostly from older inferior masters.

The 1999 discs often sport the original mono mixes, but the quality is again below par.

The Shining is still easy enough to find in stores. (I still see it for sale at Target.) Not sure about Full Metal Jacket or any of the others.

Where were you in '77?

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Another German Full screen DVD:

Maniac Cop

Evem if it is not Full Screen, ist is more open matted:

The Criterion DVD of "Robocop" (No list would be complete without it. :) )

Also there was a German languaged "Bad Taste" DVD releas ein 4:3 Full Screen.

UK "Brainscan" DVD was Full screen.

One of the two german "God's Army" (The Prophecy) DVDs was Full Screen. (the "not american Cut)

The old german DVD of "Lord of the Flies" (The REMAKE from 1991) was open matted.

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower

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Another one you could add to the list is Team America. The full frame version has more info at the top and bottom of the frame, yet stuff is cropped at the sides. Darn you, Super 35! ;)

Where were you in '77?

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SilverWook said:


The Shining is still easy enough to find in stores. (I still see it for sale at Target.) Not sure about Full Metal Jacket or any of the others.

On HD-DVD, this movie is gorgeous.

:)

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Not sure if this has been mentioned but I have a Mad Max laserdisc that appears to be an open-matte version.

Luke threw twice…maybe.