B&B Movie Phoney black lines on screen top and bottom?

So much for that wide screen letter box format. It looks to me like all MTV did was cover up an inch and a half of the screen top and bottom with black lines. The same bad effect used with some movie trailers shown on TV. You might as well rent the video so you can see all the video. If anyone has the move on tape can they compare it to the MTV version. IceMann

Those black bars at the top and bottom of the screen were not phony. The laserdisc version which is letterboxed looks the same. The movie was only shot in a flat 1.85:1 aspect ratio and not in a Panavision or Super 35 scope format of 2.35:1. The version shown on VHS and on HBO and Cinemax was shown full-frame. The 35MM version itself is full-frame too (a square image) but in order to show it on the big screen, the top and bottom are masked giving the film a rectangular 1.85:1 image on the big screen. So the letterboxed version on laserdisc and MTV masks the top and bottom of the screen with black bars to show what the image of the film looked like in theaters. All 35MM films in the flat 1.85:1 aspect ratio look the same way when they are shown theatrically then later letterboxed for VHS, laserdisc or DVD.

On Sun, 8 Aug 1999 03:47:31 -0400 (EDT), [email] (Jerry Roche) wrote:

Thanks of the info. IceMann

Uhhhhh, what the hell did you just say??? ;O emeheheheh

Gary M.

On Sun, 08 Aug 1999 02:19:25 GMT, [email] (IceMann) wrote:

Yes, I have the VHS movie on tape, and I compared it with the "letterbox" version shown this weekend on MTV--the width of the picture is identical in the 2 versions, but the "letterbox" version has the top and bottom blacked out. Sheesh. You *are* better off renting the video.

CyberButt