Boom Mic visible in The Bizarro Jerry

It dips into the frame in the extreme upper left-hand corner around the time Kramer is boiling water and the whistle blows. Check it out!

I watched it again (and again), but did not see it. Can you describe the exact scene (any more than you already have), what the mic looks like ?

I did see something above Jerry's head right after the whistle blows (it might have been a room light) and the camera seems to jiggle a little.

Help !

Dave

Okay, the whistle blows and Jerry walks into the room. In the upper left-hand corner a small black mic can be seen, moving around a bit. You probably can't see it on most televisons. If your tv's overscan is below the doorway in the back then forget it.

You have a good point about screen size. I noticed when I did a capture from video of a TV program, and then had it viewed what I captured on the computer, I noticed that a small amount of the picture was cropped. Makes me wonder what else we are missing from Seinfeld.

I don't know what overscan is? Is this a feature of the TV set or the tuner inside the TV or VCR?

East

Kram Sacul wrote:

Overscan is the feature of a tv which prevents it from displaying the full video frame on the screen. The image is cropped from its sides to hide possible video interference usually present in the edges typically when playing back video cassetttes or using other analog sources.

The overscan area depends on the tv, and moreover it can vary when switching between different aspect ratios, for example when condensing an anamorphous 16:9 video signal to display correctly on a normal 4:3 screen.

It can be that the original person was using a tv which displays unusually much around the edges. Therefore the mic would be invisible to the majority of people.

I have to suspect this, however, because I believe the [technical] people making Seinfeld check the entire video signal (actually I think it's shot on film) as a part of the post-production stage.

Best regards, Mikko Munakas

What spec would we look for in our TV owner's manuals to see if we are getting the full screen? I don't think I have seen things like 16:9 or 4:3 mentioned, but I could certainly look again.

I do remember now, I had an interesting experience. I was capturing a TV program I had recorded on video tape. When I played back the digital video of what I captured on the computer screen comparing it to the TV echoing the same picture, the captured version did show a little more around the edges than the TV image did. Would it be possible, that those watching the VCD verions of Seinfeld on a computer are getting the full picture? What about those playing back the VCD on DVD players, are they getting a full image, cause I noticed that VCDs have a bar across the top and bottom of the screen.

East

Mikko Munakas wrote:

I doubt it's a user-adjustable setting. You'd have to go into the Service mode for something that, an action which is better left to a professional television calibrator.

Thanks for the warning. The last thing I want to do , is be yelled at by a service guy. Kind of like, "Who put cookies in his mouth? You're not suppose to do that!"

East

John Twernbold wrote:

EastCoastGuyz kirjoitti:

Overscan area is set at the factory and can normally only be adjusted in a special "service menu", sometimes accessible though a certain key combination on the remote control.

Some 4:3 (the normal ratio) TV:s have the 16:9 function, some don't.

I believe that depends on the devices and the original used by the maker of the VCDs. It's possible.

A standard Seinfeld episode on a standard 4:3 TV should not have any black bars anywhere. A small aspect ratio change, however, may "flatten" the picture causing the bars.