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S1 DVD: And The Sky...

Andy La RubinAndy La Rubin Earthforce Officer
in Babylon 5
I've recently watched "And the sky full of stars" on DVD (R2) and I noticed constant format switching between 16:9 and 4:3 formats in this episode (especially scenes with Mitchell and Battle of the Line). And I'm sure I havent seen such problems in the previous episodes (MOTFL, SH, BTTP, I, POD, MW, WP).

Does anyone notice it too? Is there similar problem in R1 release and/or other episodes as well?

Comments

  • Marcus RangerMarcus Ranger Earthforce Officer
    Hi.Some people in the U.K. have said there's
    is a bit grainy.olin.<*>.

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  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    The problem you're experiencing is, as far as I know, exclusive to the R2 release. Someone fudged up the PAL transfer, so any CGI/Composite scene, rather than being cropped to fit the 16:9 ratio, is instead stretched. This has the effect of making everything look wider. The problem does not exist for us R1 fans.

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    We are here to place President Grenewetzki under arrest!
  • Alpha-1Alpha-1 Elite Ranger Germany
    yes
    i have the same problem with my rc2 version.
    amazon.de will send out fixed versions of the bos at december 5th if i am right.
  • David of MacDavid of Mac Elite Ranger Ca
    [quote]Originally posted by Bekenn:
    [b]The problem does not exist for us R1 fans.

    [/b][/quote]

    Don't be so sure, I think one scene was stretched, though for legitimate reasons. The closeup of the Grey Coucel member holding up the glowing Triluminary may have been stretched. I honestly couldn't tell if I hadn't just watched Chrysilis, and noticed the flashback to that scene had the Triluminary almost entierly cut off, but it Sky I could see the whole thing.
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    The difference between the flashback in Chrysalis and the scene in And The Sky... is how the image is panned; in Chrysalis, whoever cropped it took just the center of the image; in Sky, the bottom of the image was favored. You'll notice that in Sky, you can't see over the top of the hood worn by Delenn; in Chrysalis, you can.

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    We are here to place President Grenewetzki under arrest!
  • David of MacDavid of Mac Elite Ranger Ca
    That makes sense. It would also explain why I could see more of the shuttlebay in Morden's first apperance that I could in the screenshots on how B5 was made Widescreen for the Sci-Fi channel.
  • Andy La RubinAndy La Rubin Earthforce Officer
    [quote]Originally posted by Bekenn:
    [b]The problem you're experiencing is, as far as I know, exclusive to the R2 release. Someone fudged up the PAL transfer, so any CGI/Composite scene, rather than being cropped to fit the 16:9 ratio, is instead stretched.[/b][/quote]

    If you were right, then all CGI scenes were stretched. But as I can see:
    1. Any other episodes prior (and after) "And the sky" are perfectly normal in terms of the ratio (CGI or filmed scenes).
    2. This particular episode has:
    1) Normally filmed scenes with 16:9 ratio (majority)
    2) Normally cropped CGI scenes from 4:3 into 16:9 ratio (also majority)
    3) Filmed scened streched from 4:3 into 16:9 (minority)
    4) CGI scenes streched from 4:3 into 16:9 (minority)

    So I ask again. Can someone have a closer look into this particular episode (and these particular scenes - first ones with Sinclair, Knight One, Mitchell and Battle of the Line) on R1 DVD?
    Because this doesn't look as a problem of PAL transfer. It looks like there was a lack of some particular sources during 16:9 reformatting.
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    I already have looked into it on the R1 DVD set; it's all done properly here.

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    We are here to place President Grenewetzki under arrest!
  • GopherGopher Earthforce Officer
    The problem with the PAL transfer only seems to affect Disk 2 on Region 2 disks. Warner Bros. have decided to reissue Season 1 in Region 2 and you will be able to replace your faulty disks. The provisional date for this is between 3rd - 10th December depending on shipping.

    HTH

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    Is this it?
  • AlexAlex Earthforce Officer
    [quote]Originally posted by Gopher:
    [b] Warner Bros. have decided to reissue Season 1 in Region 2 and you will be able to replace your faulty disks. The provisional date for this is between 3rd - 10th December depending on shipping.
    [/b][/quote]

    That's geat.
    Do you have the contact-adress to get the replacement?
  • GopherGopher Earthforce Officer
    As far as i know you contact your distributor ( Amazon, Blackstat, ec. ) and request that the box set be switched. I've heard rumours that they will only switch the entire box set and not just the disk, but I don't have confirmation.

    HTH

    Gopher

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    Is this it?
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