When widescreen TV become the norm, how will CN handle the old cartoons?

[Jack]

I'm just curious to see how much we all trust CN...


Jack :D

[J Lee]

Black lines at the top and bottom of screens nowadays are feared by TV programmers about as much as airing anything in black & white is. They think (and some people may actually feel this way) that if the entire screen isn't covered with image, the viewer feels "gypped" and will change the channel. I'm sure that mindset won't change five years from now, so horrizontal pan and scan will unfortunately become the norm. There is hope that people won't mind seeing black bars on the sides of the picture because that was the size of their old TV images, but I wouldn't lay odds on it.

[pencilsharp]

Yeah, I know... I wouldn't trust the WB with them any further than I could throw their entire catalog... but I think there are enough Toonheads at CN to head off the Leonites who would rather Pan-n-scan.
Besides, which would be cheaper... Having someone go thru the library and rerecord, or programming a computer to pinhole the toons to fit the HDTV screen?

[J Lee]

Because of the higher definition of HDTV (so that's why they called it that) new videotape masters will have to be made of all the cartoons, or else they will look particularly crappy on the new TV sets.

On the positive side, it gives the people at WB and CN a chance to fully restore all of the pre-1948 cartoons using the original Technicolor IB ngatives, and to restore the original titles to all the cartoons that lost them in their Blue Ribbon releases. The down side is, it also will allow them to go in and do pan and scan when the cartoons are put on video for shipment to Atlanta.

You win some (maybe), you lose some (maybe)...

[pencilsharp]

I concede, J... Thou art wiser than I... :D But I still think that there are enough Toonheads in Atlanta to at least run interference until we can get a good mad-on, for all the good that will do. Plus, Cartoon Research's Jerry Beck is on the inside, and I think that he'll fight the good fight anyway he can. Just call me a stinkin' optimist... :p

[Patrick McCart]

1930-1954 cartoons:

Windowbox to 1.33:1 within a 1.78:1 frame.

1955-1969 cartoons:

"matte" to 1.78:1

The 1955-1969 cartoons were composed to be matted to 1.85:1 after the widescreen revolution came in 1953. Watch any cartoons made after 1955 and notice the inactive space at the top/bottom edges.

[J Lee]

The altered ratios started with the first cartoon released in 1954, "Dog Pounded" with Tweety and Sylvester. That was also when the tigher concentric circles made their debut.