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Rant: – 4:3 DVD menus on widescreen movies – grrrr
I’ve just rented the latest Harry Potter movie and while I enjoyed it, one thing stuck out… yet again a movie with the DVD menu in a different aspect ratio to the content.
Yes, it’s a minor quibble, but seriously – for many reasons to dull to go into, we choose to manually set the screen size option on our widescreen TV. So, more often than not, I pop in a movie, turn the TV on and then have to resize the screen to see the play option, hit play, then resize the screen again for the movie.
Why do DVD menu creators make their DVDs in 4:3, when the DVD content is widescreen? I know it can’t be a software limitation, because it’s easy enough to do 16:9 menus in Encore, and I’ve also worked enough with safe zones to know how to make things visible for both screen sizes, so why do they insist on pushing the navigation as close to the bottom as possible?
I don’t even mind non-skip adverts as much as this…
Graham
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5 Replies
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There are some technical reasons why a 4:3 menu might be used instead of a 16:9 Pan & Scan or Letterbox menu.
Well, at any rate, you’ll be happy to know that it’s standard procedure to Pan & Scan all 16:9 menus here at my work, and every 16:9 feature gets a 16:9 menu… Although I can’t necessarily say the same for the FBI warnings/trailers =O
However, I can’t understand why you would have to manually change any settings for the proper aspect ratio… Is this a TV issue as opposed to a DVD player issue?
Darby Edelen
Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA -
Thanks for the sensible answer to my over-the-top rant, I just think it’s a good practice issue.
The reason we switch manually is that we use a PS2 for DVDs and many of the digital TV channels in the UK still broadcast only in 4:3. Heroes was first shown on Sci-Fi UK, and they are 4:3 only. A near criminal act if you ask me.
We’ve had two widescreen TVs and both struggled on certain channels to display 4:3 signals properly when the digi-box was set up for 16:9. The fact it isn’t every channel suggests to me a lack of common standard more than anything.
Graham
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[Graham Quince] “sensible answer to my over-the-top rant, I just think it’s a good practice issue”
I don’t think your rant is over the top. Not only would it be good practice, it would demonstrate a certain level of quality control. Mismatched video sizes on the same DVD shows a total lack of quality control.
Just my 2 cents.
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I guess the campaign starts here then 🙂
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[WOWfactorX] “Mismatched video sizes on the same DVD shows a total lack of quality control.”
That’s a pretty absolute statement. I think anything that was shot at 4:3 should be presented as 4:3, such as behind the scenes documentaries and other bonus features. A menu is one thing, the producers of the DVD have total control over that and I am almost positive that it was a decision they made and not a QC issue (yes, maybe it was a bad decision). It is entirely within the DVD specification to have video assets of different aspect ratios on the same disc.
Darby Edelen
Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA
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