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Question regarding Moonwalker DVD

adamschoales

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So we here in Canada aren't fortunate enough to have the moonwalker DVD availible, just the VHS (if you manage to track it down). I was just curious:
is the DVD Widescreen or Fullscreen? I've heard that theres both. Just curious.

I only ask because I've downloaded two different versions. One is in great quality but 4:3 (fullscreen). The other's quality is not as good, but is in widescreen (which is how the film was shot acording to IMDB). Anyone know?
 
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My DVD, which I think is an import from Holland (The Netherlands) is 4:3, and I'm pretty sure all Moonwalker DVDs out there are 4:3.

A couple of months ago I tried to for fun to rip my DVD and crop the first performance (man in the mirror) into 16:9 and it looked great, it was filmed in a way that if you cut of the top and bottom you will still able to get a good view without his head getting cut out the frame or something, lol :D
I don't know how the actual "movie" in Moonwalker will look cropped into 16:9
 
The sole official DVD (produced by Warner) is 4:3.
The original U.S. version released in 88 on VHS and Laser Disc looks great, with special enhancements on some sequences etc.
 
Wait? It was filmed in WS and we get in 4:3? WTF? Also I hate it how it hasnt been released in 5.1 either!
 
According to IMDB it was shot in 1.85:1 (widescreen), and some of the sequences you can def. tell (in fact some are even letterboxed you'll notice).

real shame we cant get a widescreen trasnfer...

though that begs the question, where did this widescreen version i found come from?
 
Warner must release and WS version in some places maybe USA.

or are from the original VHS the WS version you download...
 
I dont think its been released in WS but probably ripped in WS.
 
It's a shame that Moonwalker hasn't been released on DVD in North America. My guess is there is some legal issues re-releasing it, otherwide it would have been out already.
 
Imagine a true Widescreen and 5.1 surround sound Blu-Ray release... If Prince can do it with 'Purple Rain'... By the way, I have that one.. Totally new experience in full HD!!! :D
 
I've upscaled it on my PS3/HD TV and it looks pretty good. Doesnt even look like its been forced into widescreen.
 
Ohhhh... purple rain. haha

VeganMatt said:
I've upscaled it on my PS3/HD TV and it looks pretty good. Doesnt even look like its been forced into widescreen.
Click to expand...

There's a very good chance that it was shot "open matte" meaning that they just matted the widescreen image, in which case cropping it wouldn't make a difference as that's the way it was intended.
 
VeganMatt said:
I've upscaled it on my PS3/HD TV and it looks pretty good. Doesnt even look like its been forced into widescreen.
Click to expand...

But still as you said, its forced WS and not true WS therefore there is nothing new to see in the picture.
 
Well I hope someone can show us a screenshot some time soon of a true WS image of Moonwalker that shows something new in the pic (even if it is small and insignificant!) but nobody can produce one.
 
Okay, so i managed to download two different versions (dont ask for details, buy the DVD if you can. i cant. its not in NA).

anyways I did screen comparisons. I still cannot say for sure, but to me it does look as though the wide version is cropped, but the colour is certainly worse and the framerate is screwy so generally speaking I'd say it's not worth it even if it IS true widescreen. judging by the credits it is not from the UK DVD.

Again though, even if it's cropped it could have been an open matte film (common in the 80s) in which case it wouldn't matter.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3642/3431954439_66a843c370_o.png
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3552/3432769570_9a6a011506_o.png
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3403/3431956115_90b0d861fc_o.png
 
343195443966a843c370o.png


You can see more of the stage and the lower half of MJ on the right image which is also colour corrected.


343195611590b0d861fco.png


And again on the right image, you can see more of the light in the top left corner and more of the balcony and substantially more of the floor in front of MJ. Also on the right colour corrected image you can now see the woman behind MJ who is basically invisible in the dark on the left image.

So there are differences slightly in the right images which means the ratios are different and not forced WS.
 
...yes but the second image is a full frame image and the one one on the left is the "widescreen" meaning that the right 4:3 image is showing more, meaning that the widescreen one online has been cropped.

though again, whether or not this was just an open matte film remains to be seen. I just started watching man in the mirror cropped from my fullscreen version and while generally it looks fine there are a few shots where it crops peoples heads and stuff and the composition is off.

that said, even by cropping the full frame video in VLC showed LESS picture information than the widescreen version I downloaded (though this could just be a bad crop job on their part)

FINALLY if you look very closely at the bottom of the "widescreen" version on the left you can notice a very thin black line which looks as though this was cropped from a MATTED widescreen source.

but who the heck knows. maybe we'll find someone with a widescreen DVD and maybe not.

if they would just release the darned thing in the US it'd be so much easier!
 
Right now I'm rendering Moonwalker in 1080i HD to see what it looks like in HD.
 
MLVD said:
Right now I'm rendering Moonwalker in 1080i HD to see what it looks like in HD.
Click to expand...

It's no difference since your source is just a DVD source, it's probably more likely that it will look worse since you re-encoded the source.
 
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