'Friends: The Complete Series' is coming November 13

[Landy]

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/7254..._complete.html

[JSmith]

A definite preorder for me.

[EpsilonX]

I would get this but I'm sure it's going to be really expensive...

[DestroVega]

I'm confused as to how these are all presented in widescreen.. The earlier seasons were certainly not recorded this way? Could they do the same with Seinfeld?

[*TL]

I'm confused as to how these are all presented in widescreen.. The earlier seasons were certainly not recorded this way? Could they do the same with Seinfeld?

Friends was shot on 35mm "3-perf," i.e., using 3 perforations of 35mm film instead of the standard 4. Using 3 perforations results in an aspect ratio of about 1.77 (where as 4 perforations would give you a 1.33 ratio), and then the sides were cropped for broadcast.

35mm television productions often used 3-perf in order to save film, as you'd use 25% less film than you would shooting 4-perf. You lose some image quality, but nothing that would be noticed on TV. It's really just a coincidence now that 3-perf can be transferred nicely for 16x9 high-def displays.

And to answer your second question, Seinfeld was shot 4-perf as far as I know. Compare the HD reruns of Friends on Nick at Night with Seinfeld on TBS; Seinfeld is clearly cropped at the top or bottom (or both), whereas Friends looks great (although the compositions are heavily weighted to the center of the image).

[halo0]

Yawn. Wake me when Seinfeld is announced!

[paaron46]

Hopefully the option of removing the laugh-track is one of the special features.

[OneManShow]

Yawn. Wake me when Seinfeld is announced!

Agreed. I'd pay top dollar for Seinfeld on blu. Don't give a crap about this show.

[gangrel76547]

I want this but I'm not paying $279 for it. I'll wait for a UK version that drops the special packaging and will probably cost much less.

[Bouncy X]

Friends was shot on 35mm "3-perf," i.e., using 3 perforations of 35mm film instead of the standard 4. Using 3 perforations results in an aspect ratio of about 1.77 (where as 4 perforations would give you a 1.33 ratio), and then the sides were cropped for broadcast.

35mm television productions often used 3-perf in order to save film, as you'd use 25% less film than you would shooting 4-perf. You lose some image quality, but nothing that would be noticed on TV. It's really just a coincidence now that 3-perf can be transferred nicely for 16x9 high-def displays.

And to answer your second question, Seinfeld was shot 4-perf as far as I know. Compare the HD reruns of Friends on Nick at Night with Seinfeld on TBS; Seinfeld is clearly cropped at the top or bottom (or both), whereas Friends looks great (although the compositions are heavily weighted to the center of the image).

Seinfeld looks just as great as Friends on the HD channels i see them. theres no cropping anywhere and you simply get a wider image on the left and right like with Friends. and of course the image is much nicer.

i already have the complete series dvd set so yeah, i aint rebuing a whole show on blu. but its cool that they are doing it and releasing it as one big set. figured they would just eventually release the individual seasons and then build up to a box set. so this is cool for fans who either never owned the show or do wanna double dip.

[JSmith]

Agreed. I'd pay top dollar for Seinfeld on blu. Don't give a crap about this show.

Then why did you come into this thread, or feel the need to post for that matter?

[*TL]

Seinfeld looks just as great as Friends on the HD channels i see them. theres no cropping anywhere and you simply get a wider image on the left and right like with Friends. and of course the image is much nicer.

Getting off topic, but several guys who worked on Seinfeld confirmed that it was shot 4-perf Academy ratio for the whole run, so any 16x9 broadcasts are cropped at the top and bottom, or stretched, or a combination. You can see the cropping in these screen caps. Sometimes it looks OK, but medium shots from many of the diner scenes look too cramped to my eye.

[Landy]

Agreed. I'd pay top dollar for Seinfeld on blu. Don't give a crap about this show.

You must give a smidgen of a crap. You're in this thread.

[halo0]

I came in because I was interested to see the answer to the question about how it was filmed and the conversion process. I watched both Friends and Seinfeld, but no way would I ever spend money to own Friends on disc.

[Super-VHS]

Getting off topic, but several guys who worked on Seinfeld confirmed that it was shot 4-perf Academy ratio for the whole run, so any 16x9 broadcasts are cropped at the top and bottom, or stretched, or a combination. You can see the cropping in these screen caps. Sometimes it looks OK, but medium shots from many of the diner scenes look too cramped to my eye.

It's important to note that Sony did the HD remaster for the series, they prepared both 4x3 and 16x9 versions. 16x9 is used for syndicated broadcast. The 4x3, for video, or at least DVD. An eventual blu-ray release could use either (or both).

Then again, unlike Warner Bros, Sony has almost zero interest in catalog (least of all catalog TV). Seinfeld is nowhere on the blu-ray horizon.