M*A*S*H in HD (and Widescreen)

Talk about all things M*A*S*H -- the novel, the film, the television series, even the play. Not to mention the spin-offs, merchandise, cast, crew and anything else you can think of to talk about.
Post Reply
User avatar
RJ
General of the Army
Posts: 423
Joined: Sat May 14, 2011 7:26 pm
Contact:

M*A*S*H in HD (and Widescreen)

Post by RJ »

I thought I'd start a topic here to discuss M*A*S*H in HD and widescreen on Hulu. I wrote about this at my blog a few weeks ago.

I don't subcribe to Hulu, so I haven't seen any of the newly remastered episodes. As I've said elsewhere, I'm happy about the new HD transfers. I don't like the episodes being cropped to widescreen.

Thoughts?
kkt
Sergeant
Posts: 61
Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2013 11:01 pm

Re: M*A*S*H in HD (and Widescreen)

Post by kkt »

I agree. Film, TV, etc., should be left in the original aspect ratio. MASH was made prior to planning for material to be released in wide format, but even material made later, the idea that a director could frame shots to look good in two different aspect ratios at the same time is a pipe dream. If it looks good in a square frame, there will be a whole lot of nothing going on in the outsides of the frame if it's released wide-screen.
User avatar
Captain Tuttle
Corporal
Posts: 41
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2015 4:49 pm
Location: Swamp

Re: M*A*S*H in HD (and Widescreen)

Post by Captain Tuttle »

I generally feel that movies and TV shows should be left in their original aspect ratio.

However going from TV's original 4:3 (133:1) to 16:9 (1.78:1) isn't a major step. It doesn't add a lot to the sides. 16:9 isn't nearly as wide as 2.35:1 Cinamascope. In fact Cinamascope movies are still letter boxed on 16:9 TV's. I recently saw an episode of the Odd Couple on MeTV that was converted to 16:9. I quickly put on a DVD of the same episode in 4:3 and and both the 4:3 and the 16:9 versions had the same head and foot room. There was just a bit more to the left and right sides in 16:9. When shows were cropped for 4:3 not all of the film frame was used so that additional space on the sides is available to make 16:9 versions. I know it's not how these old shows originally looked but it eliminates having to see the black bars on the sides and I don't feel the extra width changes the look of the show much.

I have the original 1983 mini series 'V' on DVD. It's cropped into 16:9 and doesn't take away from it's original look and feel at all.

Going to 16:9 doesn't remove any of the image from the top or bottom, it adds extra image from the original film frame to the sides.

Well I'm glad these shows are being remastered in HD. They've needed to be cleaned up a bit.
User avatar
Big Daddy O'Reilly
Colonel
Posts: 543
Joined: Mon May 23, 2011 10:57 am
Location: The Swamp
Contact:

Re: M*A*S*H in HD (and Widescreen)

Post by Big Daddy O'Reilly »

The only time I've ever experienced seeing additional footage added to the sides of something in a widescreen 16:9 format are Muppet movies . . . other than that, my experiences is that 16:9 crops the top and bottom of the frame, so you end up losing the top of someone's head (especially jarring for exceptionally tall actors like Brad Garrett or James Cromwell), or other things, which is why back in the days when you were given an option, I always opted for "fullscreen" editions of movies on DVD instead of "widescreen," because I don't like to lose parts of the picture.

But even so, why do we want to see what people are doing in the background off to the sides when we're supposed to be focused on the action in the foreground in the center of the frame? It doesn't make sense. There's nothing special about 16:9. Even though my camera films in 16:9, I still frame and edit my footage in 4:3 - as long as the height of the aspect ratio is 1080 pixels or higher, it's HD, even if the size is 1440x1080 instead of 1920x1080.

But, I digress. There's a discussion going on on a M*A*S*H Facebook I belong to that, apparently, episodes on Hulu are actually including additional footage that isn't seen on TV or even on DVD - and episodes on DVD are (supposedly) uncut. Can anybody who has Hulu and has been watching the show on Hulu confirm this?
Melodyman
Private
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jul 10, 2017 6:17 pm

Re: M*A*S*H in HD (and Widescreen)

Post by Melodyman »

FYI. All episodes of MASH are now available on iTunes in HD 16:9 ratio with all original footage cut for commercials now restored. Unfortunately theres still the silly laugh tracks but after all, thats the way it was originally shown..

Having the show reformatted into wide aspect was something that had been seen as a major step in getting the show added to more networks/stations. Many attempts were made to get 20th to do it but it took Disney to see the benefit of doing it for their Hulu endeavor and beyond. Heres hoping it will attract a whole new segment of the TV watching world who are more conditioned to todays TV formats than those of yesteryear.
User avatar
Captain Tuttle
Corporal
Posts: 41
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2015 4:49 pm
Location: Swamp

Re: M*A*S*H in HD (and Widescreen)

Post by Captain Tuttle »

MASH on MeTV has an odd aspect ratio. It's slightly wider than 4:3 however it's been cropped all around. The top and bottom is cropped yet it's not 16:9.
User avatar
Captain Tuttle
Corporal
Posts: 41
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2015 4:49 pm
Location: Swamp

Re: M*A*S*H in HD (and Widescreen)

Post by Captain Tuttle »

Since my previous post above MeTV is now broadcasting the 16:9 versions of MASH. There is only a small bit that's cropped from the bottom of the frames and the sides are wider. What I really like is how much sharper they look and the color is more saturated. I've never seen MASH look this good.
mrrogers1001
Private
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jun 14, 2019 8:54 pm

Re: M*A*S*H in HD (and Widescreen)

Post by mrrogers1001 »

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overscan

Back in the days of tube tv displays things were framed to allow for overscan. In the flat panel TV world the display shows the entire frame from the original 4x3. Screen area on the top, bottom, and sides were added buffers for the old tube sets to be sloppy and were parts of the TV picture never supposed to be seen in the first place on a tube set. In cropping a 4x3 video, to a more widescreen look, you are just taking out the material on the top and bottom that was only there as a band aid for old tube sets. The video was never shot thinking you would see entire picture in the first place. You can take away the over scan material on the top and bottom and still have what they envisioned when it was shot. The overscan material still resides on the sides in the cropped picture. You can do this up to 14x9 and not exceed the original intent of the film maker, this is what MeTV does. In the case of Hulu you then have to go back and make some corrections to make sure the framing works. This is a very minor adjustment to the original material. The Wiki page explains it better than I can. Take a look.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overscan
500px-Overscan_examples.svg.png
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
GibsonLP
Private
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:02 am

Re: M*A*S*H in HD (and Widescreen)

Post by GibsonLP »

Hey all.
I actually registered mostly to answer this topic. I hope it's ok that I am raising it from the dead...

I have compared the original version with the new widescreen HD version.

There is some cropping but they have definitely went beyond the "safe area" as there is more footage on the sides.
If anyone is interested I can do side by side comparison of a few select individual frames.
User avatar
Saburo
Private
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Aug 21, 2019 4:33 pm
Contact:

4:3 vs 16:9

Post by Saburo »

Hello everyone.

I've been comparing the newer "HD" versions to older DVDs. You have a little bit of additional picture information on the sides of the HD version but a *lot* more cropped on the top and bottom.

A couple quick screencaps:

Image

Image

The HD version is watchable as long as you don't pick nits. However the episodes I see have the laugh track and are the *edited* versions for syndication. Some actually worked better but for the most part I'd rather have the entire, unedited version. I don't know why this was the case.
Last edited by Saburo on Mon Feb 21, 2022 7:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Flagg616
Private
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2021 3:58 pm

Re: M*A*S*H in HD (and Widescreen)

Post by Flagg616 »

Personally, I am not a fan of 4:3, even tough I grew up with it. And I can't watch it with the laugh track. So I re-edited the entire series and replaced the audio on the 1080p version with the DVD audio that doesn't have the laugh track. I call it the Section 8 Edition.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
Big Daddy O'Reilly
Colonel
Posts: 543
Joined: Mon May 23, 2011 10:57 am
Location: The Swamp
Contact:

Re: M*A*S*H in HD (and Widescreen)

Post by Big Daddy O'Reilly »

Here's a bad example of how and why a show like M*A*S*H should not be cropped in widescreen. . . .

Image
Image

You can't even see the patient being given too much ether as he starts choking.
Post Reply