The Wire DVD issue

[MFP]

I got the complete box set of The Wire and the first series has this weird visual error where there are small, thin white rectangles at the top of the screen just above the film image which flicker in size, and the image doesn't quite stretch to either side of the screen, i.e. there are very thin black borders on the left and right. Every disc in season 1 is the same, but all the discs for all the other seasons are perfectly fine. I've tried it on my PS3 (with upscaling on), and on my PC through the KM Player, and no difference.

Amazon UK obligingly sent me a replacement set and it's the exact same situation! I've tried fiddling with settings, but it doesn't make sense that that would rectify it given that I've had no problems when trying the other seasons, or indeed any other DVDs. Can I have gotten two dud versions? Has anyone else seen this problem?

Would really appreciate some help as I've been looking forward to getting into this series for ages, and this is a bit of a pain.

[DVD-Man]

Sure this has been mentioned before on here, try doing an advanced search.

Liam

[MFP]

The only thread I was able to find was this one. The OP there only had the problem on his computer, but it went away when he tried on his tv/Blu-Ray setup. Someone else in there mentions they had the same on thing on their PS3, and that it was to do with the way the PS3 displays 4:3 material, but that doesn't explain why the other seasons don't have that problem, nor does it really offer a solution, sadly.

Someone else in there mentions that the white marks are scan lines, but my PS3 is set to letterbox and not pan and scan mode.

[lancerumbolt]

Originally Posted by MFP

The only thread I was able to find was this one. The OP there only had the problem on his computer, but it went away when he tried on his tv/Blu-Ray setup. Someone else in there mentions they had the same on thing on their PS3, and that it was to do with the way the PS3 displays 4:3 material, but that doesn't explain why the other seasons don't have that problem, nor does it really offer a solution, sadly.

Someone else in there mentions that the white marks are scan lines, but my PS3 is set to letterbox and not pan and scan mode.

I replied to that thread it wasn't just an issue with how the ps3 displayed 4:3 material this also happened when i played it thru my 550 but only on season 1 I think it might have been an issue with the early discs. By taking my TV out of just scan (it's a Samsung) this removed the problem.

[lancerumbolt]

Also don't forget this series was shot 4:3 during it's entire run so I'm guessing you are stretching the image to fill the screen.

[MFP]

Originally Posted by lancerumbolt

I replied to that thread it wasn't just an issue with how the ps3 displayed 4:3 material this also happened when i played it thru my 550 but only on season 1 I think it might have been an issue with the early discs. By taking my TV out of just scan (it's a Samsung) this removed the problem.

I've just scoured the menus and there doesn't seem to be an option on my Bravia relating to scan mode. None of the Wide, Smart or Zoom screen modes seems to help.

However, there is an option called Display Area, which I changed from Full Pixel to Normal. That gets rid of the artifacts, and doesn't seem to cut off much picture. I don't know if it's the best solution possible, but it's the best I've encountered so far...

[lancerumbolt]

That's it they just have different names for it with different manufacturers.

[MFP]

Ok, thanks for the help.

[lancerumbolt]

No problem at all

[Trey4Life]

I know this is an old thread, but as i only started watching my boxset of The Wire, i have seen this issue on season 1 so far.
I think it is down to how the studios encoded the disc, it almost seems like an NTSC>PAL issue.

If you watch season 1 again you will notice these issues go away when they show footage from black & white cameras and the motion is fluid & fine.
I hope it's still not there on season 2.

[Cooney]

Originally Posted by Trey4Life

I know this is an old thread, but as i only started watching my boxset of The Wire, i have seen this issue on season 1 so far.
I think it is down to how the studios encoded the disc, it almost seems like an NTSC>PAL issue.

If you watch season 1 again you will notice these issues go away when they show footage from black & white cameras and the motion is fluid & fine.
I hope it's still not there on season 2.

Yes, season 1 has these white rectangle issues at the top of the screen but I can confirm all of the other seasons are fine.

I was a little put out by the flaw at first but soon got used to it. For PQ purposes I never stretch the picture and always watch 4:3 as 4:3 (heightens the problem but gives best PQ). The series is so good that you get absorbed in the story and forget the problem!

All seasons were excellent. My favourite boxsets!

[scumball]

These are from badly transferred masters where the VITC lines have dropped and come into vision - and hence have been encoded (normally they are outside the 576 lines of MPEG - you need to encode as 608 line to capture VITC). They will be covered up in overscan mode and seen in underscan (which is what you are seeing on pixel match setups).

This is what the full two lines of VITC look like - you are probably just seeing the bottom line.

http://www.davidstringer.info/training/pics/vitc.jpg