Question Letterboxing on Bluray vs. Streams (ATV 4k) Chris Nolan...

[yannic]

I purchased a copy of the Apple TV version of Dunkirk and to my horror, the 16:9 scenes weren't in full frame on my 4K TV, they were all stuck in 2.35:1

Am I being naive but are all Chris Nolan style Interstellar/Dunkirk films always going to be stuck in ONLY 2.35:1 if I buy them from Apple, Amazon Youtube etc?

I wanted the Bluray 4k version which extends the "action" scenes in to full frame on my TV to get the full impact the director wanted. Is the ONLY way to do this to actually buy a 4k bluray? Honestly, I just wanted a few reference files to buy from Apple to see it at the best quality I can. I really CBA to buy disks...

Thanks

 

[hippo99]

Yes and yes.

Even the 16:9 disks don’t show the ‘full impact’ of what the director wanted as 70mm IMAX has an almost square aspect ratio ie 16:9 is still cropped top & bottom (but not as much as 2.35:1)

 

[simonblue]

I have even seen some older movies,you can buy in their proper ratios on blu ray,only in 4.3 crappy VHS video copy on Amazon prime

 

[Jim Di Griz]

Good! Buy the discs! Say NO to CrApple!

 

[yannic]

Ah thanks for the replies. It’s a shame I really was looking to buying some nice hdr 4K content from apple.

They’re cheaper than the other providers. I was hoping there would be a setting to enable the 16:9 ratio that these disks wanted. Same for Tron legacy too I guess.

 

[smackos]

The thing is, it's actually down to the mastering teams behind the movie's home releases as to whether they keep aspect ratios etc, and that info is always given guidance by the director where available. For example you'll find Mission Impossible Fallout indeed does have expanded frames on the digital release. But remember of course that IMAX 70mm is 1.43:1 aspect ratio, so getting full screen at home is actually still cropped top and bottom.

 

[yannic]

Yes I appreciate that, I just really enjoyed the moments in the Nolan films where it goes full frame... its a nice way of the director saying: This is an action scene or breathtaking scene worthy of every pixel on your screen vs. this is a story part that that moves the arc of this character from a to b. It was quite gutting when I realised that Dunkirk didn't have these.

 

[smackos]

Yes I appreciate that, I just really enjoyed the moments in the Nolan films where it goes full frame... its a nice way of the director saying: This is an action scene or breathtaking scene worthy of every pixel on your screen vs. this is a story part that that moves the arc of this character from a to b. It was quite gutting when I realised that Dunkirk didn't have these.

Going by the common pattern to it I'd gather Nolan must have something to do with it. The forthcoming Aquaman movie is reportedly ratio swapping a la IMAX scenes on digital release too, because again the director has asked for it. It doesn't help anyone wanting a decent digital release, but that's the way it is right now. In my case I've got an ATV 4k and a UHD disc player, mainly because of the lack of 4k on a few select titles digitally in the UK. (Disney I'm looking at you.) But it is a needless pain.

Edit: Also just double checked, another one that manages the expanded scenes just fine digitally is First Man. So it can be done if the director and mastering team is bothered to do it.

 

[hippo99]

Someone posted this a while back in another thread.
Person seemed to indicate that Dark Knight did have the IMAX scenes at some point in the past.
Aspect ratio changing within a purchased … - Apple Community

 

[yannic]

Someone posted this a while back in another thread.
Person seemed to indicate that Dark Knight did have the IMAX scenes at some point in the past.
Aspect ratio changing within a purchased … - Apple Community

The part I find funny is that the person in that quoted thread is complaining about the aspect ratio changes while I want them! You can't please everyone.. but I for one love filling the screen up with loads of gorgeous high quality scenes with loads of detail.