# CBS lies again about Rudolph Being in HD, Again



## BWELL316 (Jun 2, 2007)

I remember seeig a promo last winter for "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", and CBS hyped it as "being in HD!". I tuned in and saw black bars on the side.

Fast forward a year, I see another promo proclaiming "It's in HD". I am once again watching it with black bars on the side.

Lame.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

HD does NOT necessarily mean 16x9 widescreen.


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## machavez00 (Nov 2, 2006)

BWELL316 said:


> I remember seeig a promo last winter for "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", and CBS hyped it as "being in HD!". I tuned in and saw black bars on the side.
> 
> Fast forward a year, I see another promo proclaiming "It's in HD". I am once again watching it with black bars on the side.
> 
> Lame.


It could have been worse and CBS used Stetch-O- Vision!

Rudolf was filmed in 4:3 format.


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

There have been many older shows remastered to HD but retained the OAR. Hogens Heroes is one that comes to mind.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

Lame? lol

It was HD, just not 16:9.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

Search is your friend. http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=169088


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

Every year with this :lol:
*
2009:*
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=169089
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=169088
*
2008:*
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=147306
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=133622
*
2007:*
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=111658


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

BWELL316 said:


> Lame.


That's exactly my impression of these boo-hoo, wah-wah, "Mommy, Mommy it's not in HD, wahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!" threads.

Some shows are. Some aren't.

Deal with it.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

I had the same problem with the wife when I got Wizard of Oz on Blu...it's not using the whole screen. Nope, and that's a good thing. Looked fantastic though.


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## olguy (Jan 9, 2006)

tcusta00 said:


> Every year with this :lol:
> *
> 2009:*
> http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=169089
> ...


You obviously have waAAAay too much time on your hands. !Devil_lol


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

Yes, it was in HD, but not widescreen.

Remember to play nice. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Consider yourself fortunate -- way back in the day, all we had to watch was the radio, and it was only in SD. We had to imagine HD.

Do you have _any_ idea how hard that is? :scratch:


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## ajc68 (Jan 23, 2008)

They didn't lie... It was in HD. It's original aspect ratio was 4:3, which requires black bars on the side. It's not different than movies filmed before 1955 (see The Wizard of Oz or Gone With the Wind for examples). HD has to do with the lines of resolution, not the aspect ratio. If you compared the HD and SD broadcasts, you would notice the improvement in HD.


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

olguy said:


> You obviously have waAAAay too much time on your hands. !Devil_lol


No, I just know how to use a computer and a search engine. :sure: Try it, it's fast and easy, I promise. Click the "Search" button up there ^^^ and type in "Rudolph HD" and you'll see those five threads. Then you right click the thread names and click on "Copy Link Location" and paste it. If it takes you more than 60 seconds to do that... well. :shrug:


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## olguy (Jan 9, 2006)

tcusta00 said:


> No, I just know how to use a computer and a search engine. :sure: Try it, it's fast and easy, I promise. Click the "Search" button up there ^^^ and type in "Rudolph HD" and you'll see those five threads. Then you right click the thread names and click on "Copy Link Location" and paste it. If it takes you more than 60 seconds to do that... well. :shrug:


That was a joke, son as Foghorn Leghorn would say. And I'm not the OP and I know how to use the searchie thingie. But since I'm old and confuse easily it might take me about 90 seconds.


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## mcbeevee (Sep 18, 2006)

HD is not always widescreen...and widescreen is not always HD.


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

olguy said:


> That was a joke, son as Foghorn Leghorn would say. And I'm not the OP and I know how to use the searchie thingie. But since I'm old and confuse easily it might take me about 90 seconds.


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## JoweezNutz (Sep 10, 2008)

What I like is the clarity of minor things...Santa's beard....looked exactly like those polyester christmas tree fluffy skirt material from when I was a kid. The little strands off the edge of the beard....

The real beauty of HD...seeing things on the TV that look just like what's in my home (or was in my home in this case)

4x3 or 16x9...beautiful...


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## trainman (Jan 9, 2008)

JoweezNutz said:


> The real beauty of HD...seeing things on the TV that look just like what's in my home...


Oh, how I wish this were true, when it comes to programming such as the Victoria's Secret fashion show.


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## loves2watch (Mar 27, 2006)

scooper said:


> HD does NOT necessarily mean 16x9 widescreen.


According to NTSC, the definition of HD means widescreen.


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## cygnusloop (Jan 26, 2007)

loves2watch said:


> According to NTSC, the definition of HD means widescreen.


It was broadcast in *A*TSC 1080i 16:9 in my market. Part of that widescreen frame was black bars used to retain the original aspect ratio.

And, at least via my affiliate, it looked fantastic. The detail in the clothing, and in the reindeer fur was really good.

The audio had some kind of matrix effect on it (the DD 5.1) that spread it around the sound field. Unlike the the original Grinch that was on (I think) ABC earlier this week. It was pure mono coming out of the center speaker only. Not sure which I prefer.


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## Dave (Jan 29, 2003)

Does anyone but a (5) year old or younger care if the fuzzy little rein deer is in HD? Or just in the stretch HD mode? HD is want it is on some programs. I can't beleive anyone would worry about HD for a (5) year old. Just my opinion of course. HD is not always 16x9.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

loves2watch said:


> According to NTSC, the definition of HD means widescreen.


Well, it actually was broadcast in 16x9 but the black bars were added because the original was 4x3 aspect ratio.


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

We recorded "Snoopy, Come Home" on ABC Family HD channel for our daughter and I was amazed that besides the opening and closing credits, they had zoomed in and made it 16x9 HD. This was made in 1972 and it looks very, very good.


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## Hutchinshouse (Sep 28, 2006)

I’ll be watching this with the kids tonight. Looks tenfold better than when I was a kid. I remember watching Rudolph on our 13” B/W TV. The channel knob was broke. We had to use pliers to change the channel.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

Indiana627 said:


> We recorded "Snoopy, Come Home" on ABC Family HD channel for our daughter and I was amazed that besides the opening and closing credits, they had zoomed in and made it 16x9 HD. This was made in 1972 and it looks very, very good.


I'd wonder what was missing out of the part of the image the zooming removed.


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## trainman (Jan 9, 2008)

Indiana627 said:


> We recorded "Snoopy, Come Home" on ABC Family HD channel for our daughter and I was amazed that besides the opening and closing credits, they had zoomed in and made it 16x9 HD. This was made in 1972 and it looks very, very good.


Anything that was originally on film will look good in HD if they go back to the film to create a new HD master (as opposed to attempting to "upconvert" an SD videotape). "Snoopy, Come Home" was originally a theatrical release, so there are no doubt some film prints floating around.

However, as paulman182 alluded to: it was probably originally in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, so they would have had to crop the picture to fit it exactly onto a 16x9 TV screen without black bars. Not something unique here, unfortunately: a lot of movies being shown in HD are cropped to 16x9, even on the premium channels.

(All the "Peanuts" animation was most likely shot with a film camera -- at least up until recent years with the advent of computers -- but I wouldn't be surprised if the original film elements the TV specials are gone; heck, the animators may have gotten rid of the film right after doing the "telecine" conversion to videotape. Thus, they wouldn't be able to upgrade "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and the rest to HD in the way they can for the "Peanuts" theatrical releases.)


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## olguy (Jan 9, 2006)

I don't know how accurate this is but according to IMDB Snoopy was originally 1.33 : 1

Snoopy Come Home (1972)


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

The opening and closing credits of Snoopy, Come Home as aired on ABC Family HD were 4x3 with pillar bars presumably because if they zoomed in to make these scenes 16x9 then some of the names would have got cut off. After the opening credits, it goes to 16x9, then reverts to 4x3 for the closing credits.


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## trainman (Jan 9, 2008)

olguy said:


> I don't know how accurate this is but according to IMDB Snoopy was originally 1.33 : 1


That may be right -- guess the animators didn't see a need (or weren't making enough on the movies) to upgrade their equipment to handle widescreen.

Then it's interesting that ABC Family, or whoever they got the video from, cropped the top and bottom to make it 16x9 instead of stretching it.


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## Tom Servo (Mar 7, 2007)

lwilli201 said:


> There have been many older shows remastered to HD but retained the OAR. Hogens Heroes is one that comes to mind.


One of the HD channels is showing HH and it fills the 16x9 screen. Is it cropped or did they find the original film masters and bring back the full 16x9 frame?

I noticed that episodes of Knight Rider on Universal were 16x9 as well, and the way action was framed it seemed like it was shot for 4:3 and there was some extra padding around that was newly exposed.



I know one thing, I am really disappointed at ABC Family if they zoomed in on the _Snoopy _program. I thought they were one of the good channels that always showed 4:3 stuff properly.


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

Tom Servo said:


> I know one thing, I am really disappointed at ABC Family if they zoomed in on the _Snoopy _program. I thought they were one of the good channels that always showed 4:3 stuff properly.


I'd rather they zoom in instead of stretching it like HGTV or TBS.


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## Tom Servo (Mar 7, 2007)

Indiana627 said:


> I'd rather they zoom in instead of stretching it like HGTV or TBS.


I'd rather everything be present in original aspect ratio, whether it be 4:3 video or CinemaScope.


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

Tom Servo said:


> I'd rather everything be present in original aspect ratio, whether it be 4:3 video or CinemaScope.


I agree, but of the choice of zooming or stretching if the network is not going to do OAR, I'll take zooming so at least I don't get nauseous.


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## Tom Servo (Mar 7, 2007)

Indiana627 said:


> I agree, but of the choice of zooming or stretching if the network is not going to do OAR, I'll take zooming so at least I don't get nauseous.


You already have that option on your DirecTV receiver, and in many cases on the TV too.


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## Indiana627 (Nov 18, 2005)

Yeah, but much better PQ when done at the source instead of by the DVR or TV.


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## Tom Servo (Mar 7, 2007)

Indiana627 said:


> Yeah, but much better PQ when done at the source instead of by the DVR or TV.


I'm not so sure I agree. When they mess with the aspect ratio they're introducing irreparable damage to the picture. By leaving black bars on the side of 4:3 OAR in theory the smaller picture would look better because the black bars require hardly any space in the bandwidth.


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## tonyd79 (Jul 24, 2006)

Tom Servo said:


> You already have that option on your DirecTV receiver, and in many cases on the TV too.


I cannot change the aspect ratio on HD channels on my DVR. The DVR only changes SD channels.


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