looks fucking great

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=6&topic_id=684533&mesg_id=684533&page=

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=6&topic_id=684764&mesg_id=684764&page=

personally i don't see the point of reframing in widescreen, if that's what was done in the HD remaster. i don't have hbo or current access to hbo go, but even if i did, i wouldn't rewatch. i first saw it in HD years ago and now own the complete series, all as framed by the creator of the show. i'm about as curious to see it in an artificial new framing as i am to see an old movie remastered in 3D and/or IMAX.

http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-hd-with-videos/

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Last 3 things I watched:

The Changeling Season 1 (Apple+): C
OMITB Season 3 (Hulu): B-
Ahsoka Season 1 (Disney

(also explains why no one was discussing the episodes this fall)

i'm more open now to seeing the remaster as an "alternate" version but still in no hurry to do so

Yesterday made me re-appreciate how great Season 2 was.

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i've always rode for S2, because every time i meet a wire fan, they shit on it.

then i went home last night and started the first season

today there's too much football, so the dvr will just continue to load up

i'm loving the color richness, and background details in these new versions though

Football is too fucking depressing right now.

But yeah, everything looks unbelievably great on this re-master.

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Switching between season 3 and football right now. I like the remaster, i hated watching it on HBOGO it felt super dated, not like 10 years ago but it felt like 25 years ago.

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I'm strongly opposed to them callously cropping this shit. It's equally as egregious as the "full screen" DVDs that were popular in when people had square TVs. I want to watch the shit as its creators intended. It's actually condescending on HBO's part to think that audiences wouldn't watch something shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio. (Ironically, Grand Budapest Hotel is HBO's marquee movie now, and they're showing it in the proper format, without cropping.) I would have been fine with the HD remasters if the "square" format (which was a conscious aesthetic choice) was left intact.

----

this is probably hbo's lowest rated long running show ever. they're not doing this for wire purists. they'll have less success drawing new viewers releasing something that looks like its from 1995. plus it's not like the original versions are unavailable.

plus "callously cropping" is a bit much. they put some work in here, and it shows. i get wanting to see this done in it's original 4:3, but i'm personally digging this.

there's a pretty good discussion in that Simon blog post above. I usually avoid 'comments sections' like the plague, but Simon's a big part of the discussion. he's pretty balanced because he knows HBO's been so good to him despite making shows with shit ratings. plus his goal among all else is to draw people to the storytelling, regardless of the format.


>I'm strongly opposed to them callously cropping this shit.
>It's equally as egregious as the "full screen" DVDs that were
>popular in when people had square TVs. I want to watch the
>shit as its creators intended. It's actually condescending on
>HBO's part to think that audiences wouldn't watch something
>shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio. (Ironically, Grand Budapest Hotel
>is HBO's marquee movie now, and they're showing it in the
>proper format, without cropping.) I would have been fine with
>the HD remasters if the "square" format (which was a conscious
>aesthetic choice) was left intact.

First, i think The Wire would have been shot in HD if the budget allowed. I know Lucky Louie was shot in 4:3 on VIDEOTAPE to try to make it look like Roseanne, but frankly technology has moved along. (And Larry Sanders Show was in 4:3 and shot on film AND video tape - HBO's not afraid to let the producers do what they want.)

The 4:3 ratio was to make it look like documentary or news footage - and that's fine - but news footage is 1 today - so updating The Wire for 1 makes sense. The difference between TV format and film format has lessened.

From Davidsimon's blog:
In fact, Bob had asked before filming The Wire pilot in late 2001 for a widescreen aspect ratio. He correctly saw television screens growing wider and 1 ratio becoming industry standard, and coming from the feature world, it was his inclination to be as filmic as possible. But, to be honest, The Wire was at its inception a bit of shoestring affair and expectations for the drama at HBO were certainly modest. Filming in letter-box was more expensive at the time, and we were told, despite Bob’s earnest appeals, that we should shoot the pilot and the ensuing season in 4:3.
--


A 4:3 show does look very dated now.

Hell, the Hogan's Heroes 1 HD transfers look pretty great, and most of the Seinfeld HD transfer work too.

(I watch a lot of stuff in 4:3 - I do think having the originals included on the eventual blu-ray releases would be very nice too.)

in pretty much every way possible.

according to simon, if you want it the way the director intended -- buy the originally released DVDs.

period. not even HD. even rescanning in higher res changes things.

so whatever you're bitching about "should've been" is an affront to the guy who actually created the show, which is the whole fucking point

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

>in pretty much every way possible.
>
>according to simon, if you want it the way the director
>intended -- buy the originally released DVDs.
>
>period. not even HD. even rescanning in higher res changes
>things.

Simon talks at length in that piece above about aspect ratio and how they could have elected to go widescreen after season two and they chose to stay with the "square" 4:3 ratio for a number of artistic and practical reasons.

What I'm saying is that they should have respected Simon's aesthetic choice. I get people saying that it looks "dated" now, but so what? David Lynch sure as shit didn't let them crop the 4:3 aspect ratio of the new Twin Peaks blu-ray release, for example.

There is no difference between cropping the top and bottom off of these images than what they did in the 80s and 90s to crop the sides off of widescreen movies to make them fit on square TVs. That practice was almost universally derided by anyone who cared about movies. This should be too.

I called that shit callous because the people who created these movies and shows made specific visual choices and composed their images according to their chosen aspect ratios, and to edit it for no reason but pandering shows a blatant disregard for the material.

And I'm not sure why you brought up the HD piece, which is irrelevant. Hundreds (thousands?) of old 4:3 movies are released on blu-ray ALL THE TIME with a new, high-resolution scans but with the 4:3 aspect ratio intact. Do people think we should start cropping Citizen Kane and Casablanca so they "fill up" rectangular TVs? The Wire was shot on film. Scanning those pieces of film in dvd-resolution for a dvd release was not an aesthetic choice. Scanning it in a higher resolution is a no-brainer.

I get that this a fucking nerd ass thing to bitch about on my part, but I'm pretty staunch on preserving aspect ratios.

----

even if they had left the framing alone, according to the person who created the show and made the decisions on how it should look -- even rescanning it for HD is changing the entire composition of the show.

so bitching about the aspect ratio but not the HD is wrong and stupid.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Not bad or anything, just very comfortably behind Season 3, 2, and 1 in terms of quality.

Not bad TV. Better than most TV even. But I've always been perplexed when people list it as the best season of The Wire, much less the best season of anything in all of television. And watching it today reinforced that.

For one thing, during the first three days of the marathon, I was glued to my couch. I felt bad every time I had to get up and use the restroom. Today, with my schedule completely empty, I watched the first few eps, and I don't really feel that compelled to watch this rest.

The problem with the season isn't the kids; they're definitely a, if not, the strength. The Cutty, Kima, Bubbles, Bunk, and Jimmy sub-plots work. But the Mayoral primary stuff gets pretty insufferable. I don't care about the stuff with Marlo, except when it involves Bodie or Omar. The school stuff with Prez works. The school with Colvin is kinda dull. There's not enough Slim Charles. Even the "should we/shouldn't we fire Burrell" stuff didn't hold me this time around.

I mean, there's some other good things about it, like Chris Partlow the Zombie Master. And, as a whole, it definitely has the best collection of cold opens for any season. It definitely has the two big emotional moments in the final two eps (Randy and Bodie). But it's not holding up like the first three seasons of the series.

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but i it's a trip seeing everyone's reactions to this marathon. I will say that i'm happy to see so many people finally coming around on season 2.

i kind of went backwards on this. i wound up starting with season 2, and now i'm just finishing up season 1. i've kind of re fallen in love with S1. i mean, this might be a top 3 scene of the whole series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d0leuz-WrA

all the stuff you're "meh" about in S4 was was always compelling to me. the only things i didn't care much in S4 that everyone else seems to love are Kima (i'm not sure at what point her character just got annoying to me), and Donut, the cuddly car theif. I'll be surprised if any of this changes this time around

that it's overrated. I don't know that I'd dig quite as deep as you did in criticizing all that stuff but I definitely think people overrate it. The other day in GD I ranked the seasons the way I did when I first watched, which was:

3
4
2
1
5

But I think I may have to change that to the below after watching the season 4 marathon:

3
1
2
4
5

I still think S4 is really fucking good, I mean the whole damn series is...I just, like you, found it way less compelling than the first 3 seasons after watching it yesterday. Still love it tho. Lots to be happy about in that season.

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So no dice. Hopefully these episodes will be available when HBO launches that digital portal next year.

It's weird that I haven't revisited the show since it ended and I have all the seasons on DVD and outside of season five, I thought this show was flawless. I think it's because I'm afraid I don't have the time and attention span necessary to binge watch this successfully.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UCOXZLU/ref=s9_simh_gw_p74_d0_i3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=0D1M3E359NA56MYQSR8N&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop

Sopranos complete Bluray also on sale for $99.99

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