The interesting thing is that the original film was 3:2 (13.5:9), so BOTH the original broadcast AR and the HD remaster AR are throwing away parts of the shot frame, just different parts. Original broadcast ratio was of course 4:3 (12:9), whereas HD remasters have been 16:9. The larger question IMHO is the one of aspect ratio. What sort of post processing they use will of course determine how modern the output looks, but in terms of resolution, it's there for the taking. Seinfeld was in fact shot on 35mm film, so the 4K film scan is pretty standard. It looks weird in a wide shot because there's no reason for them to be standing that close when there's open space to the left. They're packed tightly together to fit into the narrow frame. TNG was also fond of "huddle" shots where you have three (or more) characters in frame discussing something. Use of off-center shots normally indicates something is missing, or something is going to appear there. The dead left side of the screen becomes really obvious after a while. In the 16:9 frame, it looks like someone should be standing to the left, but there isn't anyone. In this film frame, Picard's nose is dead center in the NTSC frame. The last seems unimportant, but once you know to look for it, it looks really weird. Animated shows didn't animate outside the NTSC area, so there's nothing to use.It still crops some of the original frame.Studio clutter outside the NTSC safe area.So since the original negative is wide enough to take a 16:9 frame, why not use it? (Sound was always recorded separately, so the negative has a full frame.) Optical soundtracks are obsolete, so there's no provision for one. TV directors would count on only the area in the green box being visible, and would compose shots that way. (Despite the description on the image, some portion of the overscan area may get transmitted.) As TV equipment improved and CRTs got squarer, overscan was less of an issue but the original framing hung on. Also, the variable analog circuitry caused some uncertainty as to how big the picture would actually be, so it was set large enough so that the picture would always cover the screen, even as the tubes aged. Old CRTs were rounded, so to occupy the full screen the picture was enlarged to cover the entire tube, clipping areas under the curves. This was adapted from the Academy ratio, but has a margin around it due to overscan. They could have expanded the frame upward but it looks like a video shot in portrait mode. It's right justified in the film frame to leave room for an optical soundtrack strip on the left. The red Academy ratio is the original 11:8 standard, set in 1932 by AMPAS. What's the deal with aspect ratios? Here's a TNG film frame. It's much more clear than with broadcast TV what stream subscribers viewing habits are. You can be skeptical but streaming companies making this decision have perfect data about what is watched, how often it is watched and they can even correlate that pretty tightly with when subscriptions lapse or are re-upped (and what is then actually watched). I keep waiting for an acquisition announcement, at least for their entertainment business. Makes me wonder how Sony content and streaming work out long term. It's not like subscribers are going to be able to see Seinfeld on Netflix for a year and a half so why do they need to know about it right now? After the rocky time they had with the second quarter tanking their stock, the timing of this announcement seems more aimed at investors than subscribers. Netflix announces their third quarter results on Wed. But every little bit helps, Sony has no real streaming strategy so they need to figure out where to place their content on a case by case basis. I'm skeptical that the likes of Seinfeld, The Office and Friends do much to attract or retain subscribers.
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