Dear Movie Studios, This Isn’t 1080p
I love high-definition movies, but false advertising has infiltrated my living room. And I’m not happy.
Our TVs are better now. And our media is too! High-definition movies are on the rise. Blu-Ray players and High-Definition TVs are coming down in price and “1080p” movies are all over the shelves.
But, these 1080p movies I keep buying aren’t 1080p–despite repeated assertions on the packaging.
Look at this picture…
For the curious, this comes from the case of Austin Powers in Goldmember from the Austin Powers Collection: Shagadelic Edition Loaded With Extra Mojo box set. You can clearly see that this main feature claims to be in “1080p High Definition.”
Great! So I bought it. But I got home, loaded the disc into my Blu-Ray player. And what do I see? Letterboxing. On my High-Definition TV.
(see full frame screen capture)
Don’t get me wrong…
I don’t want to be misunderstood. I love the fact that these movies are high definition; they are gorgeous. But a lot of 1080p movies AREN’T 1080p. And the Austin Powers movies aren’t the only guilty films.
So far, in my collection…
Full 1080p
- Juno
Partially 1080p
- The Dark Knight – some sequences were filmed in IMAX
Not 1080p
- Wall-e
- The Phantom of the Opera
- Cloverfield
- V for Vendetta
- Kill Bill: Volume 1
- Kill Bill: Volume 2
- Batman Begins
In Conclusion…
If you work for a movie studio, are in charge of Blu-Ray production, and rip people off on a daily basis, how do you sleep at night?
Also, leave comments about other non-1080p movies.
About Brad
Brad Kovach is an award-winning web developer from Afton, Wyoming. In his spare time, he enjoys drumming on Rock Band, and playing with this website.
6 Responses to “Dear Movie Studios, This Isn’t 1080p”
Ryan
On January 23rd, 2009
2:41 pm
Although the content doesn’t use the entire range of resolution available, it maintains the proper aspect ratio. Movies are made for theaters, not television. Would you prefer the screen be stretched or zoomed in to fill your 1080p TV? Then it would look like high resolution crap or you would be missing information, and I would hate you like the brainless idiots that preferred 4:3 pan and scan versions of movies throughout the laserdisc and dvd era.
So, in conclusion, 1080p refers to the resolution of the television your watching the content on and that it is 1920×1080 lines of resolution. What your complaining about is the aspect ratio the film was made at not matching the aspect ratio of the TV and the film makers choosing to give you the full picture and not tossing out 1/3 the information and zooming in so you don’t have the black bars where there is no content.
Geoff Arnold
On January 24th, 2009
3:33 am
I think that the term 1080p has become another term for true HD and because earlier TV’s were not “full HD” or “1080p” they are adding this term, as you say without due care, as a kind of insurance that people are getting the “full HD” with their purchase.
We have to remember that “widescreen” TVs are 16:9 or 1.77:1 Most films are shot for the cinema screen in 2.4:1 or 21.6:9 (in 16:9 terms). With a 2.4:1 screen ratio you either zoom in and lose some of the edges of the picture or you leave as is and display the whole of the picture. If you leave as is you will get 1968 x 820, (2.4:1 cine screen).
Brad Kovach
On January 24th, 2009
7:05 pm
Actually, I’m addressing the fact that these films are marketed using a mis-applied buzzword (1080p) to create hype. I ABSOLUTELY want to see the whole film, but calling them 1080p is dishonest.
Ivan
On May 12th, 2009
8:04 am
I completely agree with the above posts.
Just purchased Matrix trilogy just to find out that it will look like a tiny bar on my 24″ monitor (1920×1200).
I just bought a blue ray drive in a hope of enjoying the movies at true 1920×1080 resolution.
I would say calling a film 1080p where 1/3 is black color is not dishonest, but a rip off. Even LCD/Plasma TVs you can by go only to 16:9 (not 21.6:9)
Here is some explanations for all the black bars stuff, a good read (I wish more films would be filmed at 1.85:1)
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/764
Qay
On July 29th, 2009
11:36 am
This article answer my question…before this i dont know what’s the meaning of 1080p, but now considering the fact that lcd tv price that keep going down, your article may come in handy…
peace
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Abram Nichols
On January 23rd, 2009
10:07 am
I also hate it when they broadcast TV shows on HD channels that aren’t actually high-def