Overscan - Getting the full picture - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Bachu · 03-25-2006, 09:37 AM

Ever notice how when you see a show being filmed and you see the director etc looking at what the image will look like on a monitor? Often there are a couple of square boxes around the edge of the screen. This is so that the director can make sure that everything of importance is kept in frame as what is around the edge of the screen is not always visable on some tvs. The smaller the screen the more overscan there is. This is why on some channels the on screen logo that appears in one of the corners is sometimes cropped whereas on bigger tv screens it is almost always displayed whole as you see just that bit more of the picture at the edges.

A couple of the Brady Bunch episodes that aired in the UK were very badly displayed. In The Hairbrained Scheme it was as though someone pushed the picture up into the top left hand corner of the screen. As a result, whenever we saw the Brady grid Bobby had the bisggest square and Marcia had a tiny square in the corner.

When my season 5 set arrived on Thursday I had a quick look at the theme park episode and noticed that the Brady grid appeared just before the end tag. When it was shown on Sky they (so I have just discovered) repeated the last few frames of the Bradys on the ride and then freeze framed the picture as the music ended rather than just fading the scene out and chopping up the music before the grid appeared. My vhs tape containing this episode was set during the My Brothers Keeper episode. The scene had Greg standing on the ladders painting. In the top left hand corner of the screen I could see the top of the set so being the sad man that I am I straightaway looked at the dvd version only to find that it wasn't there (see pictures below).

vhs version

dvd version

This just makes me wonder what other bloopers may appear at the edge of the screen that we never get to see because of the way the image is shown on screen.

Recently the British sci-fi show Space 1999 had its first season cleaned up for HD. I have seen some picture comparisons and the new images, despite being so much better, have reduced the overscan that most shows are presented in so that we get more of the picture. Whether on a big screen tv we do get to see some black edges around the sides of the screen because we are also seeing so much more of the available picture I do not know as I am still waiting for the set to drop in price. I would imagine that that aspect has been taken into account.

Does make me wonder, considering the poor release that the Bradys have had on dvd compared to something like The Partidge Family, what kind of future HD release The Brady Bunch could look like on screen?

sixfingers · 03-09-2010, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bachu

...
My vhs tape containing this episode was set during the My Brothers Keeper episode. The scene had Greg standing on the ladders painting. In the top left hand corner of the screen I could see the top of the set so being the sad man that I am I straightaway looked at the dvd version only to find that it wasn't there (see pictures below).
...
vhs version

dvd version

This just makes me wonder what other bloopers may appear at the edge of the screen that we never get to see because of the way the image is shown on screen.

Am I nitpicking by pointing out that this is not exactly the same frame? Note, in particular, the position of Greg's arm!

sixfingers · 03-09-2010, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bachu

This just makes me wonder what other bloopers may appear at the edge of the screen that we never get to see because of the way the image is shown on screen.

Something similar to that happened with the move ANGELA. It was filmed in 4:3 and then a mask was used for the theatrical presentation to get the 16:9 ratio. When it was released on DVD they showed the full 4:3 original and as a result a lot of microphone booms show up in the frame that weren't visible in the theatrical presentation.

A lot of TV shows, Bewitched for example, have audio that is dubbed in for distant shots because the microphone boom would otherwise be visible.

Bachu · 03-11-2010, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sixfingers

Am I nitpicking by pointing out that this is not exactly the same frame? Note, in particular, the position of Greg's arm!

Yes you are

It was more or less a static shot so my observation still holds true.

It only took 4 years to someone to reply to my original post

03-25-2006, 09:37 AM	#1
Bachu Member Forum Regular Join Date: Sep 10, 2005 Posts: 809	Overscan - Getting the full picture Ever notice how when you see a show being filmed and you see the director etc looking at what the image will look like on a monitor? Often there are a couple of square boxes around the edge of the screen. This is so that the director can make sure that everything of importance is kept in frame as what is around the edge of the screen is not always visable on some tvs. The smaller the screen the more overscan there is. This is why on some channels the on screen logo that appears in one of the corners is sometimes cropped whereas on bigger tv screens it is almost always displayed whole as you see just that bit more of the picture at the edges. A couple of the Brady Bunch episodes that aired in the UK were very badly displayed. In The Hairbrained Scheme it was as though someone pushed the picture up into the top left hand corner of the screen. As a result, whenever we saw the Brady grid Bobby had the bisggest square and Marcia had a tiny square in the corner. When my season 5 set arrived on Thursday I had a quick look at the theme park episode and noticed that the Brady grid appeared just before the end tag. When it was shown on Sky they (so I have just discovered) repeated the last few frames of the Bradys on the ride and then freeze framed the picture as the music ended rather than just fading the scene out and chopping up the music before the grid appeared. My vhs tape containing this episode was set during the My Brothers Keeper episode. The scene had Greg standing on the ladders painting. In the top left hand corner of the screen I could see the top of the set so being the sad man that I am I straightaway looked at the dvd version only to find that it wasn't there (see pictures below). vhs version dvd version This just makes me wonder what other bloopers may appear at the edge of the screen that we never get to see because of the way the image is shown on screen. Recently the British sci-fi show Space 1999 had its first season cleaned up for HD. I have seen some picture comparisons and the new images, despite being so much better, have reduced the overscan that most shows are presented in so that we get more of the picture. Whether on a big screen tv we do get to see some black edges around the sides of the screen because we are also seeing so much more of the available picture I do not know as I am still waiting for the set to drop in price. I would imagine that that aspect has been taken into account. Does make me wonder, considering the poor release that the Bradys have had on dvd compared to something like The Partidge Family, what kind of future HD release The Brady Bunch could look like on screen?