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Open matte CEDs?

 
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ace2184



Joined: 04 Mar 2015
Posts: 34
Location: Washington State

PostPosted: Thu Jan 28, 2016 5:43 am    Post subject: Open matte CEDs? Reply with quote

Hi everyone. I know there were a handful of letterboxed movies released on CED, and I assume the majority were pan&scan. But I was wondering, were there any open matte releases on CED? I feel there may be, but figured I'd ask the people who know better than I do.
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kitchensynch



Joined: 24 Feb 2013
Posts: 1087

PostPosted: Thu Jan 28, 2016 2:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Having only being made in the first half of the 1980s, I would have to assume they were mastered in the same manner as the standard home video releases on LD, Beta and VHS. First of all, they had to be licensed from the studios, and a completely new mastering of the film, other than possible edits for time, would not only be prohibitive but might also not be helpful if it makes the title look much different than the VHS/Beta version.

Laserdisc users were in 'another universe', they were the early videophiles for whom the new and pricy were no challenge. RCA customers were perceived to be value customers, the Selectavision titles were supposed to be abundant and inexpensive, so that sales would be the dominant method instead of rentals in the case of videocassettes. If you were around in the early eighties VHS and Beta titles could run into the $80 range and they didn't even have really decent stereo sound until around 1983? for Beta HiFi and VHS was making due with a split analog audio track and Dolby noise reduction. MTS didn't happen until 1984 (LA Olympics on ABC, limited to a few stations) and the popular music video channels and shows at that time relied on FM stereo simulcasts and FM stereo service on cable TV systems (and one of those three cable TV system types didn't reserve the bandwidth for that, if I recall correctly).

Another big reason Laserdisc could afford to be radically different is that it was completely FM (frequency modulated) and had a signal bandwidth of around 7 or more MHz. The 'sparkles' and other defects present in the playback were because of defective manufacturing rising from bonding the two sides. In time this was corrected greatly and LD could truly be a test bed for DVD production, which was rolled out by region starting in 1996.

So I would gather that, for the greater part of releases, the title would be produced in a similar manner to the other formats. Videocassette duplicators had to make assurances to the public that the tapes were copied at faster (SP or EP and BI/II not III) speeds as they could draw conclusions from experience with audio cassettes that were badly duplicated and the audio industry had made great efforts as early as 1980 to make better duplicators and improve the cassette titles quality (XDR, new duplicators, lower copy speeds and eventually digital bin methods). So too did videocassette duplicators find that the couldn't just crank out copies with the minimum amount of tape regardless of results. Likewise improvements in the recorders themselves were necessary, although VCRs took longer for the improvements to become part of lower priced machines...MSRP for VHS Hi-Fi decks started in the $1,000+ range for some of the first models. This was a pattern throughout the 80s and 90s until lower price producers undercut the market. They changed the perception of the consumer to expect lower prices like that, I believe, in addition to the economic difficulties of the 21st century. The rise of non-physical formats have made it much worse for the consumer that wants a physical product as well, they are less widely produced and much more expensive now (in the case of records and audiocassettes that are not coming back quickly).
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Jesse Skeen



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 575
Location: Sacramento, CA

PostPosted: Wed Mar 23, 2016 8:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Old transfers are more likely to be open-matte than newer ones- "Mr. Mom" on CED obviously is, as the opening Fox logo is hard-matted and you can see boom mikes at the top of the screen in a lot of shots. If you zoom this on a widescreen TV you can get a decent approximation of the theatrical framing. Later 4x3 transfers zoomed in to hide the boom mikes and other stuff you aren't supposed to see.

The Muppet Movie from Magnetic Video on laserdisc (and maybe VHS too) is something to see, as you can see puppeteers and stuff at the bottom of the screen in that! The CED was a different transfer and zoomed-in so you don't see any of that.
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