Confession time: As someone who has reviewed movies on home video for more than two decades, I simply cannot stand to watch most DVD or Blu-ray bonus features. The days when I might get excited for a director’s audio commentary or a lengthy making-of documentary about the film I just watched feel like a distant… Read More Remember When DVD and Blu-ray “Special Features” Actually Used to Be Special?
I love movies. Let me start with that lest I sound too negative right off the bat. I’ve been obsessed with movies most of my life and have many fond memories of watching countless films on the big screen. All the time I spent in darkened movie theaters over the years played a critical role… Read More R.I.P. Cinema – Leaving the Theatrical Experience to Nostalgia
When Logitech discontinued its popular line of Harmony universal remotes last year, the company promised that existing products would continue to be supported. That alleged “support” was put to the test for many users last week when Harmony’s integration with Alexa voice control suddenly stopped working without explanation, and the standard array of troubleshooting suggestions… Read More Harmony + Alexa Integration Broken Again – How to Fix It
I’ve been a movie collector for close to thirty years, and have seen the evolution of the home theater hobby across multiple video formats. During that time, I have bought into every new state-of-the-art format as it came along, and regularly upgraded my favorite movies hoping to gain some measurable improvement in quality. As a… Read More From DVD to Blu-ray, 4K, and More – Is “Good Enough” Ever Good Enough?
Hardly all that long ago, all TV series were photographed in a common, standardized aspect ratio designed to fill a television screen. The idea that anything intended for home viewing on a TV might – intentionally – not fit the screen seemed almost inconceivable. Nowadays, however, we’ve experienced an explosion of shows shot in widescreen… Read More List of TV Shows with Aspect Ratios Wider Than 16:9
IMAX is neither the first nor the only film format to incorporate the concept of a variable aspect ratio. Filmmakers have toyed with the shape of their projected images at least as far back as Abel Gance’s 1927 silent epic Napoléon. In a separate post, I maintain a list of movies that alternate from a… Read More List of Other Variable Aspect Ratio Movies (Not IMAX)
This post contains a reference list of movies that played in IMAX theaters with either a Variable Aspect Ratio (VAR) or otherwise alternate aspect ratio presentation that differed from their appearance on regular cinema screens, along with details of each title’s availability on home video. As explained in Part 3 of my Philosophy of 2.35:1… Read More List of IMAX Variable Aspect Ratio Movies
In my article series The Philosophy of 2.35:1 Constant Image Height, I attempted to explain what Constant Image Height (CIH) display is, how it differs from watching content on a traditional 16:9 television or home theater screen, and why it’s important. For this first addendum, we’ll examine the mechanics of setting up a CIH system… Read More Best Practices for 2.35:1 Constant Image Height
Home theater can be complicated. As explained in the first two parts of this series, it’s not only as simple as putting a big screen on the wall. What shape should that screen be? Even after doing your research, just when you might think you’ve got this aspect ratio stuff all figured out, the IMAX… Read More The Philosophy of 2.35:1 Constant Image Height – Part 3, The IMAX Problem
Strange as it may seem, Constant Image Height can be one of the most contentious topics in home theater circles, the focal point of countless arguments over screen size and shape. Some projector owners will militantly insist that 16:9 is the only valid aspect ratio for a home theater screen. Period. The end. No room… Read More The Philosophy of 2.35:1 Constant Image Height – Part 2, “Widescreen” Not “Shortscreen”
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