widescreen vs standard = lighter?

[Catwoman]

hi yall i watched the widescreen batman today, and i was shocked at how visible everything was in the cathedral scene. i'm used to having to squint to make out anything. was the widescreen version made lighter or is my tv screwy? lol.

[johnnygobbs]

hi yall i watched the widescreen batman today, and i was shocked at how visible everything was in the cathedral scene. i'm used to having to squint to make out anything. was the widescreen version made lighter or is my tv screwy? lol.

Well I don't know what format you were watching the films on (i.e. VHS, DVD, Blue-Tay etc), but I do recall that in about 1991, the first film was rereleased on VHS after being lightened for the very reason that there had been a few complaints that the original picture which had worked brilliantly in the cinema was too dark for the small screen.  It's probable that you've seen 'both versions' of the film now.

[phantom stranger]

If you watched the original DVD release or the VHS release then you'll notice the picture quality is not as good as the special edition DVD.

[Catwoman]

mine is the one that is standard on one side, you flip it over and it plays wide screen. i just found that out today. lol

trouble is there's a scratch on it so the part where grissom comes out of the shower is choppy as hell

[thecolorsblend]

mine is the one that is standard on one side, you flip it over and it plays wide screen. i just found that out today. lol

I don't know this to be true but my guess would be that when the original DVD (the double sided thing) was getting prepped, WB "mastered" the widescreen version as a new thing for that particular DVD release and for the other side just slapped the full screen VHS master on there because (A) it was cheaper and (B) standard def TV's were a helluva lot more common back then so a lot of the same "problems" that the VHS version had would've also plagued the full screen DVD.  There's some logic there.

trouble is there's a scratch on it so the part where grissom comes out of the shower is choppy as hell

Turn that frown upside down, li'l lady.  You couldn't ask for a better reason to upgrade to the special edition version.  It's an investment.

Since we're talking about goofy Burton DVD's, if you compare the original BR release with the remastered version, you notice significantly different framing for widescreen.  The original version was the top and bottom lopped off but there was also some zooming/cropping done to the image so you'd be seeing even less of the frame than you would with a correct widescreen crop job when watching the original/flipper release.  Always thought that was weird.  Someone seriously must've been asleep at the wheel on that one.

But luckily the remastered version of BR is correct.  So, like, you should pick that up too.

[The Joker]

Short answer:

Just get the Special Editions already and enjoy the upgrade.

[The Dark Knight]

The Blu-ray versions at that.

[Grissom]

Yep Blu-ray is the way to go, when you say widescreen, do you mean the 2:2:35 aspect ratio or the 1:78 that is on the SE dvd's?

[Catwoman]

ok i guess i'll hunt down the special editions.