Please help, aspect ratio of Crusade DVDs (R1 & R2)

[lastbesthope]

Dear all,

Yes it's me again with another thread about a possible fault on B5 DVDs.

When I ordered my Crusade R2 DVDs I'm sure the website said they were widescreen. I received my box set today in the post and to my annoyance they were 4:3, Full Screen, Pan and Scan , etc. Sure enough when I had another look at the website the website said full screen.

Trouble is the DVD packaging says they are widescreen 1.85:1 (approx 16 to 9). the menu screens have been done in anamorphic widescreen but the episodes themselves are in full screen 4:3.

(As an aside, my set is incomplete as I have 2 copies of the last of the 5 discs and no copy of the 4th disc episodes 9-12)

So my questions to anyone who has either the R2 and especially the R1 release:

1) What aspect ratio is it? Does anyone have it in widescreen?

2) Did anyone else have a missing disc 4? Or any other problems?

I will be taking this up with WB after the holiday weekend, sendit.com also seem to have shut down their customer support for the weekend so the e-mail I sent them asking for clarification is unlikely to get aswered before then. At least the refund process is automated. And I should get the refund in this case due to the wrong disc issue.

I thought I'd warn you all off buying it incase you wanted it Widescreen. I don't know how widespread the fault is, or if it is supposed to be 4:3 and the packaging is wrong. But I want to get it sorted out before I settle for a 4:3 set.

Thank you for your time and please help me if you can by answering the above questions.

LBH


NB:

I am posting this in 3 areas of the forum in an attempt to reach as much of the fanbase as possible (General Discussions, Babylon 5 RPG, B5 : A Call to Arms).
I do not expect Mongoose to take any action other than to allow me to use their boards to acheive 1 above.
Anyone who thinks that this is "crazed multiposting", as I have previously been accused of for my efforts to bring the faults on the R2 Season 5 DVDs of Babylon 5 to light, is entitled to that opinion. Just don't feel you have to let me know about it :wink:

 

[frobisher]

I've got the R1 release and they're full screen as originally presented.

The SciFi Channel paid to have the B5 episodes re-edited into 16:9 aspect ratio after they acquired the rights to show them, given that the 16:9 studio footage existed (but effects work was only ever rendered to 4:3 so that was merely cropped).

They didn't pay to have Crusade so converted, and the DVD release by itself didn't justify the work being done.

 

[lastbesthope]

So you're saying that 4:3 is all there is on DVD and that the packaging on the R2 release saying it is widescreen is wrong?

Thanks for the help frobisher. I'll be returning my DVDs for a refund tomorrow and once that's sorted and I've talked to WB I'll reorder them from somewhere.

LBH

 

[Greg Smith]

NB:

I am posting this in 3 areas of the forum in an attempt to reach as much of the fanbase as possible (General Discussions, Babylon 5 RPG, B5 : A Call to Arms).
I do not expect Mongoose to take any action other than to allow me to use their boards to acheive 1 above.
Anyone who thinks that this is "crazed multiposting", as I have previously been accused of for my efforts to bring the faults on the R2 Season 5 DVDs of Babylon 5 to light, is entitled to that opinion. Just don't feel you have to let me know about it :wink:

We know that you are just trying to increase your post count.

 

[lastbesthope]

I've had it confirmed from WB (UK), it was a printing error on the boxes. The Crusade DVDs are 4:3, no widescreen masters exist for them at WB.

LBH

 

[Aramanthus]

That stinks. Are they going to make a change for you over there in the UK? I hope so!

 

[lastbesthope]

I don't think so Aramanthus, and I thought the R1 Crusade DVDs were 4:3 anyway. That's what Frobisher says and he has them.

Do you know differently?

LBH