Convict Stage (1965) ADDED

[Tim_Rogerson]

Title: Convict Stage (1965) "Between hell and Boot Hill...You took your chances on the Convict Stage"
Country: USA
Region: 1
Releasing Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Case Type: Standard
Aspect Ratio: Both OAR (1.85:1) and Full-screen cropped (1.33:1) ratios on disk, on different sides
Anamorphic?: N
PAL or NTSC?: NTSC
Soundtracks: English Mono Dolby Digital 2.0, English Stereo Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish Mono Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles (are they optional?): English, Spanish (optional)
Cuts: (and if you know it, precise run time) No cuts - 71m10s.
Commentaries: None
Extras: Pressbook gallery, Stills gallery, Theatrical trailer (1m51s), Trailers for Fort Courageous (1m52s), Broken Arrow (1m56s), White Feather (2m43s), The Tall Men (2m33s), Yellow Sky (1m40s).
Notes:
Easter Eggs: None
Amazon ASIN (UK, French, German, USA releases only): B000NO1XKO
Source:* I own it.

[Jari_Kovalainen]

Few questions...

Aspect Ratio: Both OAR (2.35:1) and Full-screen (4:3) ratios on disk, on different sides

Aspect ratio should be 1.85:1, correct? Also if you can check, is the 4:3 so-called "open matte" version or clearly cropped?

Anamorphic?: N

You mean it's non-anamorphic? Based on the review it should be anamorhic:
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/site_arch ... 7.html#con

Soundtracks: English Mono, English Stereo, Spanish Mono

Next time, please add these like..
"English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono" etc, since mono can be either 1.0 or 2.0.

Amazon ASIN (UK, French, German, USA releases only): B000NO1XKO

I don't quite understand this. R1 release has only one ASIN, others have different ones (if available).

[Samuel_Scott]

That is the ASIN for the US release Jari. The bit in brackets is copied from the 'how to layout a comparison' thread.

[Jari_Kovalainen]

Ah! Doh.

[Tim_Rogerson]

Next time, please add these like..
"English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono" etc, since mono can be either 1.0 or 2.0.

All it says on the disk menu is 'mono' or 'stereo' - doesn't say whether its 1.0 or 2.0. How do I find out?

Also - how do I tell if its anamorphic or not? Presumably the fact that it is in the OAR doesn't necessarily mean its anamorphic?

Not sure what the difference between 'open matte' and 'clearly cropped' is since I thought all 4:3 films were cropped in some form or another (I watched the OAR version - the 4:3 version which I checked briefly was full screen covering whole picture - does this mean its 'open matte').

I will recheck the OAR.

(NB: I watched this on a 9" portable DVD player which gives me no clue on some of the above - do I have to pop in it a 'proper' DVD player to find out?)

[James-Masaki_Ryan]

An example of 1:33:1 open matte and 2.35:1

On the 2.35:1 widescreen version, there is more information on the sides of the frame..
On the 1.33:1 version, the top and bottom mattes are opened, hence "open matte", with some of the side information being cropped.

An example of 1.33:1 cropped

The R1 US DVD 1.33:1 version has the sides chopped off. This would be a cropped transfer.

As for the audio options, on Fox DVDs, their mono tracks are always 2.0 dual mono.

To check anamorphic options on a portable DVD player may not be possible to do. Does the back of the case say "Anamorphic"?
Early Fox DVDs stated "Anamorphic" or nothing. (Nothing meaning Non-Anamorphic).

[Jari_Kovalainen]

All it says on the disk menu is 'mono' or 'stereo' - doesn't say whether its 1.0 or 2.0. How do I find out?

Do you have a proper AV receiver? Or do you check the specs via some computer software etc? With receiver, just use "Pro Logic" (not Pro Logic II etc). If the 2.0 sound ONLY comes from the "front center" channel (via Pro Logic), it's mono. If it's coming from all channels, it's stereo/surround (it's fine just to add stereo).

Also - how do I tell if its anamorphic or not? Presumably the fact that it is in the OAR doesn't necessarily mean its anamorphic?

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/misc/anamorphic_dvd.htm

Not sure what the difference between 'open matte' and 'clearly cropped' is since I thought all 4:3 films were cropped in some form or another

This was my bad, since I originally thought that the aspect ratio on the DVD is 1.85:1 and not 2.35:1 (it's the latter, I'm sure).

But yes, many 4:3 versions of the 1.85:1 (and 1.66:1) films are actually open matte. They just "remove" the mattes from the top and from the bottom (and therefore actually show more image on the top and on the bottom). 4:3 is not the OAR, though. And sometimes the "open matte" version still slightly crops the image from the sides.

Pan&scan is different, since it crops and re-frames. Very badly.

Does the back of the case say "Anamorphic"? Early Fox DVDs stated "Anamorphic" or nothing. (Nothing meaning Non-Anamorphic).

I'm afraid back covers cannot be trusted. Meaning that even if the back cover says "anamorphic" (or just "16:9" as sometimes when they mean anamorphic) one should check the actual disc. Same thing with audio, subs, dubs, etc etc.

[Tim_Rogerson]

OK - I have now checked the disc on my 'proper' DVD player and a decent HD TV screen (as opposed to my 9' portable).

It is 1.85:1 - apologies my error (it looked 2.35 on the portable but was clearly 1.85 on 'proper' TV)

The 1.33:1 film on the flipper is full-screen and cropped at the sides.

The soundtracks are:

English Mono Dolby Digital 2.0
English Stereo Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish Mono Dolby Digital 2.0
(this came up on my TV screen but not on my portable)

I can't tell on the anamorphic thingie but disk doesn't mention it it is so I assume not.

I have added all of this to my original posting - which will help when I come to do Fort Courageous which I also have.

[Samuel_Scott]

Did you get black bars on the left and right side when you watched in widescreen? If not, that usually means anamorphic.

[Tim_Rogerson]

No - so I think it was anamorphic.