SG-1 was shot in widescreen from day one, on cameras that had framing marks for 4:3 and 16:9. A 4:3 cut was sent to TV networks and a 16:9 cut was canned until the show was released on DVD.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Unless they were shooting with anamorphic lenses, that's still cropping 4:3 to 16:9.

The real issue is that AFAIK the show's never been remastered from film. All we have are DVD transfers - and filters on top of that.

[–] Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

SG1 was shot in film and mastered in 16:9. 16mm in the first 3 seasons, 35mm 3-7, and then they moved to digital HD cameras season 8 onwards.

Many shows from the 90s were [edit: shot on film]. That's why you can get a widescreen HD release of Seinfeld, among others.

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Right, but the general public only ever saw the broadcast versions, which were predominantly in 4:3. Also, Seinfeld was only shot in 4:3 as it's a multi cam sitcom. The widescreen version you've seen is a crop of the original 4:3 picture.

[–] Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Depends on how you watched it. The DVDs that were being released were in 16:9. Depending on what country you were in, the DVDs sometimes came out before the later seasons were aired on a channel you could access, if at all.

The fact that other series can be re-released in HD is due the fact they are filmed on actual film, which was the point I was making clear.

[–] plz1@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Wow, TIL.