My "Secret of NIMH" site is up!

I got a little impetuous today, so I started work on my TSoN site, even though I don't have the DVD yet. Not a lot to see, but it's how all of my other three websites started out: http://www.geocities.com/ravenblackdeath_rat_of_nimh/[]http://www.geocities.com/ravenblackdeath_rat_of_nimh/

By the way, if you happen to sign the guestbook, your entry won't appear right away: I have it set so that I have to pre-approve entries before they are posted. :wink:

Yay! I'm the first to look at it! :D

Oh man looks good , :)
I having a tuff time clicking on some things on your site it will not work I do not know if my computer is at fault on this one. I also checked out Holy Arrow`s NIMH site. For the love of this movie this is great !!. Okey dokey I have a site also It`s http://www.freewebs.com/desmouse/ it`s my first site and first time doing anything like this :shock:,, keep up the good work NIMH fans 8) anyways I can not beat simon`s site, it is the first that I have seen of NIMH in any depth in our fandom and when I first got on the internet his was the first site I found and the best of all others :D .

Oh man looks good , :)
I having a tuff time clicking on some things on your site it will not work I do not know if my computer is at fault on this one. I also checked out Holy Arrow`s NIMH site. For the love of this movie this is great !!. Okey dokey I have a site also It`s http://www.freewebs.com/desmouse/ it`s my first site and first time doing anything like this :shock:,, keep up the good work NIMH fans 8) anyways I can not beat simon`s site, it is the first that I have seen of NIMH in any depth in our fandom and when I first got on the internet his was the first site I found and the best of all others :D .

Once I start working on the links section of my site, I'll link to your site, Whiskers(interesting stuff there, by the way). I'll link to Simon's site as well, definitely. 8)

I got my Region 2 TSoN DVD yesterday, and it is widescreen: not anamorphic widescreen, but at least not fullscreen. :P I have a bunch of screenshots on my site now, including one on the index page, which I changed the appearance of, since Independence Day is over.

The screenshots might take time to load, as there's quite a few of them. Let me know what you think(the link to my NIMH site is now in my profile).

I got my Region 2 TSoN DVD yesterday, and it is widescreen: not anamorphic widescreen, but at least not fullscreen. :P

Well... know I know what my next NIMH-related purchase will be... ;) And I don't think it was filmed with more than a 1.85:1 aspect ratio anyway--most animated films aren't, to the best of my knowledge...

Still, it makes me just a little peeved that MGM has been sitting on a widescreen DVD release but hasn't made it available to the US... BTW, how do you get your player to play a region 2 disk? I know you can change the region about 4 times without having to beg the manufacturer for a change, but I'm assuming that's not what you do.

how do you get your player to play a region 2 disk?.

Some DVD players play all regions without changing anything, and some you can change it as many times as you want. We have both types in my house.

But that's what my house does (or uses). I don't know what other people do. :?

Hmm... I'll have to do some research, I guess... That said, I've done a bit of research using my own NIMH DVD--Unfortunately, I've got some bad news... I did some comparisons with a few of the grabs that I've made of the DVD I own, and the ones you've made... and I think you've been gypped.

From your DVD:
http://www.thornvalley.com/images/temp/SoN31.jpg[" alt=""/img]

From my DVD:
[img="]http://www.thornvalley.com/images/temp/bris-ropeburn.jpg[" alt=""/img]

From your DVD:
[img="]http://www.thornvalley.com/images/temp/SoN4.jpg[" alt=""/img]

From my DVD:
[img="]http://www.thornvalley.com/images/temp/PDVD_075.jpg[" alt=""/img]

It looks like they just cropped the top and bottom off; must be the same thing that was discussed here: http://www.thornvalley.com/commons/forum/viewtopic.php?t=134

:(

I've got a copy of both releases and Simon is right (as were the people who nailed MGM for improper presentation or trade descriptions or whatever it was), the 'widescreen' Region 2 copy does unfortunately lose some info off the top and bottom of the screen (though it seems to gain just a smidge on either side but that is almost negligible and probably just me being hopeful). It isn't true widescreen, just a cropped full frame (thanks here to Gregg Anderson who pointed this out to me). The region 1 full frame is the way to see the movie if you want to see everything so screengrab from that disc to get all the artwork into the picture. However I prefer to watch films in widescreen and go to my region 2 copy when I want to watch the film in 'cinema frame' even though it does lose some info. I just prefer things in a widescreen frame. I would say watch the film in widescreen, analyse the film (by that I mean the artwork and animation) in full frame. That's just personal choice though. Oh for a special edition with the original "super scanned" full frame version and a remastered widescreen version of the film, not to mention plenty of extras to boot.

I've been burned by this as well. Ordered me a widescreen version off of ebay (stoopid me . . .) and the product I got was some foriegn region code. The graphics and text on the cover looked like it was scaned low res and there where typo's EVERYWHERE. Being an art student the thing stank of being digitally doctored.

Hmm... I'll have to do some research, I guess... That said, I've done a bit of research using my own NIMH DVD--Unfortunately, I've got some bad news... I did some comparisons with a few of the grabs that I've made of the DVD I own, and the ones you've made... and I think you've been gypped.

I wouldn't say that: I do see more on the sides, which is what I desired originally. All of my widescreen DVDs have a bit chopped off from the top and bottom: the R2 German Balto DVD, the R1 Gremlins DVD, and so on. The aforementioned discs were all in their original widescreen frame. For some reason, all of them have a slight amount cropped from the top and bottom as opposed to their fullscreen counterparts, but more information on the sides. I'm not sure why this occurs, must have something to do with the matting process.

For examples of the differences between the fullframe and widescreen versions of Balto, check out this section of my Balto website: http://www.geocities.com/istaswhitewolf/widescreen1.html[]http://www.geocities.com/istaswhitewolf/widescreen1.html. The same thing happens. Like I said, probably some simple effect of matting. In any event, I much prefer the widescreen version, even if a little is missing from the top and bottom: I love the cinema feel of black bars(I adore those channels on TV that show old widescreen films).

In any case, I could always buy the Region 1 version of TSoN: I once saw it on the Amazon.com Marketplace for less than a dollar. Funny thing is that the UK TSoN DVD is supposed to have the fullscreen version as well, only I can't find it.

Lastly, I can play any region of DVD on my DVD-ROM as a result of some great software called DVD Region-Free. I got the Lite version, without any extras, for a very reasonable $25. After the initial payment and download, they give you free software updates for life. Their website is http://www.dvdidle.com[]http://www.dvdidle.com

Oh man looks good , :)
I having a tuff time clicking on some things on your site it will not work I do not know if my computer is at fault on this one. I also checked out Holy Arrow`s NIMH site. For the love of this movie this is great !!. Okey dokey I have a site also It`s http://www.freewebs.com/desmouse/ it`s my first site and first time doing anything like this :shock:,, keep up the good work NIMH fans 8) anyways I can not beat simon`s site, it is the first that I have seen of NIMH in any depth in our fandom and when I first got on the internet his was the first site I found and the best of all others :D .

Once I start working on the links section of my site, I'll link to your site, Whiskers(interesting stuff there, by the way). I'll link to Simon's site as well, definitely. 8)

Thanks RBD :) I`ll link to you and yes Simon`s site is the first on my links also. I was also thinking of linking to that great Watership down site I enjoyed that and put it on my fav`s list and your SON site is cool I `ve never did and kept up on 4 sites at once (must be lots of work and time)keep up the great work :)

With Secret of NIMH, I think it was shot at 4:3, then cropped at the top and bottom when shown in theaters. So the fullscreen you actually see more than what was on the big screen. Though, I'd still rather have it widescreen just to give a movie feel to it. So I wonder, I just got a 55inch widescreen, probably hitting zoom on the tv would crop of the top and bottom of the fullscreen dvd to make it fill the display to be widescreen. Doing the same on a 4:3 tv would cutoff at all sides.

American Tail might have been the same too.

Procyon, your 4:3 stills look a little squished.

And between the two dvds, widscreen region 2 and the normal one, which has the best picture quality?

Ah, some more info here:
http://www.maximumnimh.com/item-2-2005.html

And plenty of widescreen stills here:
http://www.maximumnimh.com/ScreenShots.html

With Secret of NIMH, I think it was shot at 4:3, then cropped at the top and bottom when shown in theaters. So the fullscreen you actually see more than what was on the big screen. Though, I'd still rather have it widescreen just to give a movie feel to it. So I wonder, I just got a 55inch widescreen, probably hitting zoom on the tv would crop of the top and bottom of the fullscreen dvd to make it fill the display to be widescreen. Doing the same on a 4:3 tv would cutoff at all sides.

Hmm... I stand corrected, then. Still, it seems odd that you'd get less from the widescreen release than the fullscreen one. It definitely puts the clamor for a widescreen release in a different light. In any case, I probably won't purchase the region 2 DVD if that's all they do to it; as much as I like the widescreen feel, it just wouldn't be quite as enjoyable knowing that I'm not getting anything more out of it visually than some black bars at the top and bottom and a very small amount of extra stuff on either side. Although I suppose it makes sense to animate that way--if you know that your movie is going to eventually go to the home video market with a 4:3 aspect ratio, then you might as well make the backgrounds bigger and extend the cells off the widescreen frame a bit and just keep the important action inside the widescreen frame.

Procyon, your 4:3 stills look a little squished.

You mean my stills? Those are unmodified shots from PowerDVD on my region 1 DVD. If they're squished, it's either something about the DVD that's doing that, or PowerDVD.

Interesting links, BTW.

And between the two dvds, widscreen region 2 and the normal one, which has the best picture quality?

For that, I would say the Region 2 disc must be better: it is presented in PAL format, which is supposedly a much higher resolution than America and Canada's NTSC format. This is explained in a brief paragraph in the manual of one of the DVD softwares that came with my computer:

"When the National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) prepared the standards for commercial television broadcasting in the United States, Canada, Japan, and parts of Central and South America, they decided on 525 lines of display at thirty frames per second. In most of Europe, Australia, and parts of Central and South America, however, the Phase Alteration Line (PAL) standard, using 625 lines at 25 frames per second, was used."

So, obviously PAL is better, being higher resolution. However, both NIMH DVDs have lots of film artifacts since the movie hasn't been restored, so this might affect the difference in resolution.

I think my German Balto DVD is higher resolution the the American version, although I can't really tell the difference unless I look closely, besides the obvious fact that the German disc is widescreen whereas the American disc is not. But then, I have poor vision, so maybe I can't notice high resolution as well as others: I do know, however, that DVDs are much easier on my eyes than VHS tapes! :D

On a strictly personal note, I think the Region 1 DVD is rather oversaturated with color, not enough to detract from it, but noticeable.

Oh, and about Simon's screenshots being squished, PDVD seems to have a way of altering the aspect ratio of fullscreen shots: it does that to me too.

And, speaking of PowerDVD issues, I seem to have trouble taking images of widescreen movies. The grabs turn out...odd:
http://home.ripway.com/2003-12/43112/PDVD_000.jpg[" alt=""/img]

Anybody have any suggestions? Maybe I have an incorrect ratio somewhere. Sorry for the huge pic, but it's the only way I can really show what the problem is.

And between the two dvds, widscreen region 2 and the normal one, which has the best picture quality?

For that, I would say the Region 2 disc must be better: it is presented in PAL format, which is supposedly a much higher resolution than America and Canada's NTSC format. This is explained in a brief paragraph in the manual of one of the DVD softwares that came with my computer:

Yeah, it looks like you're correct: http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.19

On a strictly personal note, I think the Region 1 DVD is rather oversaturated with color, not enough to detract from it, but noticeable.

Huh. Based on your screenshots, I'd have said the region 2 disc was washed out... but then that can also depend on your monitor and player settings.

Oh, and about Simon's screenshots being squished, PDVD seems to have a way of altering the aspect ratio of fullscreen shots: it does that to me too.

And, speaking of PowerDVD issues, I seem to have trouble taking images of widescreen movies. The grabs turn out...odd:

Anybody have any suggestions? Maybe I have an incorrect ratio somewhere. Sorry for the huge pic, but it's the only way I can really show what the problem is.

Look for a setting (it should be under Configuration > General > Advanced > Capture) that says something like Captured Aspect Ratio and make sure it's set to Original Video Source size.

Incidentally, my shots were created with PowerDVD in windowed mode at the movie's original size.

One thing on feeling like you might as well watch the fullscreen since you are seeing more. The film was made with the idea of it being displayed widescreen at times, so when watching it like that, with the top and bottom cut off, you won't have the issue of someone's head half cut off at times or any other negative effects you'd normally have doing that to a show meant for 4:3 But on a regular tv, you might as well go fullscreen.

Though, when watching it on a widescreen tv, then it becomes really important watching it with all the screen area, making it worth while to crop of that extra top and bottom off.

On Pal, if I set my dvd player to that, will it work with the region 2 on a U.S. tv?. I just tested it out with ntsc. Found out my new dvd player, Yamaha DVD-C750 can be set to region free by opening the tray and hitting 9990 on the remote. 9991 for region 1 and so on.

One thing I did notice, watching the widescreen zoomed on my tv to fill it showed more on the top and bottom than the regular full screen zoomed. I figured this is because the widescreen has a little more on the sides. So at one part the widescreen dvd had perfect cropping while the same scene on the full screen zoomed had just a tad bit of Brisby's head cut off.

I'll test out that pal thing and take some photos. One thing though, the U.S. dvd might have the better surround sound, while the region 2 might just be plain stereo.

Look for a setting (it should be under Configuration > General > Advanced > Capture) that says something like Captured Aspect Ratio and make sure it's set to Original Video Source size.

I don't seem to have that option, unfortunately: my version is rather old, just PowerDVD 3.0. Looks like I need to upgrade. :)

I still wonder if the film was originally widescreen or fullscreen: imdb.com lists it as 1.66:1(negative ratio) and 1.85:1(intended ratio). If it were meant to be fullscreen, shouldn't the intended ratio have been 1.33:1?

There is a review of the Region 4 TSoN DVD, which offers an in-depth look at the cropped and differing ratios of the Region 1 and Region 4 disc: http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Reviews/Reviews.asp?ReviewID=2097[]http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Reviews/Reviews.asp?ReviewID=2097

I'd guess that the Region 2 disc got the same transfer as that of the Region 4, as they appear similar.

The question on the widescreen NIMH might have already been asked at donbluth's site in the ask us section. Though, it only shows recent questions so the widescreen one might have fallen off the page by now. I'm sure they wouldn't be bothered to answer the question again. You can choose to have the answer private or posted on the site.