Why isn't season 11 and 12 remastered?

[ManBearChris]

Every other season is remastered to fit the widescreen image format, but season 11 and 12 are just cropped on the top and bottom. It doesn't look right, especially with the way South Park stages scenes. What is the purpose of this? If they're not gonna be remastered might as well keep them in 4:3.

[Big-Will]

Where are you seeing this cropped? Season 11 was the first one to be made in 16:9 HD, so no remastering is necessary, and I've never seen them cropped.

[ManBearChris]

Isn't season 13 the first 16:9 season? They're cropped here.

Example:


Image from the Wiki:


Not the greatest example, but it's clear that the top and bottom is cut off to make it fit the screen.

[Big-Will]

I stand corrected. Season 13 was indeed the first season to air in HD.

[ManBearChris]

That scene is from Lice Capades.

Odd, though. I will check some random episodes when I get home, but if I remember correctly, the entire 11th season if cropped this way, though maybe not all of season 12.

[Big-Will]

Well, they do have the originals, so they can re-render by zooming in on someone if they want to. Since it was Clyde who had lice, it makes sense to zoom in on him in that scene. And in 1080p, this is how he looks:

Right-click for fullscreen.

[ManBearChris]

Well yeah, but the top and bottom are still cropped to fit the 16:9 screen. It's not very noticable in that particular frame though.

[mario88]

what would be the point of changing the aspect ratio? you would have to either stretch the image (ridiculous) or crop it (even worse, as you couldn't correct this on your screen). the episode born in 4:3 should just stay in that format, there is nothing but drawbacks in changing the apsect ratio. which is something you can do on your personal screen anyway if that's so important to you.

[ManBearChris]

I'm... Very confused. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but what I'm saying is, unlike the other 4:3 seasons that has been reanimated to be 16:9 (I.E extending the sides) whilst season 11 and 12 crop the top and bottom to make it 16:9

https://youtu.be/YL5zOPgLQ40




Forgive the wobbly lines, I did this on mobile, but this is what season 11 and 12 does, which doesn't look good.

And while I was mostly just asking, I'm saying that if they aren't gonna be remastered, don't force them to be 16:9, I'd want them in the original format then.

[ManBearChris]

you would have to either stretch the image (ridiculous) or crop it (even worse, as you couldn't correct this on your screen). the episode born in 4:3 should just stay in that format.

But that's the thing, these episodes are cropped, and I don't want them to be. Stretching South Park would look, just... Awful.

[Big-Will]

the episode born in 4:3 should just stay in that format.

The problem with that is that TVs are no longer made with that aspect ratio, so you'd end up with two vertical black bars, one on each side of the screen, and that looks ugly. Blurring the bars so it looks like phone video you may have seen on TV or online is no better. Only "Cartman Gets An Anal Probe" has remained in 4:3, and that's because it's the only episode made by hand over three months. The rest have been done on computer, so the animators can go back and stretch, crop, or move parts of the video around to fix mistakes and reformat the video for HD.

Nothing important is lost if one crops this image.

[ManBearChris]

Not that one in particular, no. But it still looks "too zoomed in" to me, and it's very noticable with scenes including adult characters, or crowds.

Do you know any reason why these two seasons in particular wasn't remastered though?

[Big-Will]

Looks remastered to me, in that the images are nice and sharp (DVDs come in either 480p or 576p, while the HD shot I posted is in 1080p). The video was zoomed in and reshot, not cropped and upscaled, afaict. I have yet to see an image from those two seasons that looks crappy enough for me to say "this is just cropped and upscaled. Look at how crappy it is."

[ManBearChris]

I meant zoomed in. Zooming in still "crops" the top and bottom of the image, and it doesn't look good with the way South Park stages scenes. A lot of characters standing in the bottom get cut in half etc.

Why is it zoomed in then rather than extend the sidebars like the previous seasons?

[mario88]

maybe it's just me being a purist, however, i really don't see the point. ok, it looks bad to have the bars on the sides. to me, it looks way worse to have images cropped (even if i'm just going to lose minor details) or stretched. but i see they have already gone a long way in the direction opposite to the one i would like, so maybe there isn't a point in my arguing either.