Blu-ray or Cinerama fans, I'm watching HTWWW in smilebox

[Omaha Steve]

I saw How the West Was Won on one of the three largest screens ever built in the world. Denver, Minneapolis, and Omaha were all 105 feet wide. The next largest screen in Ne. was an 80 ft Cinemascope. Marta and I went to Dayton in '97 to see it again for the first time in true Cinerama since 1963. Anyway I'm watching the Blu-ray exclusive SMILEBOX version. Back in a day or two. I'm taking a study break. My friend David Strohmaier did a commentary and the extra film "Cinerama Adventure" btw.

Cinema Laser review: http://www.thecinemalaser.com/brd_2008/htwww-brd.htm

The smile box look:



In addition to providing a simulated Cinerama image, there is less lost detail since a larger portion of the television screen is used. An unexpected benefit of the smilebox process is that distortions that would be normal when you display a curved image on a flat screen seem to disappear.

More here: http://www.cineramaadventure.com/smilebox.htm

[Touchdown]

1. Looks like shit. I'll stick to letterbox.

I hate distortions. Stretching, zooming, all useless features. I'm a true OAR fan. (Original Aspect Ratio). If I don't have a convex TV, then I can't see the use of this gimmick.

[geomon666]

2. Same here.

OAR or no buy.

[Omaha Steve]

3. The Blu-ray exclusive smilebox IS the original OAR

The center of the screen (146 degree curve) is farther away from the audience than the ends. So in the theater the center area is much smaller because of the distance. Nothing is missing from the OAR. The flat version is on disk one btw. We bought a Blu-ray player only because of this smilebox version. Other films are just a bonus.

OS

[Greyskye]

4. Guess the previous posters aren't that familiar with Cinerama

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinerama

I for one, think that this is great! What do you think of the Blu-Ray treatment of this? Is the Smilebox format distracting to you, or does it 'suck you into' the picture?

Thanks for posting.

[Omaha Steve]

5. It never looked this good except on the BIG screen

I loved the smilebox. Marta got a bit of a headache. Only heard part of the commentary. I still haven't watched David's feature Cinerama Adventure.

More comments from the Blu-ray forum: http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=62986