Patrick,

It may have been something with DirecTV or what station you were able to view it on.  As I mentioned in the "Antenna TV gets seriously hacked thread" even though we get Antenna TV in 480i my viewing of The Yule Log was completely surrounded by black bars, but the regular programs filled the screen.  I don't want to rehash what I already said, but I included pictures of Antenna TV on both my Analog and HDTV.

So it most likely was the channel you were able to view it on or DirecTV didn't give you full HD ratio.  But that is just a guess.

Chip,

Do you know if WPIX broadcast 2 feeds, 1 in HD and 1 in SD?  Because I am only able to get the SD feed, and it filled the screen without the black all around the image on my SD Analog TV.

Regarding the reshoot in 1970.  If it was shot in 16:9, does that mean that they cropped it somehow while they were filming it? (such as using a matte or something on the lens) or did they do that after getting it ready for broadcast?

Which brings up another question, according to the Documentary "A Log's Life" it tells that a film canister was found in one of their vaults and was labeled "The Honeymooners - A  Dog's Life" and when they opened the canister, it was labeled "Fireplace" and it was the original film from the reshoot.  So here is my question, if that is the film that was "Cleaned and Color Corrected", wouldn't that still be in the 16:9 ratio?

Oh OK,

Thanks Chip,  I had thought that maybe it had been the entire original footage that they used for the 3-hour broadcast, but alas, it was post production and the badly edited 2-hour broadcast.  It's too bad that somehow, digitally they could start with the full view of the fireplace being that doesn't change on the pan-in or pan-out and some how get that into the 16:9 ratio, and then on the zoom in, superimpose it over the 16:9 ratio section of the fireplace with the logs burning, but I guess, technically it is still 4:3 ratio, no matter what you do.

it's like taking a 128kbps MP3 and converting it to 320kbps, the filesize would be much larger, but the sound quality is still really only 128kbps.

Another example is my version of The Yule Log I DVR'd off WPIX this year, it was in SD, but I have the option to "Stretch" it to 16:9 ratio.  So, it's not true 16:9 no matter how you look at it.

Wouldn't it be nice if somehow the original 1970 footage still existed somewhere and didn't end up on the cutting room floor, but instead they just made a copy of the 7+ minutes for the looping process?  Then too if Kaye Cooper were able to find a copy of the original 1966 footage, but I'm sure that would be 4:3 ratio.  Someone out there that worked for WPIX or one of their affiliates must have a copy of the 1966 broadcast and just don't realize that people might be interested in it or they are too old now and have forgotten about it.

I guess we can continue to wish that it is hiding somewhere just waiting to be rescued.

Thanks again

Thanks about answering my question if WPIX broadcast in 2 feeds.

Thank you Chip,

I pretty much remember you're explanation about the restoration process, but my mind has been pre-occupied.  As for the 1966 footage, I realize it was a 17 second loop and on 16mm film, but it would be interesting to see because 46 years is a long time to remember back and it would be nice if the soundtrack still existed. (or  the list  of songs) I believe there weren't as many artists as there were in 1970, and more songs by the main artists on the current soundtrack and I believe Andy Williams may have been on the original soundtrack, but again I am trying to rely on my memory and that was 46 years ago and I was only 8.

I guess mainly for nostalgia reasons would be why it would be nice to see the original 1966 broadcast again.  I understand it wouldn't be any near as good as today's program, but just the fact that it's from 1966 and part of my childhood that I don't remember vividly, but just certain flashes of memory, or "memory fragments"  Such as right now, I can see in my mind, the 5 of us, which included my mother sitting in front of the television watching the amazing burning fire right on the screen but I can't recall the exact music.

Thanks for the update Chip,

I know that you had mentioned that Andy Williams was on the sound track in the past and I do realize that there was some changes made again in 1973 because Christmas Is Christmas All Over The World by The Singing Angels that was added.  It's just so long ago that it is difficult to remember what songs were in the original broadcast and subsequent broadcasts until the changes in 1973 and then we know what changes were made in 2009 when you added the 4th. hour.

At the time, I could remember the songs in order and even expected to hear the specific song that was to be next until WPIX started butchering it down to 2 hours and changing the songs around.

I pretty much have the 3 hours burned into my mind but have to continue listening to get the 4th. hour burned into my mind.

Patrick,

I have Dish Network as I have mentioned previously, and I do get WPIX, but only the SD feed being I am not anywhere near Manhattan, and with my receiver, if one of my HD channels is showing a program in SD/4:3 screen ratio, initially, I have Gray Bar, then Normal, which both have the bars only on the side.  Then I have Stretch, which fills the screen ratio to 16:9 and it doesn't really detract from the image quality.  Then there is Partial zoom and finally, Zoom which both cuts of the image on all four sides but the screen ratio is still 16:9 and doesn't detract from the quality of the image, but I don't know if DirecTV has the same capabilities as my TV.  I am enclosing 5 images to show what I mean.

I tried to upload them, but Aimoo would only let me upload one image and when I tried a second, it told me only available for Diamond Members or something, so I will have to use Photobucket.  Sorry about the gun from one of the images, but I was watching Dragnet 1970 when I took them,

[quote]Then I have Stretch, which fills the screen ratio to 16:9 and it doesn't really detract from the image quality.[/quote]

...Except for distorting the picture, which I cannot stand.

I don't really notice it that much, but if I leave it on normal for a 4:3 ratio program except sometimes for B&W programs, I didn't realize that when we were still Analog, that there was still part of the screen that wasn't visible, even if just a little, maybe 1/4 inch to 1/2 in all the way around on the four sides of the screen.  Usually if it was a Network station, part of their Logo was cut off because the TV screens weren't quite right to view the full area.

Also in 4:3 Ratio, there are the white dashes, which are in the over scan area, and they are used for closed captioning, teletext and other information.  I remember with the old Tube TV's, when the veritical hold was going and the picture would roll, that you could see that bar with the dashes on the screen. 

http://brokensecrets.com/2010/08/20/oversca/