Snapshots: CLANNAD Widescreen Comparison October 25
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Three weeks after the original broadcast on TBS, CLANNAD has finally started its widescreen edition run on BS-i.
Unfortunately for us, BS-i is not the most wonderful of stations, and inferior to its big brother BS-J which actually provides proper high definition video with good sound. Simply comparing image quality between the 4:3 TBS version and the 16:9 BS-i version from the same capper, we find that the BS-i version looks like it’s been covered by a shit filter, losing contrast and colour intensity along with sharpness. If 2ch sources are to be believed, both TBS and BS-i use 128kbps bitrate for sound, so no points won there either.
So what are the benefits of waiting three weeks before watching new CLANNAD episodes? The widescreen edition feels more harmonious, with a better balance cinematographically. Clicking the thumbnails above will show you full screencaps where I’ve merged the TBS version on top of the BS-i version and added two red lines to show what has been cut away. The 4:3 version looks much more cramped, with many scenes leaving a character cut in half. Other scenes entirely exclude surrounding people, which gives an illusion of the school being much less crowded than it really is. This is particularly evident in the shot where Nagisa and Tomoya seem alone in the 4:3 version, but the widescreen shows they’re not. In order to keep important bits on the screen, the 4:3 version uses panning - moving its focus area from left to right - as can be seen in this shot of Sunohara’s dorm room.
If both editions were airing simultaneously, it would be easy to recommend watching the show in widescreen, because I’m fairly confident that with a good encoder and a proper source the image quality issue can be minimized. The reason is simply that KyoAni’s exceptionally beautiful art direction comes through so much better when the entire frame is used as was originally planned. However, you don’t actually miss anything vital when watching the 4:3 version, so if you want to keep up-to-date with online discussions about new episodes, there’s no point in waiting. Except perhaps for the DVD release.
Syaoran Li at 6:33 pm on October 25th, 2007
Holy crap!! BIG CHANGES…
Hoefully my spanish subber favorite group will give me a good WS version this weekend.
WideScreen FTW!!
anonimus at 6:35 pm on October 25th, 2007
hmm which to watch !?!?!?!?!?!?
Sensei-kun at 6:36 pm on October 25th, 2007
me want dvd now :’(
but good thing I didn’t wait for the widescreen, got fed up after episode 3 came out subbed so started watching it xD
death_killz at 6:54 pm on October 25th, 2007
wtf why didnt they do this in the first place…..
leingod at 6:55 pm on October 25th, 2007
Looks TOO good :3
Harbin at 7:01 pm on October 25th, 2007
Kanon(2006) was aired in Widescreen, why can’t they have done Clannad like that too…
Mercurius at 7:06 pm on October 25th, 2007
Will there ever be a HD broadcast of Clannad?
setsuke at 7:15 pm on October 25th, 2007
Well thats a waste of time, so we’re just missing some unknown people pic. Then its much better to just buy the DVD then.
death_killz at 7:23 pm on October 25th, 2007
most people cant wait for dvds since dl them is free and more convinient….sigh im disappointed for some reason
Syaoran Li at 7:27 pm on October 25th, 2007
I’ll see the WS in spanish, and keep with Static Subs & Eclipse for the english version.
Gintama at 7:45 pm on October 25th, 2007
Ws in spanish isnt that bad
Jackson at 7:54 pm on October 25th, 2007
Uhh… in the FS version, was the cat only revealed in the 2nd ep since we didn’t get to see it on the bed in the first ep?
negima1228 at 8:25 pm on October 25th, 2007
It’s a huge HUGE improvment over the 4:3 verison
Yamcha at 9:06 pm on October 25th, 2007
Oh man. This is just so much better it’s kind of hard to go back to 4:3 just to stay current.
getsu at 9:10 pm on October 25th, 2007
>>>Uhh… in the FS version, was the cat only revealed in the 2nd ep since we didn’t get to see it on the bed in the first ep?
You can see the cat when Tomoya’s yelling at the wall.
nj_neto at 9:25 pm on October 25th, 2007
It’s Goodview. (- -)b
melchior at 10:15 pm on October 25th, 2007
The video quality is noticeably lower though. For eye-candy series like Kanon, AIR, and Clannad, we need crisp video. They do look better with the previously missing material, but I don’t think I’d really like watching it when it looks like someone covered my screen with Vaseline.
fullmetal proxy at 10:24 pm on October 25th, 2007
lmao @ Vaseline, melchior
moyism at 11:25 pm on October 25th, 2007
Well I already have all the DVDs on preorder for myself, but does this mean I’ll have to start to get the WS RAW for everyone as well? Meh, I guess if I have time ^^;;
Jackson at 11:32 pm on October 25th, 2007
I also just noticed that the cat was in Tomoya’s arm in the second cap up there. My mistake… ^_^;;