Fun with television sets

Have you ever tried watching "Balto" entirely in black and white?  I have never actually watched the whole movie from beginning to end that way, but I have with certain parts of it.  It's really weird, but kind of fun.

On the opposite end of the scale, sometimes I turn the color settings all the way up.  Then Star looks lavender, Kaltag looks almost flourescent, and Balto's normally yellow eyes look orange. LOL

Another thing I do is decrease the brightness of the television screen, so that it sort of looks like everything in the movie that happens during the day is taking place at night.  It gives you a whole new perspective on the film, especially the white wolf scene.  At least it did for me. You can probably tell by this post how boring my life is at home.

Gah, it's been so long, I forgot there was a such as thing as black and white TV! ^_^;  I've never tried it though, too lazy I guess.  Does messing with the hues of a screen cap in Photoshop count?  I can do that. ^_^

Oh, I would love to see the white wolf scene in black and white.. it would be odd? But would probably seem cool.

hehe, I could probably do that also on Photoshop, even though I already did something wrong to it. xx;

I would do it, but the problem is, my TV.. I dont think has one of those lighter / darker things on it. And if it does, I'm not sure if I'd be active enough to try to change it. That or my Mom wouldn't be too happy because I could probably never get the regular color back. ^^ I like remotes.. they need to make a button on them for it!

Neat idea,  lack of color changes everything.  I've been into B&W photography for a few years, it's interesting how things change when you look at them for contrast and compositon rather than colors.

*does a goofy dance and runs off to see what the white wolf looks like in black and white*  

heheh, ive done the color changing stuff on my TV and theres a centering aid that usually helps you when you cant find the correct setting. Another thing you can do if you're bored is get a nerf dart gun and shoot the bad guys on TV! LOL

(Edited by LongBow986 at 8:43 am on April 22, 2003)

Silver Huskey> I guess changing the hues of a screencap could work also. It would give you an idea of how it would look on television.

I've been wondering, how do you take screengrabs?  My laptop has WinDVD software, but I have been unable to figure out how to take them. I also don't know where they are stored on the computer.  I want to take an image of the white wolf and use it as my desktop wallpaper.

Is there something that I could download for free off the internet that could enable me to do this?(sorry for all the questions I've been asking lately)

LongBow986>LOL  I'll have to try that sometime.  It sounds fun.

What version of WinDVD do you have? You might already have what you need.

I'm not sure which version it is, but I got my laptop last December, and the Intervideo WinDVD software came with it.

I guess you can give it a try and see if this works:
Hit the "c" key to make a screengrab. WinDVD puts them in a "Capture" folder inside the program folder.

Earlier, I turned on my laptop and found out my version is 3.1 DXVA

Also, the graphics chip on my computer is a MOBILITY M6, I don't know if that prevents the ability to take screengrabs...

You need at least version 4 to do it. You'll have to find another program.

Nope. I've never tried that. It soundz sorta boring ta watch Balto with no colores. I don't even own that movie, so I woodn't be able ta do that anyway.And wen i mess my tv's color, I cannot ever get it back. ( Got a new tv.) I think tv is so boring to watch with no colores. It's like the olden days all over again in a diese'a voey sorta way. It kinda scares me, if ya no what i mean.

I do also have InterActual Player 2.0, will that not work either?

(Edited by Aniu1983 at 11:28 pm on April 23, 2003)

If you can find it, Power DVD works pretty well.

Sorry but I'm pretty sure that InterActual Player 2.0 can't do it.

UPDATE: Yesterday I mentioned PowerDVD to my brother, who knows a lot more about computers than I do, and he gave me some PowerDVD software he had laying around(he had never been able to use it since he doesn't have a DVD-ROM).

I installed the program onto my laptop, and BAM! I am now able to make perfect screengrabs.  Once again, Silver, I thank you.  Had you not mentioned PowerDVD, I would still be unable to take screenshots.

I now proudly admire my desktop wallpaper of the white wolf/Aniu gazing down at Balto.  Now all I need is some free webspace, and I could start my very own "Balto" site...

The problem that I find with powerDVD is that it takes screen shots at a different screen ratio. They are square and they look stretched, so what I do is take the pic and then stretch it a little bit in Photoshop or Paintshop Pro. That works really well I find.

So far, I haven't had any problems with stretched screengrabs. �Maybe that's because the American "Balto" DVD is fullscreen, not widescreen.

Which reminds me, I really REALLY want Universal to release a widescreen version here in America, but with a brand-new digital transfer, since the current fullscreen one is filled with dirt and grain. �Also, I want to be able to see the movie as it looked in theaters, in its original aspect ratio.

Now I'm curious. �Fluke, how does the European DVD's transfer look? �Is it all dirty like the American version, or is the picture crystal clear like it should be?

Oops, Maverick5713, I forgot to thank you for letting me know that my other DVD software wouldn't work for taking screengrabs.

(Edited by Aniu1983 at 5:40 pm on April 25, 2003)

You're welcome Aniu, glad it worked out for you. ;)

Hmmm... I have noticed when capturing screen to the clip board, and then to a directory there is a difference.  Those three screen shots I have up at the Ice Cave are a different ratio than what I have saved to a directory.  But saving them to a directory is a lot easier. ^_^;

What's a DVD transfer? o_O;

A DVD transfer?  It's hard to explain, but I'll try...

When a DVD is made, the movie is transferred from its original source(i.e. the film the movie is printed on, or a computer if it was produced digitally)onto a DVD.

As everyone knows, film gets old and dirty very fast.  However, sometimes the movie is downloaded onto a computer and the dirt is removed digitally.  At least I THINK that's how they do it.  Anyway, once the film is digitally restored, it's then burned onto discs.

On the other hand, sometimes they don't do a very good job of restoring the movie, and one can see the dust in the movie from the original source(the film).

To sum it up, the transfer is just the movie itself on a DVD.  So what I was referring to is that the appearance of the movie "Balto" on the DVD is rather dirty.  It looks dusty, and I often see white spots pop up, which is very annoying.  How much more would it have cost Universal to completely restore the movie?

Ah, i see, restoring a film on DVD!  Universal has lots of issues with the Balto DVD.  In a sense you almost feel ripped off with their lack care with the DVD.  =/

Does anyone here have a home cinema thing? I have surround sound with a widescreen tv and a sub. Watching Balto or any movie is great on it, but the whitewolf scene is even better, when the howls kick in you find yourself surrounded in wolfsong as each speaker plays a part of it. It is really chilling and never gets old.\n\n