The Empire | Hotstar Specials | Disney+ Hotstar | 27th August

[Prithi Deb]

Firstly, it's not Hotstar who decides how the show should be shot... It's the creative team's choice. They had 16:9 aspect ratio so that it will look good on Televisions and other big screens... Not everything is produced to show on Mobiles...

It's good it is in 16:9 ratio so it looks good on living room TVs. If it was in 19:9 ratio it would have black bars on smart TVs. At least on the mobile app you can pinch out to fill the screen, on Smart TV app they don't even have the option to change aspect ratio.

16:9 is better for Hotstar. If it was Netflix or Amazon Prime, I wouldn't mind 18:9 or 20:9. But Hotstar (and also Zee5) creates a weird letterbox situation with black bars on all four sides as the bars aren't cropped out. And when you zoom, you lose some element. It's like they played a 18:9/20:9 show on a 16:9 display, then screen recorded it and then uploaded it to their servers. So when we plan on our phones, we get bars on all four sides. But Netflix and Amazon content are properly cropped.

I don't know if you guys got what I am trying to say.

 

[Prithi Deb]

Only Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions released. Expecting Malayalam version soon.

Available now.

In Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi & Kannada.

 

[marvel44]

16:9 is better for Hotstar. If it was Netflix or Amazon Prime, I wouldn't mind 18:9 or 20:9. But Hotstar (and also Zee5) creates a weird letterbox situation with black bars on all four sides as the bars aren't cropped out. And when you zoom, you lose some element. It's like they played a 18:9/20:9 show on a 16:9 display, then screen recorded it and then uploaded it to their servers. So when we plan on our phones, we get bars on all four sides. But Netflix and Amazon content are properly cropped.

I don't know if you guys got what I am trying to say.

I understand what you are trying to say... But Videos which are coded in 19:9 are perfectly fine on Hotstar... You might have faced this issue on some of the Disney+ originals which are shot in 19:9 but are formatted in 16:9 weirdly because of that Disney+ Original tag and the videos which are downloaded may be... I never experienced any issues on the content which are formatted properly.

 

[Prithi Deb]

I understand what you are trying to say... But Videos which are coded in 19:9 are perfectly fine on Hotstar... You might have faced this issue on some of the Disney+ originals which are shot in 19:9 but are formatted in 16:9 weirdly because of that Disney+ Original tag and the videos which are downloaded may be... I never experienced any issues on the content which are formatted properly.

If you have a newer aspect ratio phone (not 18:9), could you please try playing Mr. Inbetween (I think S2 or S3). While watching that show, I faced this problem.

Same problem I faced with Hotstar Specials as well, like Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors. But now I checked, and looks like they fixed it.

 

[Raju lal]

Available now.

In Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi & Kannada.

After hearing the reviews, changed my mind. Now I am not going to that area.

 

[marvel44]

After hearing the reviews, changed my mind. Now I am not going to that area.

Indian reviewers are sh#tty reviewers.. Don't even bother for their opinion.. They had actually trashed The Family Man, Special Ops and many other shows which are rather actually good.. As per @Mr.Bhat's review this is one of the best he has seen... I had seen a couple of episodes, my only complaint in those episodes was that the VFX on the forts should have been more polished.

 

[Mr.Bhat]

Indian reviewers are sh#tty reviewers.. Don't even bother for their opinion.. They had actually trashed The Family Man, Special Ops and many other shows which are rather actually good.. As per @Mr.Bhat's review this is one of the best he has seen... I had seen a couple of episodes, my only complaint in those episodes was that the VFX on the forts should have been more polished.

What's VFX?
Even watched Family man and Special ops..They also very good..

 

[Prithi Deb]

Indian reviewers are sh#tty reviewers.. Don't even bother for their opinion.. They had actually trashed The Family Man, Special Ops and many other shows which are rather actually good.. As per @Mr.Bhat's review this is one of the best he has seen... I had seen a couple of episodes, my only complaint in those episodes was that the VFX on the forts should have been more polished.

Wait! I thought he was talking about the dub quality.

 

[marvel44]

What's VFX?

Mostly computer generated effects which substitutes the green screen which they shot the intial scenes on... In this Series case you can consider all the wide shots of castles and forts.

Wait! I thought he was talking about the dub quality.

No.. The critics bashing this series comparing it with Game of thrones... How does any mature reviewer compare those two is beyond me. One is a fantasy Series other one is a historical fiction...

 

[Mr.Bhat]

I was unaware of history and life of Babar before he comes to India...There maybe tweaks in story... But it's depending on original book writers script...