Independence Day (1996) 1.78:1 version?

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Was shot in Super35 with most scenes in 1.37 and CG/VFX stuff in varying 1.75 and 2.35 ratios. There was a 4:3 DVD of the theatrical cut fully opened up for most scenes (sometimes revealing things like boom mics and one scene with a rubber alien creature having the operator visible), and cropped for the VFX stuff.

I heard reports of a Russian HDTV airing and Starz having a 1.78 HD version of the theatrical cut up at some point, so the master is known to exist. I checked every digital provider in the US and for both cuts they have ether the 4k UHD master or the previous BD master in OAR. Hell, even the Korean digital places with their varying HDTV masters and free previews have ID4 in OAR or the 4k master. Some other friends of mine checked digital stores in other countries and they're the same.

[Beber]

I'm sure our Russian friend @maksnew can help with that. I'd be interested as well.

[maksnew]

I used to have a time, I hunted this film in Ohm, I saw the broadcast of Starz with my own eyes, I just decided to get her a little later, and how it turned out to be replaced by a remastering on WS, I also came across a full trimming frame, I checked a lot of places and in Open Matte this film I did not get caught, only the HDTV of weak quality, one for a long time for a long time, with Russian voice acting.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Yes, I too recall seeing the old HD master in 1.78 on Starz. This was around 2019-ish but the next time they have it up it could be that version. It's currently on HBO and Cinemax in the 4k remastered TC and the extended in OAR.

[Beber]

Unless he lost it in a hard drive crash, I seem to remember @spoRv had it, too...

[spoRv]

Lost them; there were two, one open matte HDTV and one cropped; can't remember if they were theatrical or extended cut, though.

[Hitcher]

Found an old AVI -

Code:

General
Complete name : E:\Downloads\Den_Nesavisimosti_[torrents.ru].avi
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
Format profile : OpenDML
File size : 4.36 GiB
Duration : 2h 24mn
Overall bit rate : 4 311 Kbps
Movie name : Independence day
Director : Mely@
Writing application : VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 (build 2540/release)
Writing library : VirtualDubMod build 2540/release

Video
ID : 0
Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Simple@L3
Format settings, BVOP : 2
Format settings, QPel : No
Format settings, GMC : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix : Default (H.263)
Muxing mode : Packed bitstream
Codec ID : XVID
Codec ID/Hint : XviD
Duration : 2h 24mn
Bit rate : 3 854 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.174
Stream size : 3.90 GiB (89%)
Writing library : XviD 1.1.0 Beta2 (UTC 2005-04-04)

Audio
ID : 1
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : 2000
Duration : 2h 24mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 464 MiB (10%)
Alignment : Split accross interleaves
Interleave, duration : 42 ms (1.00 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration : 500 ms

[spoRv]

Someone should check if it's OM or cropped, though...

[Hitcher]

Good point spoRv.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Good find Hitcher! From what i see in those screencaps, theres more vertical info in the first, second, and 4th screengrabs while loosing a small sliver on the sides. Of course, the 3rd and 5th screengrabs are the cg vfx stuff (which were rendered and finished in 2.35 rstio) so they're cropped to an extent.