Netflix has quietly made the first thirteen episodes of the first season of “The X-Files” available in widescreen and high-definition for the first time in the United States.
As previously reported, all the live-action scenes have been fully remastered from the original negatives, but the original visual effects shots have only been upscaled so lack the quality of the rest of the shots. Along with the better clarity, the episodes are also in 16:9 widescreen as opposed to 4:3 full screen.
The series was filmed on Super 35 and though shot for 4:3 fullscreen, at the time they knew widescreen was coming so the shots were protected for 16:9 which means there’s no problem with the jump to widescreen – images will have more information on the left and right than the original broadcast – but in the process have lost some of the top and bottom.
There was one exception though, the pilot, which unfortunately has seen the 4:3 image cropped to fit a 16:9 window.
No word on when Netflix will release the rest of the first season or any of the subsequent seasons. Up until this point German television appears to have been the only place that has seen the new HD remasters broadcast with reports indicating at least five seasons of the remastered series have been broadcast so far.
No word yet either on a potential Blu-ray or Digital HD release of the remastered series.
Source: Bloody Disgusting
SOURCE: Dark Horizons – News – Read entire story here.