Widescreen and Fullscreen versions of DVD's!!!

[Danothan]

Enough with widescreen AND fullscreen versions of DVD's, it's too confusing. I like watching my movies in widescreen, but it can be such hell finding some for sale formatted in widescreen. Most DVD's are just widescreen, but lately alot of DVD's are coming out in two seperate versions rather than just putting BOTH on the same disc, or making it a two disc set. For instance I went to buy Eight Legged Freaks and didn't realise it was the fullscreen version until i stick it in my DVD and played it. So I took it back and they didn't have the widescreen version so I had to refund it cause I'm not spending my moola on a DVD I can't enjoy to my fullest. So then I went to Blockbuster to see if they had it for sake on widescreen. Nope, in fact they checked their computers and they had it on widescreen for RENTAL, but for slae they only had fullscreen. Later that week I found it out of town finally. Then way back last year when Jurassic Park 3 was released my parents for it for me for Christmas. They got me the fullscreen version and I hadn't realised this until it was already opened and too late to return. They didn't know to check what format it was cause they just assumed a movie is a movie, widescreen or not. But me being such a movie junkie it matters to me. So now I have JP3 on DVD fullscreen and I just hate watching it like that, and if I bought it on widescreen I'd just have two versions of the same movie floating around and I'd feel like I wasted my money.

Put BOTH widesceen and fullscreen versions on every DVD, no more of this damn widesceen version/fullscreen version crap. Alot of my movies are just two sided so I can watch it on either. Some of my DVD's are 2- disc sets so I can watch it on either. Most of my DVD's are already widescreen and don't come in any other format. But I can't stand the difficulties of finding a widescreen version of the DVD, too many complications, some stores only carry one of the two versions. Doin it that way just makes it so difficult and it just blows.....

:mad:

[ToasT]

I know exactly what you mean. I feel sorry for man....
I feel even more sorry that you actually have the movie Jurassic Park 3 in your house. Damn that was terrible!!

[Moviefan1234]

I think that would be a good idea, but I don't see it happening. With the popularity of widescreen TV's I think we'll finally start to see less and less Full Screen DVD's! Oh, and "Jurassic Park III" was a really fun movie. 8/10 in my book.

[SAI]

Its a simple choice, put up with the dual editions or have fullscreen only. The sad fact is that most casual viewers prefer to have their screens filled. I welcome the choice that we didn't have with VHS

[Danothan]

I liked Jurassic Park 3 though, ToasT. Fun movie with cool effects ;)

[BorderEevilIII]

I myself leans more towards Widescreen cause I like to see whats goin on the left & right ends of the screen. And consumers prefer Full Screen cause a lot of people say Widescreen looks small on their TV's. Studios do make 2 versions on one disc or just 1 version only. I have been noticing now that a few studios are making 2 versions. 1 for WS & the other Full Screen.

[free]

Originally posted by BorderEevilIII
And consumers prefer Full Screen cause a lot of people say Widescreen looks small on their TV's



I guess I fall under the percentage that prefer full screen versions, but i agree that DVD's should have both options. My KingPin DVD is a 2 sided DVD, and it has full on one side and wide on the other. I think that would be a good thing to do to all DVDs.

[SAI]

Originally posted by free
I guess I fall under the percentage that prefer full screen versions

Free. You are aware, I assume, that fullscreen is a misnomer.

A frame of film is rectangular, to fit, and fill, a square TV screen you have to remove picture information. Action is usualy concentrated in the centre of the frame so the sides are often cut off. What thi adds up to is not seeing the film as the director intended it to be seen.

With a film shot in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 (meaning the picture is 2.35 units wide for every 1 unit of height) you lose about 40% of the picture. Imagine, if you will, the word Fullscreen shot at this ratio and then shown at a tv ratio of 1.33:1. This is (approximately) what you would see.

LLSCRE

Not pretty is it?

I think that not showing a film at its intended aspect ratio is disrespectful to the people who made it as it destroys the choices they made and often necessitates changing the entire structure of shots.

My advice is to take the pepsi challenge. Pick a film you really love, watch it first in OAR (The correct term, widescreen can mean all sorts of things, Original Aspect Ratio is the only way to see films) then again in "Fullscreen", then tell us which you prefer.

[freakandgeek]

i like it when the movie is both full and wide screen on the same disk. like one side is full and the other is wide. i mean, thats way better. i also hate it when they have seperate disks for full and wide screen. it gets annoying.

[Jason]

Widescreen one side/ Fullscreen other side. That's what they're doing for a lot of the MGM smaller releases like the Fog and such.

[Jerk Shapiro]

I bought the Reservoir Dogs Tenth Anniversarry Edition.

It came with both a widescreen and a fullscreen disc. I love it. Why can't ever movie be like this?

*sigh*

[El Bracamonti]

dvd's should have both options. it's as simple as that.

[the movie guy]

Originally posted by MOVIE-Maniac 8
I bought the Reservoir Dogs Tenth Anniversarry Edition.

It came with both a widescreen and a fullscreen disc. I love it. Why can't ever movie be like this?

*sigh*

God, that pissed me off about this DVD...

Why the fuck do I want a "Two Disc DVD Set" when they're exactly the same, except for the aspect ratio???

Why not make it "Widescreen - Side 1", "Fullscreen - Side 2", "Special Features - Disc 2"?

What morons. Whoever made this DVD should be shot. (aka, Tarantino.)

P.S. - I still love ya, Quent.

[Moviefreek]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH...I HATE THIS.

I agree man. I mean, I've rented a movie and realized it was full screen and brought it back to get the full screen...then Blockbuster doesn't always get both. WIDESCREEN is so much better. Most of my friends are like:

"I hate those black lines, can you turn em off"

I then explain how much they are missing by those black lines not being there.

[Jon Lyrik]

They should only make widescreen DVDs unless the film was shot in fullscreen, nuff said.

Pan and Scan. ARGH! If moviedom was the Bible, pan-and-scan would be the apocalypse.

[Brandon]

So, many times I have been to Blockbuster to rent a movie. THey would have what I wanted but only in fullscreen. Do, I don't get, and I make it a point to tell them why.
A few days after Christmas, I was in Wal-Mart andthis white trash lady with no teeth was buying DVds to go with the player her son gave her for Christmas. She was yelling at the guy in the electronics department becasue she couldn't tell whether the movie in question was full or widescreen. She said she had bought some and when seh pu them in , they were wide and she wanted full. He tried to explain to her how to set her player to read full on dal-format discs, but she didn't understand. He also tried to explain aspect ratio, and I could tell that went way over her head. I eavesdropped on the whole argument, beacuse her stupidity amused me( and the fact that she only had three teeth).

I have also purchased fullscreen DVDs by mistake. I always find an idiot fullscreen lvoing friend who watns that movie, sell them my copy, and go buy a widescreen version.

[Razorblade Smile]

Ahhh, ye olde Widescreen versus Fullscreen debacle. Talk about fitting a square peg into a round hole eh?

For me...it really depends on the individual movie. If a film relies on its visuals to shape the personality of the film (ala Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, David Lynch or George Lucas) then yeah, I usually prefer wide-screen. But if its a film that's more about character study like the Verdict or 12 Angry Men, then I'm not quite so picky.

I think the overall size of the television come into play too. My living room television is fairly accomadating so I don't mind sacrificing overall screen size for the sake of the full frame. But the TV in my bedroom is miserably small and widescreen is hardly a recommended choice.

Anywho...as per the subject line, I agree all DVDs should make both version available. Easiest way to satisfy all consumers.