My fullscreen DVD experience for the week. (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm R]

To reap lots of money from the ignorant masses.

 

[Marty M]

I've stopped trying to convert my friends. Of course if they want to borrow a DVD they know they will be getting a widescreen version of the movie.

 

[MarkHastings]

I'd sure as hell put out a foolscreen copy of Star Wars if it meant more $$.

 

[Dillon*G]

I'm ashamed to say when I started dvd buying I was a foolscreen addict,until some friendly people like yourselves showed me the light (Thank You)

Recently,I was in Wal-Mart and me and these two other guys were looking at the new releases.One guy picked up a copy of The Ladykillers in foolscreen.I politely told him that it cuts off some of the picture.He told me that it dosen't.So the other guy started saying that it does so we were both wore him down till he got Widescreen.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Too bad NEITHER version of Star Wars is the correct one

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Speaking of Lucas (no, this won't be that bad), if he wants to really make some money he ought to only issue ROTS in WS, and have a little introduction to WS on the disk, and explain why it is better. Everyone that had FS copies would go out and rebuy the WS versions.

Glenn

 

[Dean Kousoulas]

Now that was below the belt

 

[Joshua Clinard]

A few weeks ago I told a woman shopping in Wal-Mart that the fullscreen version of some movie she had cut out some of the picture. She looked at me like she didn't understand, so I explained the rectangle v.s. square concept. She seemed to almost get it then. When the Wal-Mart employee backed me up by saying the widescreen version is the theater version, she seemed to really get it. She walked away with the Widescreen version. That was a great moment. But it was the first time a Wal-Mart employee had gotten it right. They usually say Full Screen is the better way. They can't explain why it's better, they just say it's better.

I think they have been educated by those widescreen commercials on the Wal-Mart TV Network.

 

[Jonathan_]

I just got back from my local Wal Mart and I feel we are making progress. They had sold completely out of the widescreen version. But here is the best part. They had tons, and I mean tons of the P&S version and no one was buying it. I asked one of the associates that I knew and he sadi they sold out a couple of days ago. He also said that people are refusing to buy the P&S and are going to other places to get a WS version. Maybe this will teach Wal Mart to start giving WS a fair chances instead of just carring P&S only titles.

 

[Tarkin The Ewok]

I consider myself fortunate to have convinced my own family that widescreen is better. Believe me, it took a huge amount of explaining to my mother how a smaller widescreen image can contain more picture than a "fullscreen" image on a standard size TV.

If everybody here educated their family and friends first, by the time that was over, then widescreen sets would be the norm, and everyone else would be easier to convince.

Note: By widescreen, I really mean OAR. Obviously, the above comments do not apply to movies like Snow White and Casablanca that were 1.33:1 to begin with.

 

[Lev-S]

Customer: "What is on the bonus disc in the set?"
Me: "A 2.5 hour long documentary, various other featurettes, trailers, pictures..."
Customer: "So all of the boring stuff."
*sound of gun being drawn and cocked*
Me: "WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

So if you want it in "full screen", don't watch extras, and don't own a surround sound system, THEN WHY THE F*CK ARE YOU EVEN BUYING THE DVD????

Ah that felt nice.

 

[Ryan Wishton]

Heres a good story for you. One that I really dont understand whatsoever. Maybe someone can shed some light on this?

My Uncle and family bought a 60 something inch Mitsubishi HDTV Widescreen television. The tv was/is really nice, but it's also gigantic. They paid over $5500 for it.

They dont have HDTV and still buy Fullscreen DVD's??? They also dont have a progressive scan or DVI DVD player???

First of all, why buy Fullscreen when you own a Widescreen in the first place? Thats just silly for anyone and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

They have standard cable so the picture looks like crap on a tv this big. I mean the channels look truly horrible through their cable company. The DVD's also dont look anywhere as good as they could either.

They still claim they do have HDTV. I say they need to either use an antenna or get the channels through a cable/satelite company. They say I dont know what I am talking about.

I mean is there really any point to owning a tv this expensive if you dont use it for either of the two main features? It bothers me looking at such a beautiful tv in this way, because it is virtually a huge waste of money being used in this way.

I mean why not just buy something for $500?

I mean it's not my money, but it just makes no sense. Why would anyone pay $5500 for this tv, but wont pay the $4.99 for the HDTV channels and digital or put up an antenna? I really dont understand this.

 

[Lev-S]

What a waste. It's a shame he doesn't realize that doing what he is doing defeats the purpose of using that equipment. Widescreen DVDs are enhanced for widescreen TVs so he might as well be watching it on my 27" TV. As for the HDTV, well, that's pathetic that they dare tell you that you don't know what your talking about. The fact of the matter is this: Your uncle is a moron.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

If I could ask George Lucas one question (other than "Are you completely nuts?") it would be why he feels it's OK to watch his movies in pan and scan, but not OK to watch the original versions that everyone has known and loved.

 

[AaronMK]

I've wondered the same thing as Jesse for a long time. If Lucas is so insistent on people watching "his vision", then why would he allow P&S versions to be released? Very hypocritical.




I had a similar experience with a close family friend recently. He has a fairly nice 16x9 50" Sony Wega LCD, but has a poor sounding HTIB has his DVD player in 4x3 mode, and watches movies on the zoom mode.

At one point, I sneaked on component video cables and set the player and TV to 16x9 mode. When we watched a movie, he did not notice a difference.

I still have a great amount of respect for this individual, he is very friendly, intelligent, and in many ways the type of person that there should be more in this world. However, it was still a little cringe inducing hearing him brag about his setup as he was given the sound system and only using a composite connection.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Ryan, I just have to ask - Is your uncle a football fan?

I think maybe that is why he got it. I am sure that he must have one or two DVD's that have both OAR & FS. If he doesn't, bring one of yours over to his place.

(Please don't take this the wrong way, but maybe bringing over a 6-pack might help.) Tell him that you need maybe half an hour, and flip the disk over and over and let him see exactly what he is missing, and explain that not all movies are the same size, but the FS shaped movies haven't been made in a long, long time.

I know you can do this, and I am positive that after you convince him, he'll spread the word and convert others.

Jesse - I think you have the question of the decade. That would sort of prove that he's only in this for the money, and not for the quality that everyone is screaming about.

Glenn

 

[Scott David]

Exactly; your uncle sounds like my brother. And I don't think either is a "moron"; just uneducated. Of course, I educated my brother and he STILL went out and bought fullscreen DVD's, so...

Giving folks like my brother and your uncle a huge benefit of the doubt, maybe they look at the term "fullscreen" as meaning the picture will "fill out the whole screen" of their widescreen TV; this is where their beloved and wise relatives like us come in to help. Or maybe, as I wrote before, they don't give the issue a whole lot of thought and just grab the first DVD of a movie they want off the shelf without checking to see if it's wide or "fool". I'll bet a lot of uneducated purchasers of the "Star Wars" box set chose "gold" over "silver", or vice-versa, simply because they preferred one color over the other. A scary thought, but possible.

 

[Cees Alons]

I suppose they just can't remember. They figure "the full screen", ah: all of the picture! That's what Scott was telling me to get.


Cees

 

[Jesse Blough]

I think they should drop the "full screen" name and just stick with the "Pan and Scan" name. It'll end a lot of the confusion.

 

[Francois Caron]

Which is why I haven't bought the box set. I'll stick with my pre-SE Laserdiscs, thank you very much.

Interesting surprise at the Wal-Mart near the racetrack in Montreal. Not only were almost all the widescreen editions sold out, but they were actually showing the widescreen edition on the TVs in the electronics department! It's definitely getting better!