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Before DVD's, where would you watch films in OAR? (1 Viewer)

DisneySwan1990

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Back in the 80's and 90's, when DVD didn't exist yet, where would you see OAR films on? e.g. Some tapes, such as T2, Star Wars, Alien, Jaws, The Negotiator, Schindler's List, L.A. Confidential, and Strange Days were in OAR, but not all titles were also available in OAR.
 

Bob Cashill

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Laserdisc, that late, still beloved format. I still have several dozen, OAR, with special features that won't be replicated or ported over.
 

Carl Johnson

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Before DVD I vaguely remember having one widescreen movie on tape, but that was almost 20 years ago. I couldn't even guess what the title was. Widescreen tapes weren't available in most stores and they were always considerably more expensive.DVD motivated me to learn about the difference in oar vs pan n scan.
 

Joel Fontenot

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Widescreen on home video didn't really kick in until the early 90's on laserdisc - around 1990/91 actually. Although there may have been some earlier releases.

I started buying LDs myself in late '91, and plenty of widescreen movies were already out by then.

That's also when some movies got a widescreen release on VHS tape. Star Wars got a widescreen VHS box set, as did the Star Trek movies - up to 5 at the time I believe (this was just before 6 came out). When that ST set came out, it was the first time the original theatrical cut of Star Trek The Motion Picture became available on any home video format (of course, they issued all those on laserdisc too). Prior to that, only the "special longer version" was on video - both VHS and earlier pan-&-scan laserdiscs.

But widescreen on VHS was very limited. Only the few special releases got them. However, by '92, pretty much every laserdisc release of any movie - old or new - was in widescreen OAR (unless of course, if the OAR for any particular movie happened to be 4x3). Some movies did have simultaneous widescreen and pan-&-scan releases - the THX box set of "The Abyss" Special Edition is an example.
 

Dan Driscoll

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DisneySwan1990 said:
Back in the 80's and 90's, when DVD didn't exist yet, where would you see OAR films on?
There were theaters that specialized in re-running previously released films. The first time I saw 2001 and Bladerunner was at one of these theaters and a few of them still survive by making the show an 'experience'. There's one not far from here that has become an adults-only dinner theater, complete with table sevice and alcohol. A lot of drive-ins also still show older movies as part of the double or triple feature.
 

Bill Coolidge

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In high school I used to go to the UC Theater in Berkeley CA all the time. I still remember spending all day at their Star Trek marathon. I try to recreate it on home video but it's not the same.
 

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