Blockbuster: Did OAR Win? (1 Viewer)

[John Knowles]

I got my HP at Target--they seemed to have a lot of both WS and FS. And the price was the same for both...

 

[JohnRice]

Cliff,

while BB apparantly at least had a policy of carrying only FS editions of DVDs that were available in both versions, it seems to me that it was both quite short lived and really didn't involve many titles. I have rented over 100 DVDs from my local BB and have NEVER run into a situation where they did not have one in WS. This is probably because I haven't rented Shrek, The Mummy Returns or any of the very small handful of titles that they only carried this way. I do know they only have WS versions of both Saving Private Ryan and A.I., so it would seem this policy started after the release of the first and ended before the release of the second, which is a fairly short period of time.


Malcolm,
You are absolutely right!!! Not only are folks too quick to complain about something they don't like, I'm sure many folks here get rather obnoxious about it, and don't say good things when good decisions are made. Before anyone tries to disagree with me, just look at how folks have responded to the whole FS issue. There was recently a thread about new Fox FS re-releases that was so filled with obscenities, it had to be closed and Peter Staddon quite rightly was not exactly anxious to respond. I make a real point of mentioning how nice it is to have so many films available in OAR with the advent of DVD when I rent from BB. I jump into conversations on "I hate those black bars" by briefly explaining the benefits and just suggesting that they just watch a few because they will get used to it in no time, as well as saying "you might as well get used to it, because that is the way TV is going, which is a good thing in the long run."

 

[John Bryant]

I think it changed with A.I. May have been the title before that, but I can't remember which one that was. I know since then Spy Games, Harry Potter, and Ocean's 11 have all been available only in widescreen.

And SPR is not a good example. We are talking about films that had distinct OAR and P&S releases, i.e. Mummy Returns, AI.

 

[JohnRice]

I thought there was a full screen version of SPR. I guess I was wrong.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

Blockbuster, for a period of time, carried ONLY the fullscreen of dual releases. That is a fact. If a film had a FS DVD, thats the one BB ordered. They didn't order ANY widescreen... Basically, their same policy as VHS.

Of course BB has tons of WS DVDs, but these are titles that are ONLY WS (like Saving Private Ryan).

The FS ordering of BB was a real issue and is the reason that I never saw The Grinch or Mummy Returns. (I wouldn't buy either) There is no reason to be an apologist for Blockbuster Video. If BB were to go away tomorrow, I would not mind, because that would mean all the mom and pops would come back...

 

[Ken Garrison]

If I was at a store, Like walmart and saw a shelf of DVDs, I'd pack all the fullscreen DVDs in the back and have all the OAR DVDs in the front. LMAO. Haven't done that before, but, I will next time I go there and see both version of Jurassic Park 3. Folks. You do this too. Put the fullscreen DVDs in the back and have the OAR DVDs showing.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Well my BB had only Full Screen "SNOW DOGS" for rent.

 

[SpenceJT]

To the best of my knowledge, Disney never released an OAR version of Snow Dogs.

 

[John Berggren]

Spence: Your best knowledge would be correct.

That said, it wouldn't hurt to complain to blockbuster that they didn't carry the widescreen edition (you don't have to "know" that one doesn't exist") then blockbuster may or may not forward complaints to Disney. They may get more action than we do.

 

[Dave H]

I was at my local BlockBuster today and ALL copies for rent of Ocean's 11 and Harry Potter were OAR.

 

[Sean Moon]

At least most, if not all stores, had the OAR versions. As for sell thru, the FS options are more common. Go to any random store and you find Harry Potter for sale, most places have an equal mix, others favor FS over OAR.

Except Borders! I went there tonight and saw a HUGE display for the DVD, I mean hundreds of copies, and ALL of them were OAR! I searched all of them. When found their regular DVD section, there were more OAR discs, and about 4 or 5 FS discs. So Borders got the best ratio I have seen...a few hundred OAR, and a few pan and scan. I asked the clerk which sold more and they said they only got a few FS versions, so the OAR was doing better!

 

[Gary Harris]

At my local Blockbuster, all rental Harry Potter & Ocean's Eleven were widescreen & all retail ones were P&S. Great though if you want to wait for the sell-throughs.

 

[Josh Simpson]

Speaking of Snow Dogs, it looks like at my local Wal-Mart that they've only sold about two copies. There's still a huge stack, and it hasn't moved much in two weeks. Pretty funny. Never seen the movie, so I don't know if it would be selling, even if it was in OAR, but I'd say that not too many are interested in it anyway.

 

[Andy_S]

I was at Best Buy the other day and they had the WS version marked $2 more than the FS version. What's up with that? Is there a difference between the two other than OAR/Non-OAR? I wonder if they were marked wrong but would ring up correctly?

 

[Jason Seaver]

They might have been price-matching with a place that was only selling one version.

 

[Blu]

Given enough time OAR will win out. With 16X9 TVs eventually becoming standard viewing in the next few years and more and more widescreen shows being produced. OAR is a guaranteed winner.

 

[Dave H]

Yes, while Potter and O11 were OAR for rent, I did notice full screen versions for sale. But, OAR-only for rent is a HUGE step in the right direction for BB.

 

[Joe.Kuta]

The reason people buy fullscreen is because their TV's are fullscreen and they figure this for better quality/fit.
We know this is not true, and it is up to the corporations to limit the release of fullscreen dvd's. I am glad we seem to have influenced this!

IF this is done, people will:
1. see the improvement w/ widescreen and continue to purchase/rent widescreen
2. want to get a 16:9 TV

and thus, the conversion of the world to widescreen will be complete!