Blockbuster goes widescreen! (Digital Bits) (1 Viewer)

[John Nelson]

Where I live, if I want to rent I don't have much of a choice but to go to Blockbuster. I've complained several times about the lack of a widescreen DVD title and told them I wasn't renting a movie because of that. I would like to think that thousands of others did the same across the country and that had some effect. You don't get anywhere by being quiet. I'm not a fan of Blockbuster, but it doesn't hurt evangelize about video even if the odds of getting anywhere are slim to nil. Looks like nil just came through...

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Yeah there so much a mix of Franchise and Non Franchise Blockbusters that it'll really depend on what's near you. I will still mainly support my Local Hollywood Video whose been an OAR supporter since they started carrying DVD's. The Blockbuster I sometime check out still carries alot of MAR disks so....

 

[David Susilo]

Yep, but what good is company's stance when many stores aren't adhering to that?

Although I visit BB every week, I only rent from DVD Mansion. The reason? Same price like BB, but their stance is that if there are two versions available, they will ONLY stock the WS version.

When I went there last week, I overheard a couple asking for PS version for a certain movie, and the store clerk actually said "we don't carry PS, you're missing up to 33% of the picture; if you want PS, there is a BB a couple block north of us".

 

[TonyD]

Yeah there so much a mix of Franchise and Non Franchise Blockbusters that it'll really depend on what's near you

this is very true and important dave.
so if you shop at a private /non corp store you could have a selection of almost anything.

this article refers to corp blockbusters.
the last couple of movies i saw come as only full frame were city by the sea and jackass.

since then every movie out has been wide.
including the recently released drumline and catch me if you can.

 

[Peter Kline]

The move is based on a simple formula. Give the customer what they want. If certain stores still see pan and scan as viable they will continue to offer it. They are a business, after all.

 

[TonyD]

Yep, but what good is company's stance when many stores aren't adhering to that?

the corp stores dont have a choice as what versions they get.

in fact they dont know what versions will come in 'till they open the boxes and see whats in them every week.

 

[Dave Molinarolo]

Well, chalk me up as a non-renter. Why? Because there's really not that many movies out there that I want to see, and for those I do, I just end up buying. In fact, I was never really a VHS renter either for basically the same reason.

In the last couple of years, my home town, a town of about 10,000 people got our first main-stream franchise video rental place. It was a "Family Video". In fact I'm not even sure of the scope of the franchise. But anyway, it's a fairly huge store for the lot its on. I haven't step foot in the place. And don't intend to for the reasons stated above.

Therefore I have no idea what they rent, VHS or DVD, WS or PS. So why am I on this thread? Hell...I don't know!!!

But anyway, it has always seemed to me that those people who do rent, are those who are J6Ps who have never bought any movie ever. I don't know now, maybe it's different with the advent of DVD where the format is a bit more durable than VHS, but it seems through previous experience of those people who have rented in the past in pre-DVD days are in fact those people who never bought their own copy of a movie.

So honestly, any rental place to go WS is fine and great news, but shall we examine why this move is being made? Is it because more people are forking out a couple grand to buy 16:9 TVs or is it that the people are finally LEARNING that WIDER is truely BETTER?

 

[Yumbo]

any move like this is good, in the long run (big picture).

studios - just make sure if you combine ratios, DVD-9 (x2) format please.

thanks

ps. does this mean their sell-thru stock will now be only P&S?

 

[george kaplan]

Well there's a whole other category of renters. It those of us who haven't seen every movie ever made, and would like to watch a movie first, before deciding on whether to buy it. I own somewhere in the neighborhood of 700-800 films (mostly on dvd). And that pretty much includes every film that's available on dvd that I want to own. But there are tons of movies I've never seen, so I don't know if I want to own them or not. I'd say that over 90% that I watch fall into the don't want to own category. Now, most of the films I've never seen I see on TCM, but I also rent about 1 movie per week. There are still thousands of films I've never seen, and I'm not willing to just buy them all sight unseen when 9 out of 10 won't be ones I'll ever want to watch a second time.

 

[Joshua Clinard]

This is great news! I will post about this on WA tomorrow when I get the chance. My DNS server is down now, so I can't get to the site. (I need to save my IP address somewhere locally!)

 

[Steven Good]

Fortunately, my local BB is a franchise store and has a store manager that only orders WS when available. She takes a lot of grief from J6P about black bars, she says.

In sad news, however, the new manager (actually the whole staff seems to have turned over recently) of Hollywood Video store down the street approached me the other day as I was picking up The Emperor's Club. They have just combined the VHS and DVD titles on the same New Release walls. She asked me what I was lookng for. I told her the title, and she said, "We're out of it on VHS." I said that was fine, because I've been renting only DVD's for the past five years. She sighed and said they only had the title in widescreen. "Good, " I said. "That's the only way I would have rented it." Then she dropped the bomb (gleefully) that they were soon to start carrying both Full Screen and Widescreen versions of New Releases.

So. . .I quoted Roger Ebert, you know the one about the dumbing of America? Her eyes glazed over. I checked out and left, dejected. Up until now, this location ONLY stocked theWS version if there were dual releases. But no more, it seems.

He giveth and taketh away, huh?

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

My goodness gracious, welp, I can scrath BB carrying WS dvd's off my list of things I thought i'd never see. It's a short list that also consists of spotting a Bigfoot, a mermaid and a unicorn.

Unbelievable.

To our little war here, this news is the equivelent of us taking and securing the beach at Omaha!

 

[Paul McElligott]

My goodness gracious, welp, I can scrath BB carrying WS dvd's off my list of things I thought i'd never see. It's a short list that also consists of spotting a Bigfoot, a mermaid and a unicorn.

I've still never seen Bigfoot renting a WS DVD at Blockbuster...

 

[David Susilo]

I've still never seen Bigfoot renting a WS DVD at Blockbuster...

It's true! the most I've seen was a Bigfoot renting PS DVD at Blockbuster

 

[Brian Kidd]

For those of you who have the disposable income to buy every title that you want to see, congratulations! You have entered the Priviledged Class! The truth is, there are just as many film lovers who cannot afford to purchase every movie that comes down the pipe and must resort to renting from Blockbuster, as the locally-owned stores went out of business years ago. For us, The Great Unwashed Masses, this news is very good news. I only wish that our stupid BB hadn't combined their VHS and DVD sections. It's almost impossible to find what you're looking for now.

 

[David Susilo]

this is the other thing I don't understand.

1. Combining VHS and DVD: "it's the corporate policy, we have to follow that"

2. Having no widescreen: "we are independent store, we don't have to follow corporate policy"

conclusion: policy don't mean squat

I went to a couple more BB, and although they combined DVD and VHS, NONE of them carry WS for the new releases. (total 5 BB up to 10 miles away from my home)

 

[Charles J P]

Well, I guess I cant demonize BB like some of you can. Why? My local BB has been carying 90%+ widescreen ever since I moved into town two years ago. Must be a non-franchise store. Any way, I like BB, I like my local Best Buy too, :gasp:

 

[Tommy Ceez]

Just for info, My BB (Bx, NY) has extensive WS titles and has Unrated and Rated versions of movies side by side on the shelf. (Y Tu Mama Tambien)

 

[BrettB]

hey, if they claim that they are going to have Widescreen, I'm all for it, but the claim is FALSE.

Do you truly believe that we're all being duped.

I'm a pretty cynical guy but I'll take the "glass half full" side on this.

 

[David Susilo]

don't get me wrong, I still appreciate this stance. At least now I can print out the news release and badger my BBs with that paper.

Or maybe the release does not include Canada?