Cashier's inadvertently recommending F/S over W/S (1 Viewer)

[Bob Furmanek]

I just tried to buy the first Harry Potter film at J&R in New York. All they had on display was the fullscreen version. I asked the saleslady if they had the widescreen version in stock. She walked up to the area where I had just looked for it, grabbed the fullscreen DVD and said "this is it." I tried to explain the difference, and told her why I wanted the widescreen. She pointed to the back of the box where it said that this version has been modified to fit your TV, and said that this is the only version available. I explained that no, I already have a widescreen DVD, and needed another for a friend. I told her that Warner Bros. definitely released it both ways. She repeated that this was the only version, and was indeed the full image, which is what I should buy.

I realized I was waisting my time trying to educate her, and left the store.

 

[Joshua Clinard]

Devin, I happen to have several downloadable PDF's at my site of flyers, brochures, and biz cards that demonstrate the differences between widescreen and fullscreen, and they use screen shots. They are not advertising any competitors either. Widescreen.org has a simple flyer as well, but it is a bit cartoonish. My flyer was designed by a profesional graphic designer. They can be found in my download section.

Lev, I'd like to thank you for making signs for your store. Did you make the signs on the computer? If so, please send me the files, and I will host them in the member created downloads on my site, then other people would be able to download them as well.

 

[Devin_C]

Joshua - That's the kind of thing I was looking for. I appreciate the other fellow's nod to widescreen.org, but I don't know that clipart-ish images will sway someone who's semi-dvd savvy but not quite on the WS bandwagon.

I don't see much value in complaining about store employees - like the people buying the DVDs, they likely have a preference and happen to be in a position to share it. They might not express it the way we'd like, but you have to respect it. Thus the tactful "here's another side to things" approach. When people get aggressive with their opinion it makes movie buffs look like movie buttheads.

 

[Haggai]

I agree with Devin on not going overboard, even though we all know how disastrous it is to watch something P&S. Think of this way: for 2.35:1 movies, if we see a P&S version, we're appalled because we recognize the enormity of how much picture is being lost. But for people who don't know anything about aspect ratios, the first thing they're likely to think of is, "damn, those black bars are so thick I can barely see the movie." All of us are used to it, and we know it's necessary to see the movie the way it needs to be seen, but we should acknowledge how disconcerting it can be for people who are primarily looking at it as a ribbon-like picture with tons of noticeable black space.

With regards to educating people and printing out cards/flyers, I haven't checked the sites that some have linked to here, but how about putting some emphasis on 16X9 TVs for unknowing customers? Even for most people out there, who haven't converted to widescreen TVs yet, surely it's worth giving them a taste of how absurd it'll be to see P&S on a 16X9 display, and how great movies can look in anamorphic widescreen.

 

[Richard Kim]

That's wierd. I thought the people at J&R are usually more knowledgable about WS vs FS than employees at Best Buy.

 

[Joshua Clinard]

Thanks Devin. And Haggai, I hadn't thought about picturing an example of what a fullscreen DVD would look like on a widescreen television, but it's a good idea. I'll remember that whenever I get more flyers made.

 

[Rhoq]

Usually during my lunch hour, I stop into Tower Records (which is only 2 blocks away from my office). I have been asked on many occasions if I was “sure” that I want to buy the Widescreen version. When I tell them “Yes”. They look at me like I’m crazy and proceed to ring me up, LOL.

I’ve never seen anyone at Best Buy do that though.

The Circuit City near my house actually has a sign at the Cashiers station (it’s too small to be a desk, LOL) in the Music/Video Department which demonstrates the difference between Full Screen and Widescreen using the same video capture (I can’t recall which movie they used a still from). The sign is home-made, printed on an ink jet printer and a brief explanation written with a black Sharpie marker.

 

[Craig Forsythe]

I hadn't been in a video store in a while and was pleasantly surprised when I recently walked into a local Roger's Video (big chain in Canada) and saw little cards all around the store that showed a FullScreen and WideScreen image side by side and explained the difference.

 

[Charles J P]

I think you need to realize, that a Best Buy employees only experiance with widescreen vs. fullscreen is that pissed off customers come in with opened widescreen DVDs complaining about black bars, while a movie buff who knows what they are doing probably grabs the right version in the first place. Its a stupid unworkable plan in reality, but if people would go and buy fullscreen DVDs, go out to their car and open them and then come back in pissing and moaning about cropped images etc. employees might receive some education. As it stands, all they are trying to do is avoid getting balled out by some retarded soccer mom becaue there are black bars on her movie. No conspiracy, just self preservation on the employee's part.

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

The best graphical comparison that I've seen between foolscreen and widescreen (and the one that I used to convert my sister-in-law, who has since gone on to marry a widescreen guy) is the opening credits of Star Wars. In fullscreen, they cut of the sentences such that you can only read them when they are so far away that they're almost too small to read.

 

[ChristianB]

The local Future Shop here in town did a great job of merchandising ROTK. They played the film on an LCD screen and had lots of copies around it for sale, including the gift sets, extended editions and even the video games.

However, I gasp in horror when I gazed upon the screen and noticed that they are playing ROTK with the ZOOM on. I almost dropped dead. It's obvious this is done intentionally to hide those dreaded black bars. A real shame and a real turn off to me.

I wonder if they get complaints from people saying "Frodo and Sam are all stretched. It looks weird" as opposed to "look at those ugly black bars"...

Christian

 

[Lev-S]

Just like mine!

BTW, our FS ROTK display was fully set up and calibrated by your truly so everything was tip-top: correct AR, surround sound, and TV ISF calibrated (well, maybe not that far).

 

[Ron_L]

It's idiotic reasons like this that why HD-DVD ( oh you know it's gonna be the next format ) should be exclusive to 16x9 sets only. Component and DVI outputs only. Forget the Composite and S-Video. Anything less isn't Hi Def.

This way, this format will be tailored to movie fans and HT purists only and Joe Six-Pack will be out of the race with their constant Full Screen bitchings.

Let's hope the studios don't take a dump on HD-DVD as they already have with the current DVD standard.

 

[Yousaf]

I worked at Circuit City in the Music/Movies/Video Game Systems/All-the-other-things-people-in-other-departments-got-paid-to-much-to-care-for Department, and whenever anyone asked me where they could find a movie or if we carried it, and I knew it came in WS and FS, I would always ask them which one they wanted. This usually a prompted a "What's the difference?" quesion, and so I'd go on, day after day, educating the poor, missled masses I guess it's the most satisfaction I could possibly derive from the job so I took what I could get. Sure, many people still wanted FS anyway but that's their choice and at least now they know the difference.

 

[ZacharyTait]

Actually, the Independent Film Channel and the Sundance Channel broadcast movies in their OAR. Although Glengarry Glen Ross was in fullscreen on IFC the other night.....

 

[WillG]

I think IFC may be going bad. I recently saw an edited, MAR version of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" on that channel. Someone in another thread mentioned that IFC is owned by the same company as AMC so it would be hardly surprising if IFC ended up with the same fate.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I recorded that very same telecast. It only took about 30 seconds to hit the delete button on my remote.

 

[Joe_Pinney]

In addition to TCM and IFC (who broadcast films in OAR more often than not), mention should also be made of Fox Movie Channel, which broadcasts SOME of their widescreen films in OAR at least part of the time (they say they're giving viewers a choice between P&S and WS, but...well, yeah, it's sort of a silly argument, but at least they do show films in widescreen where appropriate).

 

[Malcolm R]

Well, if that's the criteria, we need to include SciFi Channel and TNT/TBS as well. I've seen WS presentations on both.

 

[CraigF]

I don't have any interesting stories like you guys. I live in WS territory I guess, because even the local Wal-Mart gets cleaned out of the WS copies of a major release, and after a few days there's a huge quantity of FS copies left. I expect Wal-Mart above anybody to figure out what people at a particular store are buying, but I suspect they must automatically (??) get sent a large quantity of FS even if they don't want them.

I find it very hard to fathom that people who actually BUY a DVD would choose FS, though I can see it for somebody renting since there's no investment.

I also find it hard to fathom that all these electronics stores that sell mainly (and perhaps exclusively) WS TV's would intentionally promote FS DVD's. Seems dumb and counter-productive to their big-ticket sales.

The by-far-most-knowledgable retail video "clerk" I've ever encountered works at the local Best Buy, he is a true fan of film, a closet Tarantino.

I have tried to convince a few people to pick up the WS disc over the FS in their hand, but have had no success so far. I mean, to some, it's like a stranger saying blue is better than red, strictly an opinion of a trivial matter of taste rather than a fact with substance, so why should they change their mind? You gotta admit though, black bars are *not* attractive, people just have to learn why they're there, and for that they need to know that all movies don't have the same "shape" (hope that's a simple enough term for them).

It would be so simple to play the WS and FS discs of the same movie on screens beside each other, but nobody (I've seen at least) does it. I guess it's a sales philosophy, better to make ANY sale than none (obviously), and then you can maybe one day make another sale of the WS disc when the customer gets a WS TV (I sure as hell hope nobody with a WS TV buys non-OAR FS discs).