Furthering my respect for DDD... (1 Viewer)

[chris c]

they are selling the P&S version of AI for 2 dollars more than the LBX despite the same stated MSRP. Wow, just realized that I used five acronyms in one sentence.

DDD = Deep Discount DVD

 

[Tom-G]

I like it!

 

[JasenP]

It makes sense to pay more if you are "filling your screen", right?

 

[GerardoHP]

Don't count on this happening much longer. The studios and retailers are not interested in teaching the masses a lesson about widescreen, but in selling their product.

 

[Sean Conklin]

I think ultimately studio's would like to see the whole DVD market convert to OAR/Widescreen. It would save them money if they didn't have to make a P&S version of a film.
I believe they would like to see the masses accept OAR on DVD, the fact that AI P&S is selling for more may be a ploy to promote OAR.
If I'm wrong, it's a nice thought.

 

[Malcolm R]

I think ultimately studio's would like to see the whole DVD market convert to OAR/Widescreen. It would save them money if they didn't have to make a P&S version of a film.

The quick and easy solution is to not make P&S versions available. Then the only choice is: movie, or no movie? I find it hard to believe it would hurt sales that much as most who like a film would rather buy the OAR version than none at all.

I don't recall the whole P&S vs. OAR debate really getting hot until this past holiday season when a number of titles were issued on separate FS and OAR discs and the FS discs seemed to find favor in retail and rental shops.

If the studios really want everyone to buy OAR, they're certainly being counter-productive about it by conditioning the masses to expect a choice. I didn't mind too much when both options were in the same disc package, but the increased presence of totally separate retail versions, and the tendency of retailers and rental stores to choose only the FS version, is not the way to get the masses to convert.

 

[GerardoHP]

I think ultimately studio's would like to see the whole DVD market convert to OAR/Widescreen. It would save them money if they didn't have to make a P&S version of a film.

I don't think the studios care what the market does as long as people buy their product. And as far as saving them money, letterboxing a movie is not necessarily less costly than FS or P&S. As long as the videos sell, the studios will make back their investment even if they have to P&S a film. Personally, I don't even watch FS videos, but I think it's important not to get swept in the wake of our own taste because it's unlikely that a good number of people will ever accept widescreen videos, and when HDTV becomes the norm, those same people will still be clamoring to have their screens filled.

Now, if MGM/UA (IMO, one of the cheapest studios around) can afford to put both FS and WS versions of their films on the same DVD and still charge 14.99 for them, I don't see why this shouldn't become the norm to keep everyone happy.

 

[Neil Weinstock]

This is my nightmare thought of the day:

When 16:9 TV's become the norm, will they start doing widescreen P&S versions of 2.35:1 movies to eliminate black bars on the widescreen TVs?

I know people who got widescreens because they thought they would eliminate the black bars, and then were surprised and disappointed that many movies still had them (albeit smaller.)

 

[GerardoHP]

When 16:9 TV's become the norm, will they start doing widescreen P&S versions of 2.35:1 movies to eliminate black bars on the widescreen TVs?

It's already happening. Compare the broadcast of 2.35:1 movies on HBO-HDTV with their simultaneous NTSC broadcast and you'll see they're showing a P&S'd version of the scope movie for 16X9 televisions. In other words, they broadcast two different masters from different sources. Occasionally they'll show movies in widescreen while the regular HBO shows the same movie in FS but, for the most part, that's how it works.