In a time where LBX is endagered on DVD -- A major VHS release is LBX only.......... (1 Viewer)

[Jeff]

I work in a video store and a lot of older men complained about The Insider and exchanged it for another title. Young people and women never did. It's amazing some of these old guys will probably go the rest of their lives without seeing this movie because it's Widescreen only.
Jeff

 

[SteveGon]

I was going to say A.I., but I'll go instead with Pearl Harbor. Now, do you think this is an attempt by Michael Bay to have himself taken seriously?
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He thought on homeland, the big timber, the air thin and chill all the year long. Tulip poplars so big through the trunk they put you in mind of locomotives set on end. He thought of getting home and building him a cabin on Cold Mountain so high that not a soul but the nighthawks passing across the clouds in autumn could hear his sad cry. Of living a life so quiet he would not need ears. And if Ada would go with him, there might be the hope, so far off in the distance he did not even really see it, that in time his despair might be honed off to a point so fine and thin that it would be nearly the same as vanishing.
-- Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain

 

[Bryant Frazer]

What i want to know is, why don't studios compromise and offer the full-frame option through the 16x9 transfer??
The DVD format allows for a set of commands and instructions (done at authoring) that specify when to pan and when to scan in a widescreen transfer - if the consumer chooses the full-frame option, that is.

The simple answer is that this breaks some players. Nobody is confident enough in the ability of cheap players to meet the DVD spec that they're willing to use this feature on a major release.
In another thread I read this morning, somebody was complaining that his GE DVD player couldn't make it all the way through a Phil Collins disc with a PCM soundtrack. I wonder if this isn't the reason we don't see high-quality PCM soundtracks from studios instead of Dolby Digital 2.0.
-bf-
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Bryant Frazer
Deep Focus
www.deep-focus.com

 

[Nate Anderson]

I also worked at a video store, and I had a few complaints by some customers, and when I tried to explain to them why it was that way, they still complained. So, I promptly killed them.
It wasn't murder...it was a mercy killing.
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"This is not a drill. This is the apocolypse!"
Link Removed

 

[Chad R]

This wouldn't be the first time for a VHS rental release to be LBX. As far back as 1986 or '87 Spielberg insisted that 'The Color Purple' be letterbox. The move started up with a very nice explanation. BAsically it started pan and scan then 'pushed' back until the widescreen appeared showing the extra info on the sides.
He also released 'Always' to rental as widescreen only with a 'letterbox' tag across the top and this was 1990. It also had an explanation on the front of the video.
Then just a scant years later Michael Mann released 'Last of the Mohicans' to VHS in widescreen, although I don't remember anything being marked on the box that way, and I don't think there was an explanation.
I worked at Blockbuster for these and I can tell you the complaints came from 'Mohicans', and never from the other two. So the key, it seems, is just to tell these people what's going on, let them know briefly why and they'll accept it.
I wouldn't mind if they had a small explanation on the front of DVD's that explained it. Especially on major titles like 'Mummy Returns'.

 

[Scott_MacD]

My money's on Pearl Harbor.. Michael Bay has been quoted that he hates panning and scanning, and he has sufficient clout to make this happen.
EDIT: David Prior is probably the person that Ron was referring to, who was working for Disney, and was also quoted by Link Removed as he will never work on a project which offers a Pan and Scan option. If this is true, then David has become my new hero! (not to mention those kick ass DVD special editions.. keep them coming!)
[Edited last by Scott_MacD on October 12, 2001 at 11:24 AM]

 

[Eugene Hsieh]

This may be sacrilege, but I actually don't mind 4:3 on VHS so much any more. The resolution of VHS is so low already that 16:9 makes VHS that much harder to watch, esp. when comparing it to my anamorphic DVDs on my widescreen TV.
Ie. I almost never watch VHS, but when I do, the tiny resolution of widescreen on VHS can be irritating.
But nonetheless, I applaud the move. I hope the tape comes with a good explanation.
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Eugene Hsieh, VisorCentral FAQ Editor
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