Letterbox vs Fullscreen Poll @ Howstuffworks.com (1 Viewer)

[DaViD Boulet]

I DO prefer full-screen.
I prefer to watch the full-screen of the original image on my 16x9 TV without any of it chopped off for a 4x3 set!
It's time the studios put the term "Full Screen" behind them when referring to "Modified to fit your TV". To someone who doesn't know the difference it's incredibly misleading.

 

[Gil Clark]

They also need to get rid of the "Modified to fit YOUR TV" as this is wrong for those with widescreen TVs. They should say "Modified to fit a 4:3 ratio TV".

 

[Lee L]

Or even better, "modified to fit LEGACY TV sets."

 

[David Lambert]

Lee L, that is PERFECT!

 

[Darren Davis]

Yes, I agree that the wording is horrible. The term "fullscreen" probably makes most think they're seeing the whole movie. Cropped, modified, etc. seem to be better.

And I think using the term "Original Aspect Ratio" would get a least a few more votes than using just "Letterbox." OAR at least makes me think of the theater whenever I hear it.

Poor, poor wording.

 

[John Berggren]

It would be interesting if they were to do the same poll in a month and just change the wording from "Letterbox" to "Original Theatrical Aspect Ratio" and "Fullscreen" to "Pan and Scan". I bet the votes would end up quite different.

 

[Chris Bardon]

I wonder if the results would have been different if the question had read: "Do you prefer to see 100% of a movie, or 66%" (just guessing at numbers here, but you get the idea).

 

[Tommy Ceez]

Good news is that the 14% who don care could be converted with simple logic and then the numbers would sway towords this forums mission

 

[Eddie W.]

Don't be so quick to blame howstuffwork.com they have a pretty niftly little explanation if any of the voters cared to click on the links under 'fullscreen' and 'letterbox'. One graphic even has a widescreen picture that you can Pan & Scan yourself (via an animated TV) to show what's being lost. Check it out, it's fun!
http://www.howstuffworks.com/video-format7.htm