Why not double sided DVDs? (1 Viewer)

[Sean Aaron]

if they don't care that much, they won't care about bad pans either

Or they might finally realize that panning and scanning a widescreen image is shit!

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

Afraid I'm with Joe If they don't care that much, they won't care about bad pans either

So the only problem with P&S on the fly is bad pans? If they don't mind having part of the movie cut off, why would they care about bad pans? Or is there some bigger problem with it (such as it causes the players to freeze)?

 

[Jonny K]

Well the issue with having both formats on the disk is more about buying than renting.
Jonny K.

 

[JosephMoore]

Here's another viewpoint: Cut out the vast majority of worthless studio fluff extras! That will help open-up some room to include a highly compressed p&s version on a dual-layer disc.

 

[Ryan FB]

So if you had the OAR and P&S versions on one disc, how would that make everyone happy? You couldn't watch both versions at the same time.

This got me thinking...why not implement a totally analog solution to the problem? Pop in your favorite widescreen disc. Then, just hand those who whine about it not being P&S your special Pan & Scan glasses:

Everybody's happy! And now you can watch both versions at the same time!
On the digital front, I have difficulty finding a place in my heart for people with non standards-compliant players who want everything in 4:3...if the panning is too bad to watch, I'm sure they can "endure" the OAR.

 

[Jonny K]

Haha, nice solution.
Jonny K.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Ryan, you faked those glases, the shadow tells a different tale

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

I see two rather simple and do-able solutions:

1. A function that simply cuts off the left and right sides of the picture and blows the remaining middle section to fill the screen without any panning.

or:

2: Stretch the picture to fill the screen.

 

[Joe McKeown]

2: Stretch the picture to fill the screen.

I was at a friends house for my first screening of Saving Private Ryan; He had been bragging about how great his setup was, and truth be known he did have better speakers and a larger screen than mine.

We were watching for about 10 minutes while I'm thinking this just looks F**ed up. Finally I asked for the remote. He had the player set to 16x9. (not a widescreen set)

I corrected the problem, and was all set to enjoy the rest of the flick when my friend and his wife both said, "Arrgh, now the bars are even bigger!"

true story

 

[Ryan FB]

Jeff,
Yes, I was hasty in my Photoshopping in order to get a prototype to market quickly

 

[Randy A Salas]

Forgive me for sounding callous but, so what? If they prefer to see the movie chopped up, what's a few glitches?

You know, I have to agree.

I came across them selling a Panasonic DVD player on QVC the other night. (Don't ask.) The manufacturer's rep was promoting the zoom feature on the player by showing a widescreen DVD on a 4:3 set. "Don't like the black bars?" he said. "Just press the button, and the zoom feature will make the image fill the screen."

How perfect, I thought. Certainly, zooming a widescreen image to create a full-screen image is little more indiscriminate a way of modifying a movie than some intern sitting at the dial for a video transfer of a "real" P&S movie. How could P&S lovers complain? We'd have a lot fewer problems if the zoom feature were promoted this way.

 

[Paul.Mc]

There's also the option of DVD-14: one dual-layered side, one single-layered side. MGM has been doing this often as of late, having the widescreen transfer on the dual-layered side and the MAR version on the single-layered side. Extras are often split up between both sides.

I wish MGM had done The Producers this way. They have both the P&S and Widescreen versions of the movies on the DVD-9 side of the disc, and make you flip to the DVD-5 side for all the extras.

 

[Martin Fontaine]

I wish we have more "Shrek-Style Releases" and more "Atlantis-Style Releases".

2 Disks, Widescreen on 1 and P&S on the other. Extras spread on both disks. (The Shrek type)

2 Versions. 1 with both transfers and no extras. So this way, renters and Wal-Mart shoopers are not forced into MAR and Studios are not falsly thinking MAR is more popular. And 1 version being a 2 disker, Disk 1 Movie only with Full Bitrate Video, DTS Track, Commentary and stuff and Disk 2 with the extras.

And also, on cases with both versions on the same disk (Either same side or dual-sided) Put a small Widescreen Education documentary...

3 Options: "Widescreen", "Fullscreen", What's the diff?"

Or "This movie is presented in it's original aspect ratio just like in theaters, black bars are normal. To view this movie in Fullscreen, flip the disk." and then "This movie is presented in Fullscreen to fit your TV but is not the picture intended by the director. To view this movie in it's intended ratio, flip the disk."

 

[Martin Fontaine]

[Double-Post deleted]