I Hate "Wide Screen"

[Dinger]

Let's say I get a big screen t.v., I relax and settle in for a greta movie, and when I hit "play," the top third and bottom third of the screen are gone, and my screen is "shrunk" by 2/3. Fuck that. What do you think?

[Starbucks Anarchist]

1. Widescreen shows the entire picture as it was meant to be.

It looks exactly like it does in the theater -- pan and scan chops off about 1/3 of the original picture.

[DS1]

2. I hate you

widescreen is the only viable option. pan and scan sucks.

[Dinger]

5. That's Cool, But I'll Still Take A Full-Screen Any Day nt

[mondo joe]

26. Full screeen is like lopping of a third of your meal just so it fills your entire small plate.

I'd rather have the full meal even with some of the plate showing. :-)

[OmahaBlueDog]

3. Can't deal with pan and scan

I'll take the black bars and the original aspect any day.

If you have wide screen plasma, you get the opposite issue; pan & scan will create black bars on the side because you're putting a square pan & scan picture into a rectangular screen.

[alphafemale]

7. I agree.

Love your sigline pic.

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. I love letterboxing

I've watched way too many movies shot in Cinemascope or VistaVision that, when seen on teevee, had bits where you couldn't tell who a character was talking to because the other person was chopped out.

[LeftyMom]

6. Not if you get a widescreen TV, and I don' t know that they even make anything else anymore.

I just got one today (was planning on much smaller but it was a crazy good deal) and we've got a movie on that looks every bit as good as it did in the theater.

[JCMach1]

8. Letterbox looks fine on my 42" Sony Widescreen projection

bought it as used as everyone has bounced to plasma and LCD these days... great for movies and perfect size for our living room though... Cool though because not many widescreen projection tvs were made.

[Robeson]

9. So far, I think everyone thinks you're crazy. But you're still our....

...crazy Dinger...:hi:

[WinkyDink]

10. I hate it, also. HATE the black sections of my screen.

[democracyindanger]

11. You need to watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcEtFcgfonY

Best explanation of why letterboxing matters.

[Shakespeare]

13. Excellent clip. SO glad you posted this.

And Scorcese makes the best point--pan and scan is, essentially, re-directing the movie. x(

[CBHagman]

23. That's precisely the clip I was going to look up.

Martin Scorsese and friends explain it all for you! :woohoo: The presenters use great examples -- Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

I've never really understood why people who have huge TV screens get all bent out of shape because of the display involved in widescreen. When I watch a movie on my itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny TV or computer screen, I am NOT LOOKING AT THE BLACK BARS. I am looking at the picture, and so should we all.

I've had this conversation with customers buying DVDs, and the analogy I've always used is seeing a detail from a painting versus viewing the entire image. We don't resent the frame around the Mona Lisa, do we?

[pokerfan]

12. I hate Pillarboxing

I get this wide aspect ratio TV, I relax and settle in for a great movie, and when I hit "play," the right third and left third of the screen are gone, and my screen is "shrunk" by 2/3. Fuck that. What do you think?

[laconicsax]

14. That's what you get for buying the "full screen" version

[Breeze54]

15. I watched "Blast From the Past" last night in full screen!

I hate wide screen too. It annoys me to no end.

My son thinks it's funny that it bugs me but it does bug me.

I like my 32" TV screen to be fully used by my DVD's.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

27. With widescreen, your TV is being fully used -- you see the whole picture.

[harmonicon]

16. you're nuts

If you watch the "full screen" cuts, you aren't really watching the movie - you're watching some hack job. Buying or renting the full screen version is an insult to the film makers. How would you feel if 1/3 of the movie was cut out in some other way? What if you only got 1/3 of the audio? Would you rather have every 3rd word cut out but have the remaining words be louder to make up for it? Full screen is bullshit. You're not watching the movie in full screen, you're just padding the pockets of the studios.

[nuxvomica]

17. I've always thought they should offer a third option

Wide screen doesn't bother me at all. Even though I have a widescreen TV, some movies are even wider than it will accommodate so I still get the black bars. But why not offer a version of the movie with the picture squeezed horizontally? Your brain will actually adjust after a little while but then real life looks slightly flattened out afterwards. Here's an example used for effect in an old Paula Abdul video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWUDMSSIt6U

[Deja Q]

18. I think you posted the wrong link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIQ-XDKKRcA

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. I hate destroying an artist's work because of the viewer's myopic artistic sense

[mondo joe]

20. I like to see the whole screen as presented in the theater rather than having the ends lopped off.

:-)

[supernova]

21. If you get a widescreen TV

the black spaces go away when you watch a wide screen movie.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

22. And some things are just better in 4:3 screen ratio

How would this look expanded to 16:9 ratio?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

[Deja Q]

24. Hmmm

: 9 or :9 ?

:rofl:

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

25. anything but elevenses

I hate it on elevenses.

[edbermac]

28. Would you read a book with half of the pages missing?

If I see a film in a theater I want to see it on TV the EXACT way the theatrical version was presented.

Example from Star Trek: First Contact

The WIDE SCREEN theatrical version:



And now the FULL SCREEN TV version. Look how much of the original picture is missing!!! Worf and Dr Crusher have totally VANISHED!!



If you appreciate films for TV viewing, then see them in their correct aspect ratios!!

[Generic Brad]

29. I understand what you are saying completely

My wife gets upset with the black bars too. She will skip a show in HD if she can find the same thing on regular television. She tells me she feels cheated if it is being broadcast in a format that does not take up the entire screen.

Me? It doesn't bother me at all. I have become used to watching my favorite movies and shows in a 2 inch corner of my computer monitor. I consider any image larger than 2 inches a bonus.

[Skittles]

30. it depends on what you want to see in a movie

when you watch full screen you don't get the whole thing - I like the whole thing :D