Bobmac’s Rant on Fullscreen DVD’s
I received this rant by AVRant member Bobmac. Let me tell you, fullscreen is the worst thing that ever happened to movies. I hates them. Even when I had a 4:3 display I’d pay the extra money for the VHS widescreen versions. The worst is the blank stare you get when you tell people that they are missing up to a 1/3 of the picture. Heathens:
Bobmac says: I’ve been a loyal Netflix user for almost ten years now, but I got some free coupons for Hollywood Video, a gift card for Blockbuster, and a lot of unused credits at an indie video store. With nothing on TV and my wife out of town, I’ve had some dull nights. I decided to use up the credits before this store went out of business, so I went there a couple of weeks ago to pick up some movies. All they had in stock were “fullscreen” DVDs. I asked the clerk why no widescreen DVDs, and he said their customers preferred them. I picked up some crap that wouldn’t piss me off too much for not having the picture the way the director intended. I just got back from Hollywood where I had to rent Zodiac in “fullscreen.” They also didn’t carry widescreen titles. What the heck is going on? I asked the clerk why, and she said their customers don’t like the bars. I then asked if they carry high def DVDs, and she said they carry both HD DVD and Blu-ray. They think no one has a widescreen TV without a next gen player.
And why do they call them “fullscreen” DVDs anyway? On my 16:9 TV, widescreen DVDs are fullscreen, and fullscreen DVDs have the bars.
“I decided to use up the credits before this store went out of business”
Subtle and classic. Loved this line.
Sigh…yet another example of how the general population serves to ruin the movie watching experience.
You know, Hollywood went widescreen in the 50’s to combat TV, and to differentiate. You’d think that it wouldn’t have taken TV 50 years to fight back, but it has.
FullofSscreen viewers retard everything HT and HD. I’d like to round them all up, put them all on a remote island and force them to watch Waterworld on (I’m thinking hundreds and hundreds of 19″ Sanyos) continuous loop with the “bars” on.
I like the cut of your jib young man!
I finally sat down to watch Zodiac last night. I loved it!…although, most of the action took place in backyard (I live in Napa and my gym is in Vallejo.) I HATED the pan and scan. It must have been shot in 2.35:1, because you could tell you missed a lot of the screen. People were talking to air. Signs were cut off. The Zodiac’s letters were unreadable. I feel like I have to rent it again from Netflix. The sound was ho-hum…well recorded but nothing from the subs or surrounds.