What's the deal putting the disney's videos in Widescreen?

[PatJK910]

I don't know what's happening to the disney videos because some of the movies are in widescreen instead of showing them in fullscreen because it tells you that movie is modifed in its original version, its has been formatted to fit your screen. Thats means its suppose to be shown in fullscreen not widescreen.

[Disneykid]

I'm having trouble understanding you. First off, are you referring to VHS or DVD? Second, since when does Disney put a "This movie has been modified..." sign in front of a widescreen movie? Or am I just misunderstanding you? Movies are never meant to be in fullscreen unless they were created in that ratio (usually films from the 50's and earlier as well as most TV movies). This should help you understand: http://www.widescreen.org/widescreen.shtml

[littlefuzzy]

Disney seems to have no fast rules for putting that statement on their covers, as they have put it on some widescreen versions, even though the WS version was originally shown in theaters, and some full-screen versions have had it, even though they were originally shown full-screen.

To the original poster:
There are several aspect ratios available, and titles released to video fit these definitions.

Full Frame - This is the shape of the standard television (not widescreen.) TV shows and theatrical movies before the 1950s were made in this ratio (1.33:1 or 1.37:1,) and should be released as full frame. Full-frame movies can be played on widescreen televisions, with bars on the sides, or some widescreen televisions can stretch the image.

Widescreen - This is the shape of the new widescreen televisions, although widescreen movies can be played on standard TVs with the addition of black bars at the top and bottom of the screen The black bars are not covering any picture. This ratio can be anything from 1.66:1 (most Disney animation) to 1.85:1 (many movies) to 2.35:1 (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc.) and beyond. Films that were theatrically released in these aspect ratios usually have to have some of the picture cut off in a process called Pan & Scan, so they can fit on a standard TV. See Disneykid's link for more details.

Pan & Scan - This is a process where widescreen movies have part of the picture cut off at the sides so the movies will fit in a standard television. An editor tries to keep the focus of the shot in the frame, and he will artificially "Pan" the frame or cut from one part of the frame to another, causing movement that the director didn't intend.

Open Matte - This is done by relatively few films on video, as they had to be filmed with this in mind. This is where films are shot on film that is the standard aspect ratio (1.33:1,) although the director and crew are only concerned with the part of the film that will be shown widescreen in theaters. This makes it easier to release to home video, as the director doesn't have to worry about some editor cutting out part of the film and creating artificial movement. The drawback to Open Matte is threefold:
1. You are missing the carefully framed shot that the director chose for the widescreen version.
2. Special Effects are almost always formatted for the widescreen version only, and may not fill the entire Open Matte frame.
3. You may see things that weren't intended, such as cables, boom mikes, mattresses where a stuntman fell, or other errors.

However, animation films that are Open Matte, being drawn, are only going to show something that was intentionally drawn in the first place, although you are still missing the better-framed scene that the director chose. Anything shown in an Open Matte presentation of an animated film can be safely cropped if the film is shown in widescreen.

Some Computer Graphics films, such as Monsters Inc., A Bug's Life, and others, have had the computer-created characters re-positioned to fit within the standard frame, so these versions are almost identical to the widescreen version.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Please make sure we understand your question...

[PatJK910]

on video not dvd.

[Luke]

on video not dvd.

I think if you give us more 4 words, you'll be able to get a better response.

What Disney movies are presented on VHS in widescreen that should be fullscreen? I can't think of a single one, but admittedly, I haven't bought a VHS in over 5 years.

[PatJK910]

Lion King 1 1/2, Home on the Range, and Aladdin Special Edition. on VHS version they should be in Fullscreen not Widescreen.

[Luke]

Lion King 1 1/2, Home on the Range, and Aladdin Special Edition. on VHS version they should be in Fullscreen not Widescreen.

Every one of these titles is only available in fullscreen on VHS.

[deathie mouse]

If i understand you correctly, you're saying that the VHS editions of those movies are in widescreen (letterboxed) instead of filling the full 4:3 frame of your TV? (Like Luke, i've haven't touched VHS for years (if ever) so i wouldn't know)

If that's the case, on VHS you're getting basically the same image that was shown in theaters and the way the image was composed for and created.

If you wanted them to fill the whole screen of the 4:3 wide TV, they would have to enlarge the image to fill the screen, and since the original image is wider than the proportions of the 4:3 TV, the sides of the image would have to be cut off and you wouldn't be able to see the whole image.


The full created original images are aproximately 1.66 wide at best while a 4:3 TV is about 1.33 wide, so 1.66 - 1.33 = 0.33 of the original width would have to be cut off to make the image fill the screen.

Is that what you want?

That's what you seem to imply.

If i've misunderstood you, we can try again
maybe we have understood/used the terms backwards at some point.

[deathie mouse]

oh. Luke interposted while i was typing, and you were using the terms backwards.

So what you want is the VHS in widescreen

Fullscreen is gonna get more confusing soon, cus as 16:9 displays become the norm, Fullscreen on them will mean Widescreen and letterbox on them will mean Scope ratio movies etc etc


That's why
________________
I want 25:9 Displays



EDIT:
oh you weren't using them backwards!

i'm getting dizzy with this flip floping!


just buy the DVD!



Because of the flip floping deathie got a headache and this was

[Disneykid]

I think Deathie hit the nail on the head because last year we watched The Lion King 1/2 on VHS at school and I was surprised to find that it was in widescreen. If Disney's taken on presenting movies in their original aspect ratio on VHS, then I highly commend them.

Pat: Check out the link I posted earlier in this thread. It'll help you understand from a visual standpoint why you should want to see movies in widescreen on VHS.

Edit: No, Deathie, you were right the first time. Pat wants movies that are presented in widescreen on VHS to be shown in pan in scan like most VHS tapes.

[Evil Genie Jafar]

Now that we're talking about this, wasn't Ghostbusters 2 the first VHS movie to be shown in widescreen?

If I'm not mistaken this movie was only made in widescreen only.

[deathie mouse]

Pana Jafar, I think that honor belongs to Woody Allen's Manhattan. But i'm not sure, cus I'm no expert on VHS history. It's.. it's as if it never existed!



and mmm i have no idea about other countries VHS's. Probably in Europe or Asia there might have beeen earlier black bars than Woody's.

mmm i think Woody's were grey

[littlefuzzy]

Edit: No, Deathie, you were right the first time. Pat wants movies that are presented in widescreen on VHS to be shown in pan in scan like most VHS tapes.

I'm still confused... According to Luke, the three titles mentioned are only in full screen on VHS. The widescreen version shown at school could contradict this, however, or it is possible that the school had a version that wasn't available at retail.

Also, if the OP was watching them in widescreen, he shouldn't have seen the "formatted to fit your screen" message...

[Just Myself]

..

[Escapay]

Once every half-year, we have a member who is pointless to the board... last half it was me. This half it is PatJK.

Now that's not very nice, JM.

Escapay

[Disney Guru]

I have a lot of rare 60's MCA Universal films on VHS, that were never released comercially and I obtained transfers from the films that they used in theatres. And even though they arn't the best quality, they are all in widescreen format and I really like them.

[dvdjunkie]

First movie released on VHS in Widescreen was "Innerspace" with Dennis Quaid and Martin Short and Meg Ryan. This film was released by Warner Brothers and caused a big stink because people didn't know about the black bars and thought that they were being sold "half a movie" when they were actually being given the whole movie - corner to corner- complete with no edits.

Hope this clears up the confusion over the widescreen versus flat screen or full screen movies.

The first Disney movie to be released on VHS in Widescreen format was "Lady and the Tramp" and closely followed by "Sleeping Beauty". I own both of these VHS tapes and will not sell them no matter how much money I am offered.

For you collector's "The Little Mermaid" with the "offensive" cover art is selling for $750 and up if you watch eBay and Yahoo auctions. In stores where I live I have seen it selling for as much as $1000. And there are people who are buying them at that price.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Quote: "The only way to watch movies - WIDESCREEN!!!!"

I hope not...

[wizzer]

For you collector's "The Little Mermaid" with the "offensive" cover art is selling for $750 and up if you watch eBay and Yahoo auctions. In stores where I live I have seen it selling for as much as $1000. And there are people who are buying them at that price.

isn't this the offensive cover? (sorry that frog was the closest i found to a scratching head smiley)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 55721&rd=1