DVDizzy Forum

Sounds like my father ("I spend $2000 on a TV and still have to put up with those shi**y black bars in movies!"). Try to tell him that DVDs replicate the cinema aspect ratio but he hasn't been to the movies since the 1970s, and can't even work the remote or turn off the TV by himself.

KubrickFan wrote:I don't think it will ever go away, I still see a topic about that appear on other boards too frequently. In fact, with Blu-ray it has become even worse, with a lot of people complaining about soft images or grain in the picture. They reason that if they paid a couple of hundred dollars for a television, they should get the ultra clear, screen filling picture they want apparently.

Indeed, I have seen those boards and it is quite sad. Hopefully enough releases without pan and scanning and so forth will force public opinion to change.

Flanger-Hanger wrote:

KubrickFan wrote:I don't think it will ever go away, I still see a topic about that appear on other boards too frequently. In fact, with Blu-ray it has become even worse, with a lot of people complaining about soft images or grain in the picture. They reason that if they paid a couple of hundred dollars for a television, they should get the ultra clear, screen filling picture they want apparently.

Indeed, I have seen those boards and it is quite sad. Hopefully enough releases without pan and scanning and so forth will force public opinion to change.

I doubt it, it's been twelve years since dvd came around. If it doesn't change after that long (and countless sites and featurettes on the discs themselves) I don't think it will ever change. Of course with Laserdisc and widescreen VHS it's been even longer than that, but those weren't exactly mainstream.
And with the added resolution of Blu-ray, they can just zoom in without a reasonable loss of resolution, or so they argue.

Flanger-Hanger wrote:

rexcrk wrote: Idiots

True, but just how many idiots out there still exist, given the widespread education regarding aspect ratios and films? This isn't 2000 any more.

Many don't care about OAR's and such. We keep forgetting that we are in the minority in many cases about these sorts of things. More people I know don't care about OAR than those that do.

Well, not caring is not respecting, IMO. That goes for anything. If I don't care about something, I at least give it a good chance and refrain from disrepect as long as I can.
The fact is, those people don't use the internet very often, and they miss all sorts of information not found on TV. I've also seen similar topics that included both sides.

I once read a comment by someone who said that NTSC meant "non-anamorphic widescreen". True story...

Cordy_Biddle wrote:I once read a comment by someone who said that NTSC meant "non-anamorphic widescreen". True story...

I wish Walmart would quit selling fullscreen only DVDs. I've learnt to put-up with the black bars on the screen, until I get a new TV.

Barbossa wrote:I wish Walmart would quit selling fullscreen only DVDs. I've learnt to put-up with the black bars on the screen, until I get a new TV.

The black bars are still there on some DVDs, even on a widescreen television. I don't know if you already knew, but I don't want you to get your hopes up . There are a lot of people who are disappointed when they find that out.

KubrickFan wrote:

Barbossa wrote:I wish Walmart would quit selling fullscreen only DVDs. I've learnt to put-up with the black bars on the screen, until I get a new TV.

The black bars are still there on some DVDs, even on a widescreen television. I don't know if you already knew, but I don't want you to get your hopes up . There are a lot of people who are disappointed when they find that out.

I'd rather have black bars than a cropped picture. For instance, watching Star Wars for years on VHS, which was fullscreen, in the scene where Luke is watching the Sand People with his binoculars, he says he sees a Tusken Raider by the Bantha, but you could never see him as he was chopped off. It wasn't until the Star Wars Special Editions came to theaters, that I finally got to see the Tusken Raider they were talking about. All those years I was questioning Luke's vision.

Barbossa wrote: I'd rather have black bars than a cropped picture. For instance, watching Star Wars for years on VHS, which was fullscreen, in the scene where Luke is watching the Sand People with his binoculars, he says he sees a Tusken Raider by the Bantha, but you could never see him as he was chopped off. It wasn't until the Star Wars Special Editions came to theaters, that I finally got to see the Tusken Raider they were talking about. All those years I was questioning Luke's vision.

Yeah, Star Wars looks awful when it's panned and scanned . I always hated it when you could only read the scrolling opening text when it was halfway through the picture.

KubrickFan wrote:

Barbossa wrote:I wish Walmart would quit selling fullscreen only DVDs. I've learnt to put-up with the black bars on the screen, until I get a new TV.

The black bars are still there on some DVDs, even on a widescreen television. I don't know if you already knew, but I don't want you to get your hopes up . There are a lot of people who are disappointed when they find that out.

That's true. It depends on the ratio.

The_Iceflash wrote:

KubrickFan wrote: The black bars are still there on some DVDs, even on a widescreen television. I don't know if you already knew, but I don't want you to get your hopes up . There are a lot of people who are disappointed when they find that out.

That's true. It depends on the ratio.

It's only in the 2:40, 2:35 ratios, etc. that you will still see the black bars on widescreen televisions.

^Not true, because you now get the black pillars with fullscreen material.

I say only get it in full screen if that is it's original aspect ratio. Otherwise, always go with wide screen!

I know this is somewhat unrelated...

but my family just bought several wide screen TVs for the first time. It bothers me that no one in my house hold will EVER watch TV or DVD in the format size it was made in....

If it's full screen, they stretch the picture out to fit the screen (worst and ugliest thing ever). Then if they do watch something in wide screen, they STILL leave that stretched setting on.... so now it's still stretched PLUS the black bars on the top and bottom.... oh lord....... help me.....

You need to educate them. Tell them that it won't bother them after a while to watch a movie in it's REAL aspect ratio, etc. Also, get a Digital Video Essentials disc. They were made to make tvs watchable.

I did this once. It took a lot more effort than it was worth, to be quite honest. I'd say just replace the ones you know you'll be watching a lot.