Will Joe Six Pack ever be happy?

[Calhoun07]

I had a guy come into the video store tonight to buy Spider Man and requested full frame. Without judgment or comment, I got his full frame copy. He said, "Full frame is better than widescreen, isn't it?"

Nicely, I went into an explanation of why I prefer widescreen and how you get the full movie picture on your TV. He seemed to listen and consider what I had to say (still took the full frame edition, tho) but it was an intelligent, thoughtful exchange of ideas.

He then asked me if on widescreen TVs would the black bars still be there. I explained to him the importance of buying DVDs with anamorphic widescreen which are formatted for widescreen TVs and let him know that I've seen demos at Best Buy where the full frame movies and TV shows would leave bars on the sides of the screen instead. I told him I try to make sure all my DVDs, when the choice is available, are in anamorphic widescreen because, even tho I do not have a widescreen TV at this time, they will be more common in the near future and will be more afordable. He kind of seemed to grimace somewhat when I warned him about the black bars on the sides of the screen with full frame movies on a widescreen TV.

He still got the full frame Spider Man, tho.

But it got me to wondering: will we see an influx of Joe Six Packers complaining about the "black bars" on the sides of their screens when/if they get a widescreen TV? Will they storm into the Wal Marts of this nation demanding to know why their full frame DVD doesn't fully fill up the frame on their 16x9 TV. After all it says FULL FRAME! I can just see the horror now.

[VinceA]

You just can't explain some things to some people. It's like me trying to explain my TiVo to some of my coworkers. I get the usual "So, it's just a VCR and you paid how much?" stuff. Just be secure in the knowledge that you know better and try to convert the upper edge of the Joe SixPacks (the ones that are open to accepting new knowledge).

[finbarlafume]

There's always going to be people who hate the sight of black bars on their tv and demand full screen. That said, as the prices of widescreen sets fall the number of unhappy people should also decline. Maybe someday people will be complaining about black bars on either side of the screen instead :)
Thankfully, widescreen is now generally accepted in Europe and a lot of movies are shown on tv in that format.

BTW, if a DVD is not anamorphic it can be 'zoomed' in on to fill your widescreen set. ( 'Titanic' and 'The Secret of Nimh' are good examples of a non anamorphic discs )
How good the result is depends on the quality of the print of course. There's a bit of print damage visible on 'Nimh' but 'Titanic', being a far more recent movie, looks perfect.
Luckily, most discs are now anamorphic.

[TServo2049]

Trust me...when 16x9 TVs become the norm, we will start having DVDs of Academy-ratio films tilt-and-scanned to 1.78:1, and wider-than-1.85:1 discs pan-and-scanned to 1.78:1. So we'll still have "Full Screen" discs...just a different aspect ratio.

[Class316]

Originally posted by Calhoun07
But it got me to wondering: will we see an influx of Joe Six Packers complaining about the "black bars" on the sides of their screens when/if they get a widescreen TV? Will they storm into the Wal Marts of this nation demanding to know why their full frame DVD doesn't fully fill up the frame on their 16x9 TV. After all it says FULL FRAME! I can just see the horror now.

I bet most people probably won't change TVs :D

[Mynd Hed]

I had a wonderful moment the other day. We have a new employee at the rental shop where I work. Well, in order to avoid too many people demanding to have their copies of Spider-Man exchanged because they got a version they didn't want, we cashiers have been instructed to always specifically say, "This is fullscreen / widescreen. Is that the version you want?"
So a few of us employees get into a conversation about this new rule, and one of our employees says, "Widescreen is the one with the black bars, right? I don't like that."
The new guy pops up with, "But with fullscreen you don't see the whole picture," at EXACTLY the same time that I say, "Well yeah, but if you rent fullscreen you're only renting half a movie." He looks at me, grabs my hand, gives me a firm handshake, and says, "Thank GOD, someone understands."

(-:

[JTurner954]

There's a friend online who doesn't understand the difference and prefers full frame.

Can you guys list some websites that show and say what the differences are?

[JDuncan]

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/aspectratios/widescreenorama.html
If this doesn't learn them, nothing will.

[Joe Wagner]

Glad to hear that you had better luck than I did Calhoun. The last time I had a discussion with someone about this topic it didn't turn out quite as well. While I was at Target I was scanning the Widescreen copy of Spider-Man and a woman asked me what the difference was between WS and FS. I explained all the differences and tried to show her why widescreen was better. Instead she became offended by my help, forcefully shoved the widescreen version back into place and stormed off complaining about how complicated was these days!

Glad to see that there are those out there that are willing to listen and consider viewing a widescreen version over the full screen version.

-Joe!

[Ordinary Guy]

It reminds me of a Christmas a couple of years back when I was working at Circuit City. A guy called the store to complain about his dvd player was showing black bars on the top and bottom of the tv screen and wanted to return it. Because he bought Mission Impossible 2 and was unaware about the difference between Full-Frame and Widescreen. I did my best to explain why Widescreen is better, but he wouldn't have. I'm not sure if he kept the player or not.

[Joker85]

Some people are just overly ignorant. I was talking with some friends the other day and we were talking about how we had all bought the Spider Man DVD. Well, 3 of my friends then go on to say that they bought Full Screen and how much better it was. Trying not to argue, I said that I preferred the Widescreen and left it at that. Well, they then went on to tell me how with Widescreen you didn't get to see the whole movie. I tried really hard to bite my tongue but it didn't work and I ended up just pissing them off when I proved that they were so incredibly wrong it wasn't even funny. They got over it though, and still insist Full Screen is better and you get more movie that way. :rolleyes:

[JDuncan]

My friend bought AOTC, full screen, and even after about 20 minutes of going over the differences, didn't seem to care that he was missing half the picture. i think I am going to use that thing that lucasfilm put up a few months ago...

[Zebi]

Originally posted by Mynd Hed
I had a wonderful moment the other day. We have a new employee at the rental shop where I work. Well, in order to avoid too many people demanding to have their copies of Spider-Man exchanged because they got a version they didn't want, we cashiers have been instructed to always specifically say, "This is fullscreen / widescreen. Is that the version you want?"

I've noticed that some DVDs are coming out as double-sided discs, with the widescreen version on one side and the full screen version on the other. Evangelion: Death & Rebirth is one example. I think this is a pretty good idea. I appreciate the quality of widescreen, but there are times where I would prefer to watch the full screen version; ie. when watching on a small TV screen.

[JTurner954]

Good news, he is getting the reasons why Widescreen is better. He is telling me that he will give up his full screen LOTR and get the widescreen one.

I wish there was something we could do to let people know why widescreen is better. I hear that Die Hard has a featurette on why it's better. Why not have more DVD's that explain why it's better?? Or maybe we can put something in our TZ signatures?

[Mynd Hed]

I've noticed that some DVDs are coming out as double-sided discs, with the widescreen version on one side and the full screen version on the other. Evangelion: Death & Rebirth is one example. I think this is a pretty good idea. I appreciate the quality of widescreen, but there are times where I would prefer to watch the full screen version; ie. when watching on a small TV screen.

Indeed, it's always better to have a choice when possible. Including both full and widescreen versions in the same package eliminates purchasing confusion, and allows someone to watch a movie in widescreen when they want, and in fullscreen when their television is small enough that it seems to warrant it (or when they're too ignorant to know that WS is better, heh heh). I consider it the best solution, but unfortunately not too many titles have gone that route as of yet.

[Calhoun07]

Originally posted by Mynd Hed
and in fullscreen when their television is small enough that it seems to warrant it (or when they're too ignorant to know that WS is better, heh heh).

I hate, hate, hate the argument that people use that their TV screen is too small for widescreen movies. My first TV was a 13 inch set, and I gladly watched widescreen movies on it. Heck, I'd watch them on a screen the size of my wrist watch if I had to. Size matters not, my young padwan.

[Russkafin]

Yes, the "Why Letterbox?" featurette on the Die Hard DVD is awesome, that is actually what really sold me on widescreen and made me realize what the difference was to be quite honest with you.

Another subtle but really cool pro-widescreen feature is on The Usual Suspects Special Edition. On that disc, the widescreen and full frame versions are both on the same disc, and before you start the movie it asks you to choose which version you want to watch. Well, on that menu screen, it shows the infamous lineup scene, with the full frame and widescreen versions running side by side so you can see the difference. The full frame version very clearly cuts off several members of the lineup, while in the widescreen version you can see everyone. I thought that was a very cool way to say, "Hey, dummy, widescreen is better!" :D

[Mynd Hed]

I hate, hate, hate the argument that people use that their TV screen is too small for widescreen movies. My first TV was a 13 inch set, and I gladly watched widescreen movies on it. Heck, I'd watch them on a screen the size of my wrist watch if I had to. Size matters not, my young padwan.

Hey, I feel the same way, I never voluntarily watch Pan and Scam no matter how small a screen I'm using. But there's this thing called personal preference, and I respect other people's right to have it. (-:

[James]

I'd have banned him. So I don't work there, but I'd still have just told him he's banned until he appreciates that the black bars really don't have an adverse effect on the film.

Does he pull his eyelids so far open that they encapsulate the entire screen? No. First because that would be a stupid thing to do, but secondly - and less importantly - because he doesn't see the need to do such a thing.

But he should.

Afterall, if Blackbars get in your way of your viewing, what about the tv edges, the nifty naked Homer Simpson that rests on the TV? The wallpaper behind it, the way you blink occasionally and lose the picture. Your eyes adjust to the 'black bars' as your eyes adjust against all the above distractions. That's what annoys me. If a film is good, NOTHING will distract you - and this often the main argument against wide screen. The 'Black bars'. Egh.

[Calhoun07]

Originally posted by SJJ


Afterall, if Blackbars get in your way of your viewing, what about the tv edges, the nifty naked Homer Simpson that rests on the TV? The wallpaper behind it, the way you blink occasionally and lose the picture. Your eyes adjust to the 'black bars' as your eyes adjust against all the above distractions. That's what annoys me. If a film is good, NOTHING will distract you - and this often the main argument against wide screen. The 'Black bars'. Egh.

hey, I think that's the juxt of that joke post I linked over at DVD talk in another thread!