Letterbox anyone?

[couger77]

Ok, I just need to know who would appreciate more movies on the 180 to be in Widescreen. So who cares and who doesn't? Am I the only one?

Whats it gunna be?



Regards

 

[dlsnyder]

I keep hearing that people with 4:3 sets prefer to see letterboxed versions of movies because they get to see a film the way the director intended it to be seen. A casual survey of my family members (mainly my wife) puts me in the minority on this. They all prefer the "fullscreen" edition when buying DVDs. I am the only one who goes out of my way to get the "widescreen" edition. I only justify it by saying that I don't want to go out and buy all those movies again when we finally get that new widescreen HDTV... whenever that may be.

 

[AJF]

I'd like to see MUCH more widescreen movies.
Also, many of the TLC, Discovery, etc. shows are now produced in w.s but broadcast in 4:3 format. I'd love to have the ability to see it in true 16:9 on my widescreen tv.

dlsnyder,
IMHO, I would say without doubt that you are doing the right thing. You WILL want to replace all those movies when you get a widescreen because 4:3 on a 16:9 tv will be even more annoying to the rest of the family.

 

[Tony S]

I have a widescreen TV, so naturally I would prefer EVERYTHING to be widescreen (not just the movies). Now, I have to choose between horizontal stretching or black bars on the sides when viewing 4:3 material.

Lately, I have been watching more and more DVDs and less and less regular TV. I recently downgraded from the AT180 to the AT120 package, and I also dropped the Showtime channels as well. I used the money that I saved to join Netflix. Now our family watches DVDs almost all the time. The picture from my progressive-scanned DVD player look incredibly better on my Plasma TV than any Dish Network channel.

I think that unless E* starts offering more widescreen material and better picture quality, more people will be looking for other alternatives, just as I did!

 

[long_time_DNC]

Because of the FCC mandate, eventually (late 2006) all programming will be in 16:9 format, and since I knew several years ago that'd I'd eventually buy a w.s. TV, the DVDs I started buying several years before I bought my 50" Samsung were/are 16:9 format.

I'd much rather see films the way they were made than to have to stretch them.

 

[AJF]

Most people that complain about the black bars, (especially on a 4:3 set) quickly forget about it once they get engrossed in the movie anyway.

 

[Charise]

When I started looking at new TVs a few years ago and said I was only interested in a wide-screen model, the salesperson's mouth fell open. He told me that I was the first woman he'd helped that wanted w/s--all the others wanted f/s. Kind of opened my eyes.

I much prefer the w/s broadcasts for the same reasons noted above--no bars or stretch, and to get the same view as in a theater and the director's vision. Unfortunately I sometimes forget when I purchase DVDs, so I then have to trek back to the store to make an exchange--done more than once (I'll remember one of these days).

 

[GaryPen]

Lately, I have been watching more and more DVDs and less and less regular TV. I recently downgraded from the AT180 to the AT120 package, and I also dropped the Showtime channels as well. I used the money that I saved to join Netflix. Now our family watches DVDs almost all the time. The picture from my progressive-scanned DVD player look incredibly better on my Plasma TV than any Dish Network channel.

Your experience basically mirrors mine. (except I've been with Netflix since '99. Previous Dish sub since '98.)
If they had a couple-three more channels on AT60, then I'd be there. The AT180, AEP, even HD Pack, are pretty much a waste of money, when you have Netflix.

 

[AJF]

When I started looking at new TVs a few years ago and said I was only interested in a wide-screen model, the salesperson's mouth fell open. He told me that I was the first woman he'd helped that wanted w/s--all the others wanted f/s. Kind of opened my eyes.

I much prefer the w/s broadcasts for the same reasons noted above--no bars or stretch, and to get the same view as in a theater and the director's vision. Unfortunately I sometimes forget when I purchase DVDs, so I then have to trek back to the store to make an exchange--done more than once (I'll remember one of these days).

Welcome to the forum Charise. It's refreshing to have a woman posting AND who knows what "w/s and f/s" means.

We may need to get accustomed to seeing the term "HAF" used by Charise.

 

[csschrot]

there is something other than widescreen? I wish that was the case.

 

[dlsnyder]

To appease my family and make buying OAR DVDs less painful for them I have set our DVD player to 16:9 anamorphic mode. When a movie in that format is played it looks slightly streched out on our screen but is still acceptable. A reasonable compromise to make everyone happy and with DVDs that are optimized for 16:9 displays there are no black bars (or very small ones).

 

[Charise]

Thanks for the welcome, AJF. But, you got me--what's HAF?

 

[AJF]

Uh Oh, now I'm in trouble.
We use the term "WAF" on the forums which stands for "Wife Acceptance Factor". It usually comes up when us guys want to do something which may pose a problem as far as our wives are concerned. Here's some examples :

Surround sound speakers for the family room the size of refridgerators have a WAF of Zero.
Inconspicuous in-wall surround sound speakers have a WAF of 10.

Get it? Now in your case, since you are the videophile like the rest of us, maybe your electronics purchases have to pass the "HAF" (Husband Acceptance Factor).

 

[long_time_DNC]

I'm glad AJF explained that so I didn't have to.

 

[Charise]

Got it! Guess I've never actually seen the acronym WAF before. Thanks for the explanation. Nicely done, AJF!

Actually, I'm pretty lucky at the moment--get to buy/do what I want. I've always been kind of a "gadget person" but nothing like most of you guys. For instance, I have a superdish, but know nothing else about it. Managed to get speakers up, but not in the wall.

I do know I want as many w/s broadcasts as possible though!

 

[Pepper]

I wonder why some marketing dweeb hasn't yet figured out they could put advertising banners, etc. at the top and bottom of the widescreen content for the "benefit" of those of us still using 4:3 monitors.

 

[AJF]

The station logo's are getting almost as bad. First they were light grey and would come on for a few seconds then fade away. Then they stayed on, became color, larger, and some even move (Discovery has a spinning globe). Most recently, they've been showing a promo that runs across the bottom of the screen for other shows on the channel. And now I've been seeing actual commercial products promo's during the show!
It's only a matter of time before the actual program is in a small corner at the top left of the screen and the rest is logo's, promo's and commercials!!!

 

[stratguy]

I paid a lot of money for my theater wide 16x9 screen and I think I bought it to early I've had it over a year and most shows have to be sized for regular veiwing. Now most of the newer DVD's have the theater wide but that's about all.

 

[long_time_DNC]

The station logo's are getting almost as bad. First they were light grey and would come on for a few seconds then fade away. Then they stayed on, became color, larger, and some even move (Discovery has a spinning globe). Most recently, they've been showing a promo that runs across the bottom of the screen for other shows on the channel. And now I've been seeing actual commercial products promo's during the show!
It's only a matter of time before the actual program is in a small corner at the top left of the screen and the rest is logo's, promo's and commercials!!!

Ain't that the truth!? The SciFi channel is about the worst in that respect. Discovery has the globe, but at least they don't hype upcoming shows at the bottom of the screen with audio that almost overrides the audio the show you're trying to watch. TNT is still not too bad, but SpikeTV is pretty bad.

And while we're on the subject of on-screen channel bugs, why is it that some of the premium movie channels put up a channel bug? I know what channel I'm watching and I'm paying extra in order to not have to suffer through editing and commercials. What's the point behind that?

 

[AJF]

Some guy started a website to campaign against this:
The USA Campaign for Logo-Free Television
Heres' the link:

http://www.logofreetv-usa.com/