Signs Widescreen vs Fullscreen
 

I got Signs when it came out but admittedly didn't try to watch it till tonight.

The box specifications say Widescreen 1.85:1, but the disc itself seems to definitely be full screen.

Did this happen to anyone, and I missed it? Is this just an anomoly for me?

Nothing on the DISC seems to indicate what it should be.

Thanks for any help.

It doesn't even look like there WAS a full screen version, so I am doubly confused.

Given that you've apparently been on the boards for quite some time, you probably know this, but I should mention it just in case. Signs is anamorphic widescreen, so if the DVD player you play it on isn't set to the proper aspect ratio for your television, it may zoom in on the center of the widescreen frame until it fills the screen. Check the options on your DVD player and make sure everything is right.

Thanks, - I'll do that, but all my other anamorphic widescreens play correctly on that DVD player, so this one seems to be an anomoly.

(And yes, I found that it DID play correctly on my computer, so it is widescreen - so I'm still confused why that ONE DVD won't play correctly on my DVD player).

Since Signs didn't have a fullscreen release, the only logical explanation is alien interference.

you were wearing your tin foil helmet right ;)

:lol:

you need to change the setting on your player to "letterbox".

if your setting is currently set to widescreen.
1:85 Anamorphic WS movie will play like foolscreen (don't you see the picture being squeeze?)
2:35 Anamorphic WS movie will have the blackbars (the picture is still being squeeze).

Just dump some water on it......

Do you have a 4:3 tv? Because if you do and your DVD player is set on the 16:9 mode, the image will be stretched to fill the screen.

No, he didn't notice his wife bought a WS TV set and had it installed without him knowing!! :lol: (dream of every man)

Seeker - Either you've been watching ALL of your anamorphic DVDs in the wrong aspect ratio as everyone has pointed out above (and zoomed too, ick) or... Did you (or your SO, roomie, etc) get into the player menu and change the settings to 16X9? What kind of player are you using? Is your player set to 4X3 pan&scam? Is Signs flagged to do pan&scam on the fly (I don't own this disc)?

My first thought was that you may have accidentilly hit the zoom button on your remote.

I think it was the old "someone pressed the wrong button and shifted the ratios" - I quickly threw in a non-anamorphic dvd last night just to see if widescreen worked. That probably confused the issue (since it worked ok).

I've been playing with the settings, buttons reset, anamorphic movies work fine. Now to find the aliens that pushed that button. (No one else will claim responsibility, not even the dogs)

I WISH my wife had secretly replaced the 53" 4x3 tv with a widescreen one...

NOPE. Spoke too soon.

No wonder no one will fess up to making changes - it really was ok in the first place. I wrote the above when making all the tests and everything was working fine, so I did the dreaded assume and thought Signs would of course be ok.

Status: (on my APC 600)

Regular dvds play fine on the unit with correct ratio.
Anamorphic dvds play fine on the unit with correct ratio.
SIGNS plays as full screen (the entire 1.85 screen is shown, but is stretched to fill the screen).

Signs plays at 1.85:1 on my computer.
Signs plays at 1.85:1 on my Malata 3600.


Extremely strange. My probable future direction: watch the movie on the Malata on my 35" tv in my bedroom and ignore watching it in my home theater for now.

But it really makes me wonder what is going on with that disc.

That really is odd. The only thing I could think of to ask is are you sure those other DVDs are indeed playing in their correct AR? Are they 2.35 movies? If so, they would still show some black bars even if your player is set to anamorphic mode. You probably know this, but to check, pop in another 1.85 movie and see how it plays.

People making jokes here that have to do with major events in the movie should

Thanks for the suggestion - I agree with it.

Yeah - I'm usually pretty good at saying "that's 2.35:1" just by looking, but I did put in a few 1.85:1 anamorphics to be sure. They all play fine.

Just this one. Weird. And the DVD plays fine in other units, so it is definitely the player itself, but WHAT about it, since it plays everything else ok?