Dammit

Actually, now that I think about it, pretty much all dvd' players can do this on a 4:3 tv by simply setting the dvd players display options to 16x9 which will stretch a 1:85 dvd to fill a 4:3 screen. They probably just added a button on the remote that performs this function despite it being intended for widescreen TV's..

cultshock

What's a Nubian?

MJKTool

The "Letterbox Eliminator"??

Sounds like some new action hero.

RKillgore

Bitch, you almost made me laugh.

cultshock

jough

"Let the rabble have their Tar-Tar sauce..."

If every J6P had one of these devices, the studios would be free to release all films in 16:9 widescreen. That way the idiots could suffer for their idiocy and the rest of us could enjoy our OAR.

And ten points for the source of the quote above.

-- Jough

Bright Cucumber

That's from my black bar-less DVD of The Simpsons Season 2. Question is...what will the letterbox lyncher do to a full screen DVD?

Brad Hood

I'm personally waiting for the J6P revolt of 2010. That's when all the analog Curtis Mathis sets are going to break down, and J6P will be forced to buy a 16:9 set.

Then, to his shock and surprize, those annoying black bars are going to appear on the SIDES of all of his "fullscreen" movies. Only then will he see the error of his ways.

He'll have to live with the side bars, rebuy Days of Thunder and Smokey and the Bandit, or zoom-in and just watch torsos.

BUT, if he buys the letterbox eliminator today, he can buy future-proof widescreen movies.

Brad

gcribbs

I wonder if this feature stays on. Then when they put in a P&S Dvd they will zoom in on that eliminating even more of the picture

Maybe this will start a new trend of people wanting to have super Pan& Scan dvd's released where all you see is heads or mouths talking

rennervision

You know what I don't comprehend? If people out there don't understand why widescreen movies have black bars, how is it they realize the benefits of owning a DVD player?

I mean - DVD originally seemed like a concept for videophiles such as myself with discerning tastes. I remember when I first got into DVD, and it seemed like a lot of people had never even heard of it. I considered those people Joe Six Packs.

But now the tastes of J6Ps all over this land have been redefined so they know what a DVD is and they WANT the quality offered by DVD - only not in the original theatrical framing. It never made any sense to me, and I still don't get it.

JimRochester

Even though I am white, I am still offended by the racial insensitivity of calling anything black ugly. Anyone around during the 60's remembers the catch-phrase "Black is Beautiful Baby"

cerial442

Didn't read the whole thread, thus I didn't realize someone beat me to a joke. Nevermind, edited for my stupidity.

rennervision

On the other hand, maybe this will finally be a useful tool in educating the public on how much picture they lose if they switch back and forth from widescreen to pan & scan.

darqleo

Is that the same Best Buy ad that's featured in their catalog that came in the mail? Because it also showed FULL SCREEN Theatrical Edition LOTR:FOTR DVDs flying out of a JVC DVD player.

Nice.

illennium

We need to enlist a major Hollywood director to the widescreen DVD cause. The idea would be for him to film a major must-own blockbuster film in which all of the action--nudity, violence, character development, rampant swearing--happens on the periphery of every frame. The middle 90 percent of each frame would just contain a pile of bricks, or maybe a sleeping horse. This would force everyone to buy the widescreen version of the DVD, though many on this forum would double-dip on the full-frame version for the exclusive sleeping horse commentary.

Yellowbeard

I find that the J6Ps appetite for P&S DVDs can be directly attributable to the cinematography used in filming television series for the 4:3 screens.
I mean have you looked at the way that they frame and shoot soap operas? Its all about the emoting of the actors through their facial features. P&S accomplishes the same effect.
Now while the Letterbox Eliminator may remove the "ugly black bars" it will NOT maintain accurate framing by recentering the action on screen.

Rypro 525

yeah, when he watches the movie ben hur, he will wonder "I'm hearing voices, but where are they?"

NoirTech

Ok...put the crack pipe down now.

hahahaha. :-)

I hear the slipping horse commentary rivals that of Cannibal: The Musical. So it's a must.