collven

Check out this dvd/vcr combo player from Best Buy. It's biggest feature, "Letter-Box Eliminator". I quote, "EZ View letter-box eliminator allows you to drop ugly letter-box bars with 1 touch". How sad is this that now manufacturers are putting buttons on their dvd players to blow up the picture. At least the zoom feature of Toshiba dvd players can be used for other things.

speedy1961

Terrible trend in my opinion..... Bah!

calhoun07

Good! Let the Joe Six Packers make this sell out, I could care less! All the more reason for studios to never release a full frame version (esp. a full frame version ONLY) again is reason enough for me to support this! I always said DVDs should be in widescreen only and if Joe Six Pack doesn't like it, he can zoom in, just as it also says in the Treasure Planet insert.

madcougar

This is hilarious. Almost as funny as my uncle who uses the zoom feature on his DVD player to "eliminate those ugly black bars." Bwhahahahah!

DVD Polizei

Remember, we are dealing with a severely low intelligence of those who want Fullscreen DVDs. They live in mobile homes, have appeared at least twice on Springer, and all have the same WT haircuts.

So, the advertising makes sense. And yes, it does sound stupid to the rest us.

DVDude!

Your logic is sound. However, the problem is that if this product takes off, then J6Ps will always "hate them thar black bars." And studios may feel that, instead of hardware zooming, they should just make the majority of uneducated consumers (i.e. J6Ps, who apparently are becoming the majority) happy by releasing movies in pan 'n' scam.

Personally, I hate this product. I say people should be educated as to why pan 'n' scam sucks. And if they don't like it, beat 'em over the head repeatedly until they do.

SCHMEGGA

Good point!

TomOpus

I feel like going into Best Buy and saying "I want to get rid of those ugly black bars. I was going to do it by buying a $5000 widescreen TV but I guess I can do it a whole lot cheaper"

But, calhoun07 does have a point.

reubs82

I'm gonna bank on some sarcasm in your post. Just b/c someone is uninformed about the intention of the "black bars" doesn't make them automatic white trash. I know plenty of people who don't understand the purpose of black bars, and they don't CARE if they miss out on some of the "director's vision". We appreciate it, they don't. It doesn't make them stupid, inferior, or worthless. All it means is they have a different preference in viewing. SOme people around here need to get off their high horse and realize that just because they like something does not mean everyone else and their brother has to like it as well. I'm out.

Gdrlv

First thing I thought of too...a product like this will hopefully make full frame unnecessary.

Also, not to get too picky (which I definitely am), but this isn't an ad, it's a product description.

Mr. Salty

You have to wonder why they went to the trouble of making this a progressive scan player, or even putting digital outputs on it. Why not just build an RF modulator into it and stick a single RF cable output on the back?

DonnachaOne

It's better than pan&scan releases of films. If this product catches on and 'eliminates' the need for p&s films, then I'm all for it.

I doubt it though.

Panda Phil

I agree. Hope they make lots of these things so the P&S crowd will stop griping and we can go back to enjoying our WS disks in peace.

RKillgore

"ELIMINATE the 'ugly black' bars", huh? Another example of the subversive ways The Man is keeping the Nubian brothers and sisters down! [/Hooper X}

Drexl

If that works like I think it does, they're still going to complain about the bars on 2.35:1 movies.

Mike G

My players already have this feature, though they call it zoom.

DonnachaOne

calhoun07

While I do think that the majority of people just don't care either way on the issue, I do think the minority that absolutely insists on full frame HAVE heard both sides of the issue. The reason I think that is because of people I talk to at work about DVDs, co-workers who have to own the full frame versions. When I try to get on them, they stop me and tell me they know the reasons for widescreen, and could probably explain the reasons for widescreen better than me. As much as I don't like full frame, I do think it's wrong to just assume these people are just automatically uneducated. Some are even educated on this issue and still choose full frame. And if this DVD player encourages them to zoom in on their widescreen DVDs to simulate full frame, then all the better.

But here is another angle not yet brought up here: What if you have a "Joe Six Packer" who thinks full frame is the best way to go? They spend the money to get this "Black Bar Eliminator" DVD player, or even choose to utilize their zoom feature on their player at home for this purpose, I wonder how many of them will finally realize, "WOW, there is quite a bit I am missing by cutting off the sides!" I am sure there will be a minority who won't care, those people who don't collect movies the way we do, who just want to watch it once and take it back to Blockbuster, who will never see the light of day, but I think this product could inadvertedly bring more over to the widescreen side.

borisdisco

I just bought a DVD player for my MIL for Mother's Day and I was going to get the Samsung one until I saw the "Letterbox Eliminator" on the box. I immediately put it back on the shelf. I didn't even want to touch that filthy thing. Why don't they sell special glasses so that those annoying black bars can't be seen?

PixyJunket

Amen borther. I award you with most intellegent post of the month. Your voice of reason is refreshing. I thank you.

"director's vision"

davejt1

Maybe J6P will finally be able to tell the difference between WS and P&S - zoom in...zoom out...zoom in...zoom out...

On a lighter note:

"Hey BB! Do you carry a DVD player that ADDS the black bars to the top and bottom of everything I watch?!?"

BobSolo

Now if they could only make a DVD player that would get rid of the .1 from the 5.1 sound at the push of a button. I don't know about you, but I don't want any partial sound when I watch a movie.

cinemaman

Perhaps I am misreading this -- but if this allows people to take WIDESCREEN films and show them P&S on their TV, wouldn't that mean that studios could ONLY SELL WIDESCREEN format and the consumer could pick whether or not they wanted to see OAR or DAR (Defective Aspect Ratio)? could mean elimination of P&S DVDs -- lower cost, simpler manufacturing...etc.

DeanoBKN

The thing that bothers me the most is that these studios and companies are influencing J6P to buy fullscreen. Instead of educating them, they simply write off the black bars as "ugly" and that they get in the way of your viewing pleasure. They make it seem like "No Black Bars!!!" or "Letterbox Eliminator" is a great thing and widescreen is pointless. Fox even make it seem like you need a widescreen tv to watch widescreen DVD's ("Formatted to fit YOUR TV")

As for people who perfer fullscreen over widescreen even though they fully understand the difference, I simply view them as ignorant people who have no respect for the director's vision.

Dammit

You know, it's possible that they've just given a punchy marketing name to a feature a lot of dvd players already have and that's the ability to scale a LETTERBOX (ie; non-anamorphic) WS movie. My dvd player does this and it works very well with a WS tv. A letterbox dvd will look squished vertically without it or force you to use the tv's 4:3 zoom function which tends to not look as good.