PixyJunket

Married with Children season 1.

Hey, it's MY guilty pleasure.. and something I've been wanting since I got my DVD player in 99..

talemyn

Hmmm . . . I actually really enjoy some of the extras that are on DVD's . . . as a matter-of-fact, I am slower to replace a VHS copy with a DVD if I'm not getting some other extra features out of it (some of the biggies are excluded from that rule). But there are so many cases in which the extras are well worth an additional few bucks (say over a bare bones release). Some of the Monty Python documentaries, commentary, etc. are hilarious (I LOVE LEGO Knights) and the extras on the Black Hawk Down 3-disc are, debatably, better than the movie. Trailers . . . well, yeah they would probably not be sorely missed, but . . . well . . . why not?

No . . . I don't see the extras going away any time soon.

But I do agree that different versions with different extras can get pretty annoying . . .

talemyn

I've just learned so much about you by that . . .

My money was on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection . . . good thing I didn't have anyone to bet . . .

eujin

I have to agree with the original poster. FF versions have no rational reason for existence. If "the people who can't stand black bars" need their own version, they can find if by using that nifty little button on their remote labeled "ZOOM".

In fact, let's all stop trying to explain aspect ratios to people who will never understand them--let's start a campaign to get Joe Public to start using the sorely-under utilized ZOOM button!

By the way, why don't studios just charge more for the FF releases? I mean they used to do the same to us with letterboxed editions on VHS. I say it's time the shoe was on the other foot. Charge $5 more per FF release--after all, isn't more work required to P&S a movie?

mzupeman2

Well as anybody else has said... preference. Although all of the true die hards on this forum know that Widescreen is the most logical choice for such reasons:

1. You get the whole picture
2. When widescreen TV's are the dominant TV's on the market,
your 'Full Screen' dvds wont be 'full screen' anymore, unless
you squash the picture down.

Because missing out on some of the picture because it had to be cropped to fit a TV screen, does pretty much suck.
For every person who says widescreen movies don't show the full picture, all I have to say is, you're an idiot. Plain and simple. All you have with a 'fullscreen' movie is a zoomed in picture... and because the FULL picture is REALLY a long rectangle and not a square, you're missing about 33% of the picture in some films. But I don't feel that companies should charge extra for Fullscreen dvd's. Transferring to fullscreen has been standard procedure for YEARS before dvd even existed, so it's a normal process. Besides, if somebody who has a preference one way or the other, you don't deserve to have to pay MORE just for a different preference. That would be like a company charging you 75 cents for a blue icepop, yet charge you a dollar for one that's made exactly the same, but its red. If people want to be purchasing full screen, they can be tricked into thinking they're actually getting 'more' picture just because it fills their screen. Ignorance is entertaining to me, because in some odd years to come once widescreen TV's become prominent, I'm going to laugh at all the idiots who were determined to have their 'fullscreen' dvd's.

talemyn

One of my favorite stories about teaching the benefits of widescreen was with an old friend when I was telling him about the scene in Star Wars Ep. 4 where Luke is looking for R2. He is looking at some Banthas through his binoculars and says that he sees the Banthas, but no Sand People. And then he says something along the lines of "Oh, there's one", but in the full frame there are still only Banthas in the shot. Only in the Widescreen version do you see the Sand Person come walking around side of one of the Banthas. He was so suprised! He said that he always thought that was a little strange that you didn't see one when he said that, but he never had thought about why it might have been that way.

mzupeman2

Yeah, I tried to explain it to my friend. But of course all I got was 'I dont care, I bought a 27 inch TV, and im going to use the whole screen'.

Regurgitator

My friend and I were trying to explain the difference between Widescreen and Fullscreen to another friend. Well, after showing her Lord of the Rings on a 50" TV zoomed in and out.. she's still convinced that with Fullscreen she'd rather see everything up close with sharp details compared to losing additional scenes on the left and right of the picture. Man.. I can't believe it.. utterly stupid.

RyoHazuki

Makes me wish the Dreamcast had a zoom function.

Drexl

The vast majority of people don't want a choice in the aspect ratio. They want one or the other, and including an extra disc is a waste. It doesn't make sense from a cost standpoint to include an extra disc for the FF version because that's more money the studio spends in manufacturing.

As for FF not selling, these businesses aren't stupid (well, not totally ). If FF didn't sell enough, they wouldn't order them.

mzupeman2

Some people are just in denial because they would like to think they haven't been wasting their money on FullScreen DVD's like a foolish (insert any generic insulting word here). Years ago when i FIRST got my DVD player I was really kind of leaning towards fullscreen. I bought widescreen anyway, the idea of 'missing' part of the picture got to me. All I knew is that when i was young and the T2 Extended Edition came out on VHS only in widescreen, and I bought that, I didn't like who the picture had those black bars on the top and bottom. I thought it wasted the screen. But of course ever since I really really learned the difference when I was old enough to know better, it was widescreen all the way. Unfortunately I think the only DVD that I own that's in fullscreen (when there was a choice b/w wide and full) is The Mummy. I bought that movie when I was rather learning towards widescreen, but kind of still didn't care. I bought the Mummy and brought it home and THEN found out it was full. I didn't bother to exchange it. Although someday when i have an extra 20 bux to kill and have nothing else to do, I'll buy the widescreen, as it really bothers me that I have that fullscreen in my collection. But my ultimate point from this rambling, is that some people are just way too afraid of change and are too afraid of looking like a fool.

rexinnih

There's choice and still obviously demand for it.
In other countries around the world, here in japan for instance, widescreen TVs are the norm in electronics stores now. There are no seperate releases in Widescreen or Full screen. The technologically (used for lack of a better word) superior and logical format , Widescreen, is used for DVD releases. (And we get DTS also but that's for another thread.......)
While I am a strong proponent of Widescreen, until everyone has a Widescreen TV to fully (yes I realize that you can watch on a 4:3 TV-but I wish to state FULLY) enjoy and experience a widescreen movie, companies will continue to provide a customer with the choice available.
Of course it'll be one great big "I told you so" when our friendds and family get their first widescreen tv and complain about stretched out faces or those black bars on the side of the movie.
So just be patient and the US will catch up with the rest of the world sometime.

SouthAfricanGuy

Sorry "RyoHazuki7", but you're plainly an idiot.

Oh and "Darryl", the VASLUE ADDED "extras" on DVDs will never fall by the way side.

So-called "FF" DVDs are not available here in the UK or in most other regions. Maybe that's because other region's consumers, e.g. such as here in the UK, or Australia (R4), South Africa (R2), Western Europe (R2) are all more sophisticated?!?

Cornelius1047

Wow. Maybe you shouldn't be throwing around the term "idiot" so casually.

Speaking of which, we don't take kindly to personal attacks on this forum, as I'm sure the moderators will inform you.

K

Static Cling

He's been informed.

DonnachaOne

A better question - why do we still have dolby 5.1?

Receivers these days have dts on them, and most players can decode dts - why bother with the dolby? I know in the past there were some cases where the dolby sounded better (The Rock, Pearl Harbor, etc), but these days dts sounds equal or better than dolby.

I suppose there'll always be the "dolby is better" people, and I'm cool with that. But it seems an awful waste of space to have a superfluous 5.1 track. Might as well ditch the lesser one.

Something else that gets to me - why bother with dolby 2.0 tracks if there's already a 5.1 track? I can understand if the film's original soundtrack was stereo, but anything else is just a waste of space. DVD players can downmix the 5.1 sound into stereo.

I don't think this is too off topic, after all, since we're both questioning why certain elements still find their way onto DVDs.

Kinyo

Black bars make the picture BIGGER not smaller and you don't see the whole movie unless you watch it in widescreen. With the exception of most of Kubrick's movies and fullscreen being a movies OAR.

Cornelius1047

And technically, open matte movies (like several of "yours"). It's best when you accept that OAR is the way to go.

Also, maybe some of you need to get your sarcasm radars checked.

K

Rypro 525

oh damn, I didn't realize Ryo was jokin,

RyoHazuki

I guess some people need the smileys at the end of the post more than others.

jekbrown

imo, the main reasons studios make them is to get people to double dip via buying FS early on, and WS later when they get a bigger tv, or see the light etc

j

marioxb

Yeah but what if you don't have a reciever, or don't feel like turning the reciever on? I'm usually too lazy to get up and turn my receiver on and just listen thru the TV speakers. If there was a way to make DTS sound playable thru a TV, then so be it. Why can't DTS be heard without a receiver anyway, while Dolby 5.1 can?

talemyn

  I can't believe he called you an idiot, Ryo!  

And how he's gone . . . three cheers for the mods!  

DonnachaOne

Did you read the bit where I said that DVD players can decode dts? I play dts through my TV speakers all the time.

RyoHazuki

I'll let him know you say so.