The Infidel

I just bought 2010 (Warner Brothers) from Best Buy in their bargain rack for $5.99. It's a movie I've wanted to get for a long time, but it's one of those I knew would always be there, so there was no hurry. At this price, I went ahead and picked it up. On the back, it said "Enhanced for widescreen TV's", which I knew, based on all my other DVD purchases, always means anamorphic. It's not. It's a flipper disc with standard on one side and widescreen on the other, but the widescreen is simply letterboxed, but not anamorphic.

I have several movies, although not that many, that are non-anamorphic, simply because they weren't available any other way. This is my first purchase that was erroneous in its claim of being anamorphic. Should I take it back or just suck it up and enjoy it for what it is?

Are there any other movies that say anamorphic or enhanced that aren't?

B5Erik

I've had the same thing come up with Outland and Judge Dredd. I suppose you could write to the studio and complain, but until anamorphic versions are released the non-anamorphic versions are worth hanging on to.

DavidH

Studios have been amazingly lazy and sloppy with misinformation about anamorphic DVDs/widescreens on certain movies. For myself, I will not purchase any movie that is non-anamorphic, as it just looks like sh*t on my display. I am hoping they will re-release about 5 or 6 movies I have that are non-anamorphic widescreen (Armageddon stands out in mind).

The Infidel

I try to do the same myself, so my non-anamorphic movies are minimal. When you have a widescreen TV, it's just so damn difficult to bring yourself to buy anything less than what your set deserves.

The Infidel

I'm bumping my own thread since I got screwed again on this same thing.

I just joined CH again, and I would swear that on their website it said The Villain was anamorphic. I haven't seen the movie in a long time, and I liked finding it was anamorphic, so I ordered it. I received it today with my other movies, I popped it in, and the damn thing is fullscreen! I looked at the back of the package, where it reads, "Digitally mastered audio and anamorphic video". I'm thinking ok, so what's the problem? Then I read further down the line, "Full screen presentation". D'OH! And sure enough, it even repeats it at the bottom of the sleeve, "Presented in a FULL SCREEN VERSION which has been reformatted to fit your TV".

I check back on CH's website, and sure enough, there's no mention now of it being widescreen at all, let alone anamorphic. I know it stated it when I ordered it, otherwise why would I have been looking forward to seeing it as an anamorphic feature?!?

Do the studios do this on purpose...make you think you're buying something you're not, just to push discs that they feel might not be selling well? If so, it's a pretty rotten trick.

Oh well. I'm just ranting. I'm going to bed now.

Drexl

Oh, it's just another Columbia title that dropped the widescreen side. There's an official list of those titles somewhere on the forum but I can't find it.

The problem with these titles is that they don't change the UPC codes. The info on the websites about a disc is tied to the UPC code, so naturally it doesn't change when a downgrade is released with the same code.

I could be wrong, but I also think that they don't issue press releases for these, so we have to rely on anecdotal evidence of their existence. The list that was put out (it's in a thread somewhere, I know) was done after the titles were downgraded, and for some of them, the WS/FS versions had become quite hard to find.

KnightLerxst

2010 is a movie that is in dire need of a new anamorphic transfer...it is a shame that the studio has not done so yet.

The Infidel

So when you say "downgrade", are you saying that Villain was originally released anamorphic?

Jah-Wren Ryel

Yes, sony/columbia has been "re-releasing" some of their flipper discs as single-sided only. Most of those were anamorphic widescreen on one side and FS on the other, but now most of them are just FS. Like he said, sony does not change the UPC and sometimes they keep the same packaging that still says WS/FS.

IMO, Sony really deserves a class action lawsuit for these practices, it's outright fraud to knowingly use packaging that says FS/WS for FS-only discs and even when the packaging has been corrected, continuing to use the same UPC for what is essentially a different product is highly deceptive.

milo bloom

Don Juan Demarco was re-issued in a keepcase but erroneously printed as being anamorphic. I went thru hell returning it at Best Buy, with one of the managers trying to give me the "anamorphic vs matted" filming process bullshit. (Incidentally, the same BS so many Lucas defenders tried to use on the Star Wars issue. I hope that release prompts a huge wave of returns when people figure out the theatrical versions aren't 16x9) Best Buy eventually refunded my money probably just to get me out of their hair.

I have 2010 from when I didn't have a 16x9 display, and I'll gladly double dip for a new transfer.