Looking at some of my older discs, I see that some companies used to offer both WS & FS versions on the same disc, either through menus or having one version on each side of the disc (which kind of sucked). Any theories as to why this isn't done anymore? If there was just one version instead of 2, I wouldnt get sent the crappy FS version from online stores all the time instead of the WS, and going through the exchange hassle.

They still do. Most recently, "Christmas With the Kranks". I think it's a DVD-5, and it has NO special features, only a couple of trailers for other movies. I didn't spot any transitioning when I watched it last night. The biggest reasons they don't make 10's as much anymore is because of marketing, and because "flippers" suck.

Space.

Extra audio tracks like DTS, documentary material, etc. limits a lot of movies to just one version on a side. If studios put both version of a film on one side, with extra audio and supplemental material, picture quality would suffer due to compression issues.

I would definitely rather buy a disc with only widescreen as opposed to having both on a disc, for the same reason as was stated above. With both on one side of a disc you can pretty much forget about any extras, there aren't going to be audio options- DTS would be out of the question- and chances are pretty good that the movie itself is going to look at best average. Those discs that used to offer the buyers both tend to look like they were rushed from print to disc with no tender loving care whatsoever; in fact they tend to be the same discs that people are clamouring to see be rereleased.

In addition to the limited space thing (which can be solved by using a flipper, by the way), here's my "conspiracy theory" reason:

The studios realized that -- in the long run -- they'll make more money releasing FS and WS separately.

Just think, as wide-screen TVs become the norm, all the customers who complained about the "black bars at the top and bottom of the screen" are going to realize their perception was wrong and that much more of the image can be seen with widescreen TVs and widescreen DVDs.

Then they are going to run out and replace a number of their favorite DVDs with the widescreen versions, thus lining the studios pockets with extra money for the same exact title. The customers wouldn't have to replace the DVDs if they had both versions on the DVD.

I really doubt the general population is that smart. My mom is a great example of this. She buys both FF & WS DVD's, but has a 16x9 TV at home. All FF material is stretched horizontally to fit the screen. I'm fairly certain that most people will just do that, rather than re-buy a title. I'd guess that generally, most people (not the ones here at DVDtalk, of course) are less concerned about how the picture looks and more concerned that the picture fills their screen.

I've lost count of the number of times I've been over to someone's house and seen an expensive 16x9 TV showing a warped picture stretched (poorly) to fill the screen.

I agree -- people who object to these "black bars" don't care too much about composition or ratios. And running out to buy some widescreen titles will *still* give them black bars (if the film is 2.35:1). They'll just stretch their 1.33:1 material to fill the screen, adding insult to injury.

(Some HD channels already do this during commercials, and even programming. TNT-HD comes to mind.)

I'm glad they don't do this, waste of space and I wouldn't watch fullscreen anyway.

I still see it every now and then. Some companies do it more often than others. New Line seemed to do it very often, although they never seem to do it anymore.

I'm glad they stopped doing it. Saves more room for extra features.

why put an improper aspect ratio when you could use that space for extra features that would actually be useful.

Looks like Christmas With The Kranks is one of those discs with both WS and FS, and as it was released today that's about as recent as they come.

If it's a movie I am really interested in, and they pull this crap, it means more than likely it's a flipper DVD, and I won't buy it. I will either track down a better edition over seas or wait for a new edition here with anamorphic widescreen and bonus features.

...or forced previews and ads.

"Melinda & Melinda" (which just came out) is also double-sided, single layer.

I don't like disks that put ws and fs on each side. For one thing, I can barely read the print around the tiny center hole. For another, I never know if WS on one side means that that side should be up or down for WS (could someone please tell me if there is a universal convention or rule on this??? THANKS!).

Best, D

If you can read WS, then insert that side up.

(They print the label such that you should be able to read what side you want to view as it is sitting in the tray.)

Unless of course, it is a flipper with writing on only one side... Then to play 'side A', you insert the disc with writing up. And the side with no writing will be 'side B'.

I qould rather have the extras space used for a double transfer used to have a less compressed OAR transfer, or other bonus features, or a DTS track.

Heh.