When will Wal Mart and Target drop Fullscreen DVD's?
 

We all know how both Target and Wal Mart choose to carry Fullscreen (or foolscreen or pan & scam if you prefer) DVD's when there are two versions of a movie available.

But now that they both have been carrying widescreen TV's for quite a while, and since that format is in the transition stage to becoming the, "Norm" or industry standard, it would seem that these retailers should re-evaluate which format they carry.

Now I know Wal Mart just dropped VHS last year, and both they and Target have a consumer base that is largely NOT on the cutting edge of technology, but at what point do you think they'll make the shift from favoring Fullscreen to carrying Widescreen as their preferred aspect ratio (when there is a choice)?

When people stop worrying about those damn black bars filling up the top and bottom of their screen, preventing the movie from filling the whole screen.

When people stop buying enough of them to make them worth carrying.

Whoah, that was simple!

Well, they'll never know which sells more unless they continue to carry widescreen DVD's beyond the new release stage.

Well this is WalMart & Target you are talking about, so who knows. :shrug:

Snowmaker does make a good point about the black bars.
Trying to explain WS to some people is like :brickwl2: :lol:

When studios stop producing them

Target I can see dumping it, Wal-Mart is the bigger question. The studios are helping though, with WS-only Wild Hogs, Transformers, Spider-Man 3, etc.

A better question is if they may stop selling WIDESCREEN DVDs.

Why would they do that?

They DO sell those newfangled widescreen TV's!

The funny irony is that all of the "J6Ps" that have been buying full screen movies all these years so they don't have to see those "stupid black bars" on the screen are now buying widescreen TVs and now these same movies will be showing "stupid gray bars" on the sides of the screen!

This is the most sound reasoning I have heard. Once studios believe that all the SD, non-widescreen market has dried up, they will stop making both.

Except all those widescreen tvs have stretch modes to fill up the tv. J6P probably won't even notice the stretching.

My in-laws do that. It looks awful, but they don't seem to mind.

I'm guessing that once HD broadcasts become the standard and widescreen is the "normal" aspect ratio that things will change. But not until then. Not at Wal Mart, anyway.

I just wonder how many sales they miss out on - there are a lot of titles that I would have purchased there had they been in widescreen, but I passed because they were in fullscreen only. I can't be the only one who does that...

Exactly. Studios will keep making them as long as people keep buying them.

You are not alone. I only purchase Widescreen DVDs from Wal-Mart regardless of the price. Heck, they could give Full Screen DVDs away and I'd just say, "NO".

I believe we will see a steep drop in the availability of Full Screen DVDs when 50% of American homes have a Widescreen TV. Currently the figure is 28%.

You just answered your own question.

A Large portion of the people who shop at Wal*Mart aren’t exactly the smartest folks when it comes to technology. It’s very frustrating when you here people say, “I don’t like those black bars on the top and bottom, the picture should fill the whole screen!” fu*k me, I almost want to throw my head into the wall (get it! Because I’m at Wal*Mart, ha, ha, ha) when I here those kind of comments all of the time.

I’m not being stereotypical (well I am), but it’s mainly mother’s or older woman in general that are completely ignorant and even if you shout at them and yell, “WIDESCREEN IS BETTER DAMN IT!!!” it goes completely over there head. I can explain it to them at length and they’ll never choose to buy widescreen over full screen.

Oh well, if they want %40 of the picture cut off, its there loss.

Some people are just dumb, I've shown people picture of the differences between widescreen vs foolscreen and they still refuse to believe you're seeing more with WS

Yet another reason why High Definition needs to overtake standard DVDs.

No, with HD and widescreen TVs all we're doing is exchanging one fixed shape for another. While 1.85:1 movies will be able to be sold in one version, what about 2.35:1? They'll start demanding "fullscreen" (16x9) versions of those films. What about 1.33:1? Sure, classics like Citizen Kane and Casablanca are safe from mangling, but what about lesser-regarded material such as TV shows? "Oh, but this fills my widescreen TV. Hey, it's only Knight Rider."

Even education is backfiring in some cases, as some people are finding out how Super35 works and are wanting unmatted 1.78:1 versions of films like King Kong (remake) and LOTR.

Keeping OAR is one reason why I think it may be better if HD discs STAY a niche format (but obviously popular enough for a good selection :)).

They're still making Fullscreen DVDs?

Continued to be made as long as clueless grandmothers troll the isles looking to buy YOU a "hip" Christmas gift.

I don't care if they still make them but I wish they would stop calling them fullscreen. That stupid term only adds to the confusion to people who are convinced they're getting MORE. The opposite of full is empty right?

I'm more afraid of Walmart pushing Hollywood to make 1.78 "fullscreen" HD DVD's to fill those screens, since we now have a ton of J6P buying HD DVD at Walmart.

They did it for 4:3. No reason to think they won't for 16:9. Especially when J6P buys a new widescreen TV expecting the black bars to "go away".

EDIT: Should have paid more attention to Drexl's post. :)

I doubt it will be anytime soon. However more Widescreen only releases like Spider-Man 3 and Ratatouille have been nice.

I did notice something at Wal-Mart on the Spider-Man display. It said available in Widescreen only. Also the display was pretty full. Usually the Wal-Mart new release displays are about half empty a few days later in my area. Either they are making sure its full for Spider-Man, or the Widescreen only is causing a lot of shoppers to not buy the movie.

Give it a few months - and you might see either Blu-ray or HD producing FOOLSCREEN versions for the Wallymart and Target crowd. :) That might increase sales.