Why don't regular cable movies play in Widescreen??
 

I don't get it? With this new age of Widescreen, especially made popular by DVD..why don't most if not all regular cable movies play in Widescreen.
Some channels like IFC or TCM have started to do it. Even some shows like the Sopranos, West Wing and ER are presented in Widescreen.
So what is the deal with not having most movies playing to the like...
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Cable HD channels are widescreen, like HBO HD shows most of their movies in widescreen but if you switch to normal HBO the same movie is playing in full screen. I'm guessing they're pretty much saving the widescreen stuff for the HD channels till it catches on more

Well Scott, there's several reasons.

1. The grand majority still don't understand or appreciate OAR widescreen, sadly.

2. A lot of the stations are using their own master broadcast copies (One might wonder has TBS worn out its The Breakfast Club master at this point). Why waste money getting new broadcast copies, when people will watch anyway?

3. IFC and TCM are niche stations, geared towards a small, but knowledgeable and appreciative audience.

Same reason they still make "fullscreen" DVDs. Many people like it that way. Personally I hate the very term "fullscreen". It is misleading. "Fullscreen" DVDs do not fill my 16:9 screen. Many people who watch movies on cable are uninformed on OAR issues and therefore they are content with the chop job.

TNT/TBS has shown a few movies in widescreen in the past. I know Contact is shown that way for some airings, as well as Selena I believe.

but if Widescreen DVD's well surpass FS in sales and rentals, at least they are always rated above (as well as superior in every aspect such as PQ)..wouldn't stations get the hint as to which the public prefers more...

If the markets were completely identical, then yes, scott1598, I think there'd be a case to switch films to their OAR. As it is, I'm completely confident that if stations witched to OAR right now, there would be an uproar.

Because wide screen tv's are not mainstream as they should be and people dislike black bars.

What the public prefers to buy oppose to watch for free are miles apart. Once HD comes more rampant and a standard you can expect to see more WS presentations

I think this pretty much summed everything up, sad I know but that's how it goes.

A few co-workers and I actually had a discussion about this........there is nothing more annoying than watching a movie on TV in "fullscreen" - It drives me freakin' crazy.

DITTO!

P.S. HBO still P&S`s HD WS Broadcasts.

It's just to 1.77:1 instead of 1.33:1.

also sci fi channel airs some movies in widescreen (final destination, mission to mars, superman, battlefield earth)

It's sad to hear that most people perfer fullscreen I know it's a misleading term but that is the way it is I was in blockbuster video the other day when a customer chewed the clerk out for giving a widescreen movie just because this particular person didn't like the blackbars at the top and bottom of the TV screen go figure.

Damn that is pathetic, I myself just don't know what's so hard to understand about it..........I mean even after you show people the difference they still argue? It just doesn't make any sense.

I could see how someone could not like the "black bars" on widescreen format, but I don't understand how people just can totally deny that you see more with widescreen. oh well, its just a lot of people just not being informed on the topic.

as we speak Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is being shown on FX, full screen and english dubbed. EEEK!

Jesus, it just keeps getting worse!!!

It would be cool if the programs could show up in anamorphic when broadcast. I like how ScI Fi shows alot of movies in WS as well as some other stations now. Maybe shows like Enterprise which are shown in 1.85 would look nice in 16x9. How come this doesnt work? Bandwidth issues with cable?

No, it would require people with 4x3 tvs to watch in tall & stretchy vision and that would just be silly and just annoy more people.

To be fair, they are getting more image. Just less of what was supposed to be shown.

Corvin, that is only the case with movies that are matted for theatrical release, and then opened up for TV.

There are thousands of movies which were *shot* in scope and are horribly cropped and panned and scanned on TV. The widescreen versions of these are the full frame as shot, the fullscreen version shows up to 50% less image.

Watching P/S copies of anything shot in true CinemaScope or Panavision is intolerable.

You can find more info on the net. It sounds like you aren't familiar with all the ways a widescreen movie can be achieved.

Screw 'em and let 'em get with the program that the industry is heading in - i cant wait to hear them bitch about the bars on the sides of their FS DVDs when they ultimately have no choice BUT to buy a 16:9 set and wonder why their DVDs "dont fill their screen anymore"

I think you missed my point. If a film is shown "full screen," and it does fill up the entire standard television set, they are getting more image than they would be getting had it been screened widescreen with black bars at the top and the bottom. I said more image, not correct image. With the cropped picture, 100% of standard television screens are filled. With a widescreen film in its OAR, it's like, what, 60-80%? Thus, more image.

Aren't movies shown on HD channels like HBO not in OAR and are cropped to fit 16:9?