With some of the depressing FS vs. WS posts, I thought I would mention I have successfully converted two people to the Widescreen side. One is my sister and the other is a friend of mine. Basically put, I've been telling them they will eventually buy a "widescreen tv", and all of their fullscreen movies will look "square". Seems to work pretty well and now they both are only buying widescreen movies with the understanding the movies will currently be "squished" on their regular televisions, but when they get a widescreen, it will be much better.

If you convert them when they're young, you have them for life.

Oh no! You mean all my movies on DVD are "squished" ? ? ? ? That didn't used to be a problem with VHS ......

IMO, it's only truely successful if they understand the concept of AOR and why it's preferred.

But it's a good start

Nice work!

Only 149,999,998 people left to convert.

"Adult Oriented Rock"?

AOR= Animated Open Rectum

After Orgy Recalls

Cool! Two more and you get the toaster!

Back in my video store days, it was nice when I could convince people about OAR (usually I used the dollar bill technique). Most people are so pig-headed though... "I paid for a 50-inch TV, not a 20-inch", that sort of thing.

No, I'm not a big fan of people.

Convert the heathens!

I'm well on my way to converting everyone to fullscreen..


My guess is that more people that buy fullscreen & less widescreen, the MORE widescreen will be available and the cheaper it will be!

Agreed. I think my 7 year old daughter already understands the benefit....At least she says she does....who knows if she truly gets it.....

I agree with you there...I noticed that at many of my local stores, there are often much more WS left on the shelf than FS. No price differences yet, but I see where you are going with this one.

with a name like yours, you should have a quota to convert two a day.

Over the holidays I converted 2.5 people. 2.5 you ask? Well 2 people saw the benefit, one guy is soooo fucking stubbon, he kinda doesn't want believe it (even thought I've shown him simple demostrations on how it works). I can now sleep at night.

Well, that's a good start, but I would have left off the "squished" comment. Because that's no truely accurate. I assume you mean that there'll be black bars, but that said, I'm not sure what other term you could use to describe the effect.

The best method that I can come up with, is to take two $20 bills, tear or cut one in approximately a 4:3 shape. Then when trying to explain to a person what the difference is between FS and WS, give the person who you're trying to educate the 4:3 bill, and then show them your full $20 bill. Then say, "Here, you go buy your FS DVD with that, and I'll go buy my WS DVD with this." Or if $20 is too much to waste like that, just use a $1 bill.

as a total aside, you only need 51% of the bill for it to be legal. so, does a 4:3 ratio reduce this to less than that? and of course, there's the folding technique....

i'm a WS-er, so dont say i'm advocating full screen, however....

until the HD-age really takes hold, i dont think it's simple to say FS is unilaterally bad.

do you miss stuff? yes. is it distracting to see things panning? yes.

but in the end, a 27" 4:3 tv is just that. and a WS movie on that tv isn't maximizing the screen size. which does kinda suck. and unless you turn out all the lights, it's quite obvious that there's these big black squares on the tv. it can be a little distracting.

personally, WS is the way to go, but for others the amount you miss may just not be a big deal. generally you aren't going to be missing key elements in a FS movie. if it's off to the side, well, that's whats panning is for.

when the HD age comes about, widescreen tvs will certainly be more prevalent. but for now, we have to wait for two divergent medias to converge.

(hopefully i'm just showing the FS/WS thing isn't so cut and dry)

Well, personally, I don't notice the bars all that much anymore, even on my 32" Flatscreen. I watch the movie, I don't watch the black bars. And it's as pretty simple as that. As Roger Ebert once said, "If the black bars bother you, take the movie back because obviously the movie isn't that good if you're watching the black bars."

The only time a FS movie would be watchable is if it's just a comedy or something similar where a WS image wouldn't really show you all that more. But for any epic movie or in any movie that the cinematography is important, then WS is only way to go.

I guess that poor guy won't make the mistake of trying to buy Citizen Kane while you're around again.













But seriously, do you have to tape another $20 to the top and bottom of the first if it's open matte?

well i think they're all still watchable. i mean, FS has been around for many many years.

oddly, i could bend this argument to support some of lucas' modifications to star wars.

the importance of cinematography only goes so far. at some point, the consumer is the one who determines whats important. while watching Hero in FS might be more than slightly retarded, i'm not sure the story of the film would be terribly affected. and so some people might just want the story and not care about nuances, artistry and the like.

(and so you know, if we suggest that movies should be seen as directors intended, then we should permit directors to change them too to better suit their original idea, as lucas has said.)

way to go...I cant believe I ever thought full screen was better until my friends converted me.

next time read the entire conversation. i believe i say four times in my first post i say i prefer WS. and i guess saying 'watching Hero in FS might be more than slightly retarded' was lost on you.

but at least you're promoting healthy discussion.

I think Libby was responding to the OP . . .