What's the difference between...

[Nixxxed]

Originally Posted by amber

that's cool. Mines on my computer, but I'll look for that.

Do you watch DVDs on your computer, or do you play them on your DVD drive and export the image to your TV? (I've never understood how to do that...)

[DrummerDeanna]

Well even if full-screen dvds are a "waste of money" I HATE widescreen - it's the most annoying thing ever ...

And I've never once felt like I've missed some vital part of a movie because it wasn't in widescreen

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by Nixxxed

Do you watch DVDs on your computer, or do you play them on your DVD drive and export the image to your TV? (I've never understood how to do that...)

Many computers have an S-video jack in them - some even have the other, better jacks - in fact, many come with a remote control like a stand alone DVD player. The trend is moving to a desktop (or even laptop) as your media center as evidenced at Gateway.com, dell.com, hp.com, etc. It makes sense because you can record onto a HUGE 250MB hard drive (and add two or three more in the actual computer and then there are always the USB ones) and manipulate the image and then burn the DVD. It really is a cool thing once you get the hang of it.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by DrummerDeanna

Well even if full-screen dvds are a "waste of money" I HATE widescreen - it's the most annoying thing ever ...

And I've never once felt like I've missed some vital part of a movie because it wasn't in widescreen

I used to think that until I saw a doc. on wide screen. So much is missing, esp. in epics and large production films. So, I am glad HD widescreens are available now.

[amber]

Originally Posted by Nixxxed

Do you watch DVDs on your computer, or do you play them on your DVD drive and export the image to your TV? (I've never understood how to do that...)

I watch them on my computer.

[Miss Vicky]

Originally Posted by amber

Actually, though, widescreen really irritates me, even though I know I'm getting more picture. Those black bars at the bottom and top drive me to distraction. They really make me feel like I'm not getting the full picture. Sad, but true.

I totally agree. Widescreen is the devil. It's bad enough trying to watch movies on my small tv, but when half the screen is taken up by those stupid black bars it's just ridiculous.

[DrummerDeanna]

Originally Posted by Miss Vicky

I totally agree. Widescreen is the devil. It's bad enough trying to watch movies on my small tv, but when half the screen is taken up by those stupid black bars it's just ridiculous.

Thank you!! I agree....

I don't care what anyone says - I DO NOT like widescreen.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I used to think that until I saw a doc. on wide screen. So much is missing, esp. in epics and large production films. So, I am glad HD widescreens are available now.

I watched Cold Mountain in the theatre, then rented the pan & scan video when it came out on video because all of the other copies were gone. And let me tell you, when Nicole Kidman's breasts and Jude Law's ass are both lopped off from the side so that you can't even see them, you know full screen is the devil.

Not to mention how absurd the opening battle was with half of the picture cut off.

[trackaghost]

I think you people should all just buy Widescreen TVs!

It's hard to buy anything else here in the UK. Even the BBC broadcasts a lot of its stuff in widescreen these days.

I love widescreen personally.

[David]

Originally Posted by DrummerDeanna

Well even if full-screen dvds are a "waste of money" I HATE widescreen - it's the most annoying thing ever ...

It takes a little getting used to.

And I've never once felt like I've missed some vital part of a movie because it wasn't in widescreen

It all depends on how you approach your film-watching, Deanna. Those who tend to have more of an interest in the artistic side of cinema -- in the framing, the composition, the formalistic elements of directorial & cinematographic style -- generally demand seeing films in the state in which they were intended to be seen, & that always means in the aspect ratio that was originally filmed. If you're watching on a typical TV screen or monitor, that means you need to watch a widescreen aspect ratio for most films made in the past 35 or 40 years or so.

I would imagine that, for the majority of TV watchers, who just want to see a movie on their boob tube & don't really care whether the integrity of a director's or a cinematographer's vision is retained, a pan & scan or a lopped off frame (which is standard on TV broadcasts) is no big deal.

[David]

Originally Posted by amber

Those black bars at the bottom and top drive me to distraction. They really make me feel like I'm not getting the full picture. Sad, but true.

Here's how I first dealt with the weirdness of the black spaces across top & bottom of TV screen: Use your imagination while watching a film. Pretend you are a tiny person (like 6 inches tall) sitting in a theater properly sized to your imaginary height, with a huge theater screen (your TV) in front of you in proper theater screen ratio (a long rectangular box). Those black spaces on your TV screen will, in your mind's eye, just disappear. Concentrate ONLY on the film frame in front of you, & just keep imagining you are in a Lilliputian theater, watching a gigantic movie screen.

There's even a sort of fetishistic pleasure in the idea of having your own miniature theater in front of you; it gives you a stronger sense of "ownership" of the image.

[tynan88]

I love and hate widescreen. We have a widescreen plasma TV...it is great (In Australia we don't have HD yet but quality is still awesome) but what I hate is that with widescreen TV's if you watch a widescreen movie...somehow it still shows up in letterbox (with black bars on top and bottom) or with pan and scan it appears stretched! It is so frustrating but the only draw back to having a $5,000 TV