Widescreen or Full Screen?

[GameMaster]

Where did you get your cool wallpaper?

[Null]

somone made that on deviantart.

[DimHalo]

I always get widescreen. When I first started getting dvds I thought full screen was better, but I didn't care much... i just bought whatever. At the time all the movies i got ended up with both options.

Now I only get widescreen unless i make a mistake. I like the way it looks better.

My mom only buys the full screen. She hates the black lines.

[Null]

well next time shes watching a movie ask her whats going on to the left and right, and when she says she doesnt know, say BECAUSE YOU CAN SEE OVER THERE!

why buy a movie when your not getting it all. and someday when she gets a new TV, every movie she has is going to have even thicker black lines to the left and right.


people have gotten me full screen movie as a gift before, i return em and get wide, heh.

[GameMaster]

Which begs the question, why don't DVDs just have both options on one disc? I think some of my early DVDs have both just like JS was talking about.

[Null]

a few reasons.

the few i have and have seen with both on it, have it on both sides of the disc, one is wide one is full.

reason 1. people actually like seeing a graphic on the top of the disc rather then both be a data side. more appealing to people.

reason 2. space, ones i have with both formats on the same disc dont have much in the way of special features. not a big reason, but it plays a part in some ways.

reason 3, the main reason... Money. theres a number of reasons why they get more money releasing both formats.. one i always argue is that everyone buying full screen now because they dont like black bars... will end up rebuying movies in widescreen years later when hdtv's become standard.

[GameMaster]

Well, looking back on my collection, not all of them are full screen. Just some of the really good ones like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. -_-

Based on the opinions and research that's presented in this thread, I'm going to start buying widescreen.

I won't be replacing the current full screen films that I have though. Sure, I'm missing out on some of the onscreen details, but all the important stuff is still visible.

Here's a side question: I've been looking at some TV series at Amazon and I noticed they don't have a widescreen specification. I assume that because they are TV shows that were designed for viewing on televisions, they are by default full screen and nothing is missing becuase that is the way they were originally filmed. Am I right?

[DimHalo]

Originally Posted by Null

well next time shes watching a movie ask her whats going on to the left and right, and when she says she doesnt know, say BECAUSE YOU CAN SEE OVER THERE!

I've actually done that. She doesn't care.

We also had a huge wide screen tv and she really didn't like that. Because all of the regular tv shows had all the blank space on either side.

She's pretty open to change, but I think this is one thing she doesn't want to budge on.


As for the two options on one disc... mine have graphics on them but there's not much for extras. I like my extras so i'll choose those over having both options. (Although, widescreen isn't much fun on a little tv... but I don't have that problem now that i've replaced my 13 inch tv with a 20 inch)

[Null]

widescreen is also a more natural field of view. normal vision from your eyes if you think aobut it is widescreen. in full screen people are actually looking up and down more then they need to, with wide it allows your eyes to stay more centered and still pick up everything easier.


and i know what you mean about widescreen on a little TV... luckily for me tho, my ipod has the option to watch in wide screen, or zoom in and take up the full ipod screen... very nice feature

[BreakABone]

I don't care either way.

And it really depends.

Movies I don't care one way or another.

Most TV broadcasts come in fullscreen so go with that as well.

I mean I can understand the difference, but its just a picture.. or maybe I'm just not a details person.