Widescreen vs. Fullscreen

[Shao Feng-Li]

Which would you prefere?

[Allegro]

In general, I like widescreen, even though I own a 'regular' TV.

Like you demonstrated, you lose the original composition of the movie if you chop off to fit fullscreen.

[Night]

In general, I like widescreen, even though I own a 'regular' TV.

Like you demonstrated, you lose the original composition of the movie if you chop off to fit fullscreen.

Basically the same reason. I just want the whole movie.

[bigsleepj]

Wide-screen all the way. You can't watch a Kurosawa or a Sergio Leone movie filmed in wide-screen in a full screen. Riots have been started on these travesties. You don't crop 45% of a movie.

Quick note: Most movies made before 1954 do not have wide-screen since its not been implimented yet. Some movies experimented with it before, but 1954 the new aspect-rations were introduced. So if you complain that your copy of Wizard of Oz is not widescreen, you'll have to be careful not to make a fool of yourself.

[Lynx]

definatly widescreen!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i dont want to miss anything!!!

[shooraijin]

I prefer dual-format DVD because I have a 4:3 TV, but I know in the future I'll probably end up with a widescreen. Best of both worlds.

If I can't buy dual, I buy widescreen.

[Tommy]

I like both, but I went with full because everything that`s missed obviously isn`t that important and I don`t like those black bars.

[bigsleepj]

I like both, but I went with full because everything that`s missed obviously isn`t that important...

I don't want to attack you, but I'd like to say that it is important. That's how the director and the director of photography set up the movie to look. They wanted to make full use of the screen and paint in the corners. If you paint a picture and someone decides to cut half of it away because it is not important for them, would you be happy?

I have watched several movies over the years on full-screen on video. Watching these movies on DVD in full-screen is like seeing a whole other movie. For instance; in the movie Ben-Hur there is a part where Ben-Hur behind a rock - we see Ben-Hur and we hear the words, but we don't see how the people he is hiding from mysteriously exits a dark and forboding cave. Another instance from the same movie - Ben-Hur gives a coin to a blind beggar. In the video, as he walks away, you only hear a 'ting' sound of little consequence. In the DVD you see that beggar has actually slowly tossed the coin away.

In short, it is important because you miss so much of the little things, sometimes. Widescreens are more rewarding. Sure, the black bars can be irritating (i'll give you that) but still they are justified. I don't have a widescreen TV and wont be able to afford one within at least a decade, but still I prefer to see the whole picture.

Here are some excellent wide-screen movies:
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• Ben-Hur
• Yojimbo and its sequel, Sanjuro
• The Last Samurai
• Road to Perdition

[Scribs]

I do not tollerate panning and scanning

[Rexman64]

I own action figures of Star Wars characters that you can't even see in the fullscreen version.

So the widescreen is for me.

[Scepth]

I don't mind watching on widescreen.. but I prefer fullscreen for some reason. >.>;

[soul alive]

Widescreen all the way.

I used to be annoyed by the black bars, since we had a full-screen tv, and thought that they had cropped part of the movie off the top and bottom. But I have long since learned better, and always try to buy/rent widescreen. My laptop being a widescreen really helps, though.

TCM runs a short special every once in a while on the disadvantages of pan and scan, and it really explains well why widescreen is better. You're seeing all of the movie that you were intended to see. Imagine if paintings were cut into pieces in order to fit places, it just wouldn't be right; and IMHO, movies are just as much of an art form as paintings.

Something slightly humorous I've seen is when people take old, pre-widescreen movies or made-for-fullscreen-tv movies and chop the top and bottom off in an attempt to make them widescreen. I've only seen it a couple times, though.

[Roy Mustang]

In general, I like widescreen, even though I own a 'regular' TV.

Like you demonstrated, you lose the original composition of the movie if you chop off to fit fullscreen.

Try telling that to my dad. >_<


I go for widescreen. The only thing that I will watch in full screen is anime that was done in 4:3 and tv shows. Now a days, some anime are in wide screen format.


Wingzero22

[Shao Feng-Li]

I can't stand full screen. Just looks cheap compared to the widescreen. In The Phantom Menace fullscreen version during the podrace, you don't get to see a certain bounty hunter...

[Maledicte]

Widescreen all the way. I'm also very happy that anime is now being produced in widescreen format.

although I did end up buying the pan-and-scan version of Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit on accident. Which is a shame, so many of the visual jokes are lost.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Our family has one tv and it isn't widescreen. But I still prefer widescreen to full screen. Its more cinematic even for tv shows. The only times I would go with full screen is for a bigger image or if that's the only option its available in (older tv shows/movies etc). Widescreen it is for me. Though most of my family prefers fullscreen (for the bigger image).

[Warrior4Christ]

If the DVD is in widescreen IT MUST BE VIEWED IN WIDESCREEN!! It's a rule. Even though we have no 16:9 TVs or monitors. And I get slightly irritated if people use the 'zoom' feature on the DVD player to make it full screen.

[TurkishMonky]

my laptop is also widescreen...

[Mithrandir]

/me just got a new monitor and is now viewing this "Widescreen."

[ShiroiHikari]

I throw a fit if a DVD isn't available in widescreen. Unless of course, it wasn't originally in widescreen anyway, like with older movies or TV shows.

It took a long time to convince my dad that the black bars aren't cutting off any of the movie. :p The bars don't bother me at all, personally.

A good way to explain it is that TVs are square and movie screens are rectangles...therefore, for the rectangle to fit in the square it has to be cut off at the ends, which means you're losing a chunk of the picture.

[Rocketshipper]

I used to hate Widescreen. The black bars drove me crazy. But I was converted to a widescreen supporter by one single DVD. Pokemon 2000. I'd seen the movie in theaters 3 times and loved it, and when I got the full screen DVD the difference was painfully obvious. In some scenes characters would be cut out completly, or you would only be able to see their arm or something on the very edge of the frame. Since then I always get widescreen. I've even made my dad exchange gifts because he bought full screen instead of wide screen ^^

[Shao Feng-Li]

And I get slightly irritated if people use the 'zoom' feature on the DVD player to make it full screen.

It's so retarded when people do that >.<!

[creed4]

Widescreen of course, I used to hate it until I learned that the picture was being cut, now I won't buy full screen if I can avoid it.

[TrigunX89]

Widescreen for me. You get to see the whole picture. Plus, widescreen tv sets are supposed to become standard in the next few years anyway. (no, I don't have one)

[kaji]

Wide Screen for me please! ^_^

[Radical Dreamer]

Oh, I hate watching movies in Fullscreen. I don't even notice the black bars anymore, I watch widescreen so often. Unfortunately, my copy of The Last Samurai is in Fullscreen, since I was in a hurry when I bought it and forgot to check. T_T It's not like, the END of the world if I end up with Full, I still have the movie, but Widescreen is SOOO much better. SO much.

[Shao Feng-Li]

Widescreen for me. You get to see the whole picture. Plus, widescreen tv sets are supposed to become standard in the next few years anyway. (no, I don't have one)

MY dad said that about TV a couple of years ago. Now you go anywhere and you'll find widescreen TVs. We used to owna big screen widescreen tv... but we sold it >.<!

[GrubbTheFragger]

yea widescreen =more detail

[creed4]

I play around with the zoom on my dad tv the last time I visted, but I notice it croped some of the show

[SVD997]

I used to hate widescreen until I fully understood that I was actually getting more. Now, I must have it. :-)