I Hates Widescreen !!!!

[Walter Hale 4]

Is there anyone out there who is frustrated with widescreen format ?
I'm especially talking about the ones where even when you view them on Plasma tv, they still have those black cut bars on the top and bottom of the screen where you only see 3/4 of the screen. I know that widescreen has more on the sides and is what was originally shown in theatres, but i got a Plasma TV and it does feel like I am wasting it by watching a three quarter image.

I mean why watch a classic relic such as 20 Century Fox production "The Young Lions" when you can only see half of it right? I think that it's so stupid, on a widescreen tv, the picture should fill in the whole screen. Tonight I find myself trying to re-record the movie using a program called Movavi 5 Video Suite and one of it's features is cropping the black spaces. What do others think about this issue ?

[ColinB]

Is there anyone out there who is frustrated with widescreen format ?
I'm especially talking about the ones where even when you view them on Plasma tv, they still have those black cut bars on the top and bottom of the screen where you only see 3/4 of the screen. I know that widescreen has more on the sides and is what was originally shown in theatres, but i got a Plasma TV and it does feel like I am wasting it by watching a three quarter image.

I mean why watch a classic relic such as 20 Century Fox production "The Young Lions" when you can only see half of it right? I think that it's so stupid, on a widescreen tv, the picture should fill in the whole screen. Tonight I find myself trying to re-record the movie using a program called Movavi 5 Video Suite and one of it's features is cropping the black spaces. What do others think about this issue ?

So long as the screen is big enough to show a decent-sized picture, I don't see any harm in the black bars.

At least you're not missing any of the action !

[Dan_T]

The only thing I don't like about some widescreen films is that they are cropped at the top and bottom.

Jailhouse Rock DVD is cropped top and bottom, not sure about the Blu Ray as I haven't seen it.

[Tony Trout]

I, personally, love widescreen because that's the way the movie was intended to be watched when it was produced and released to theatres/movie cinemas.

For example (since this is an Elvis forum): Give me a widescreen version of "Elvis On Tour" or "That's The Way It Is" over a full-screen version any day.

[joshferrell]

I like widescreen because you see the whole picture,for the most part, even though sometimes the companies will be cheap and crop the tops and bottom off but I think that's pretty rare,I've seen some public domain movies mostly kung fu movies like the bruce lee stuff etc and public domain horror movies where they won't even crop the tops and bottom all they do with some of those is take a fullscreen and squish it down to make a widescreen so everyone looks like they have short legs , ..the other thing that annoys me is the whole Pan and Scan thing,that's where you see NO background just peoples faces and then they pan from one face to another as they talk to each other and their bodies are stretched out and don't look right, but if you watch the same movie on a widescreen you see both people in the same scene and there is no movement from person to person,pan and scan was huge in the 70's and 80's,they still do that now a days a little but they just kind of focus the screen somewhere in the middle when they do a full screen so the sides and the top and bottom is cropped off...so I prefer widescreen myself as long as it's real and not cropped or squished..but to each his own I always say.. now if they start turning old black and white movies from the 20-the early 50's into widescreen I'm going to be pissed...lol..

[Dan_T]

yes i hate widescreen to if i had away i would but all of my elvis vhs movies on dvd

Really ? there's alot of footage of Elvis in the latest batch of DVD's that hadn't seen the light of day since their cinema release, the horrible Pan n Scan releases on VHS cut loads of Elvis out, as well as the other actors.

I love widescreen, but as I said earlier. its annoying when you know they've cropped the top and bottom.

[Mike Eder]

I just don't like when people have their widescreen set so it squishes the 4:3 picture.

[dannyboy1]

I don't really understand the complaint of people who think the "horrible black bars" mean they are missing part of the picture. In fact you are not missing anything!!!! You are getting the whole picture!!! The only time you're missing part of the picture is when you DON'T have the bars and the original 16:9 picture is trimmed down at the sides to fit a 4:3 screen. But even I would prefer that to a pic squished out of its correct aspect ratio.

[Dan_T]

I don't really understand the complaint of people who think the "horrible black bars" mean they are missing part of the picture. In fact you are not missing anything!!!! You are getting the whole picture!!! The only time you're missing part of the picture is when you DON'T have the bars and the original 16:9 picture is trimmed down at the sides to fit a 4:3 screen. But even I would prefer that to a pic squished out of its correct aspect ratio.

In most cases that's true, but not always...as stated earlier, Jailhouse Rock has picture missing from both the top and bottom of the screen...you can see it during the Jailhouse Rock production number.

[dannyboy1]

I'm aware that there are exceptions, depending on the way individual releases present the films. I was talking in a general sense.

[ColinB]

Films come in a variety of ratios.

Whether they are widescreen or not, TV screens come in a fixed size.

So, if you're not going to crop some picture off, a picture that has black bars, either top & bottom or on each side, is a necessity.

One day, maybe, we'll have a TV screen that is flexible & 'adapts' to the ratio of the picture being watched !

[Mitch]

I don't mind the Widescreen versions but I'm kind of old school and prefer the Full Screen versions.

[rocknroller]

I love widescreen ! the only true way to view a movie.

[Chris Roberts]

I love widescreen and to be able to see a cinemascope movie just as you see it at the picture house. I do agree you need a large TV to do it justice. I have 50" Panasonic and am also able to adjust a 2.35:I picture to a 16:9 format without any distortion but, of course, then lose quite a lot from each side of the film. As such I almost always watch in cinemascope. My pet hate is Pan and Scan.

Chris.

[lucio]

Is there anyone out there who is frustrated with widescreen format ?
I'm especially talking about the ones where even when you view them on Plasma tv, they still have those black cut bars on the top and bottom of the screen where you only see 3/4 of the screen. I know that widescreen has more on the sides and is what was originally shown in theatres, but i got a Plasma TV and it does feel like I am wasting it by watching a three quarter image.

I mean why watch a classic relic such as 20 Century Fox production "The Young Lions" when you can only see half of it right? I think that it's so stupid, on a widescreen tv, the picture should fill in the whole screen. Tonight I find myself trying to re-record the movie using a program called Movavi 5 Video Suite and one of it's features is cropping the black spaces. What do others think about this issue ?

I agree with you 100%. Wish they never invented widescreen.
Lucio

[rocknroller]

Is there anyone out there who is frustrated with widescreen format ?
I'm especially talking about the ones where even when you view them on Plasma tv, they still have those black cut bars on the top and bottom of the screen where you only see 3/4 of the screen. I know that widescreen has more on the sides and is what was originally shown in theatres, but i got a Plasma TV and it does feel like I am wasting it by watching a three quarter image.

I mean why watch a classic relic such as 20 Century Fox production "The Young Lions" when you can only see half of it right? I think that it's so stupid, on a widescreen tv, the picture should fill in the whole screen. Tonight I find myself trying to re-record the movie using a program called Movavi 5 Video Suite and one of it's features is cropping the black spaces. What do others think about this issue ?

I agree with you 100%. Wish they never invented widescreen.
Lucio

Your so wrong lucio but since your such a big ricky nelson fan i will let it slide

[KiwiAlan]

Iget a little miffed when watching widescreen transmissions when an older program comes on in 4x3. MASH is a good example.

[BrianTCB]

Is there anyone out there who is frustrated with widescreen format ?
I'm especially talking about the ones where even when you view them on Plasma tv, they still have those black cut bars on the top and bottom of the screen where you only see 3/4 of the screen. I know that widescreen has more on the sides and is what was originally shown in theatres, but i got a Plasma TV and it does feel like I am wasting it by watching a three quarter image.

I mean why watch a classic relic such as 20 Century Fox production "The Young Lions" when you can only see half of it right? I think that it's so stupid, on a widescreen tv, the picture should fill in the whole screen. Tonight I find myself trying to re-record the movie using a program called Movavi 5 Video Suite and one of it's features is cropping the black spaces. What do others think about this issue ?

Widescreen is the format of the film that was shot in the original aspect ratio that the director intended (assuming the film itself was shot in widescreen, of which around 99.9% of films these days are shot for the cinema). Now, what you should consider hating is Pan & Scan because if you cut a 2.35:1 aspect ratio picture down to 1.33:1 (pan and scan) then you lose a significant amount of the picture that won't be viewed on ANY SCREEN! That's the big money waster.

Why should I buy a film anyway when that version of the film removes nearly half of its original picture just for the 4:3 square TVs?

[KiwiAlan]

Are 4 x 3 TV.s stil made?

[Claus]

In most cases that's true, but not always...as stated earlier, Jailhouse Rock has picture missing from both the top and bottom of the screen...you can see it during the Jailhouse Rock production number.

Are you sure about this? Has the missing footage appeared on other formats? (vhs, laserdisc). Maybe it was the way it was meant to be seen and the top and buttom was masked.

The Matrix was filmed in 1:37:1 but shown in theaters in 2.40:1, just like the filmmaker wanted it.

[Dan_T]

In most cases that's true, but not always...as stated earlier, Jailhouse Rock has picture missing from both the top and bottom of the screen...you can see it during the Jailhouse Rock production number.

Are you sure about this? Has the missing footage appeared on other formats? (vhs, laserdisc). Maybe it was the way it was meant to be seen and the top and buttom was masked.

The Matrix was filmed in 1:37:1 but shown in theaters in 2.40:1, just like the filmmaker wanted it.

Yes,VHS.

I checked years ago, cropped.

Don't know if the Blu Ray differs from the DVD versions though.

I'm pretty sure that the best version, as far as no cropping of the the top and bottom, is the colourised VHS version, it has Elvis in full frame, check these two clips, the B/W version pans in just below his knees, the colour version keeps him in full frame, now I noticed that my DVD version does the same thing.

..

..

Yep, just checked the widescreen DVD version and as you can see below it's croppoed when there really is no need.

..

[ColinB]

...One day, maybe, we'll have a TV screen that is flexible & 'adapts' to the ratio of the picture being watched !

I just thought of something.

Maybe the above isn't so far-fetched !

Remember the old days at the cinema, when, after watching the first feature, adverts, cartoons, & news on a screen apparently 4:3, the curtains would then draw further back, revealing that it was actually a huge widescreen, all ready to watch the main film on !

[keninlincs]

Widescreen all the way for me

[Claus]

Yes,VHS.

I checked years ago, cropped.

Don't know if the Blu Ray differs from the DVD versions though.

I'm pretty sure that the best version, as far as no cropping of the the top and bottom, is the colourised VHS version, it has Elvis in full frame, check these two clips, the B/W version pans in just below his knees, the colour version keeps him in full frame, now I noticed that my DVD version does the same thing.

I found this:

The 2.55:1 ratio was pretty much dead by 1957 when the last holdout, Fox, adopted magoptical over mag-only prints. From that point until the early 1970s a standard of 2.35:1 was used; however, there is usually slight matting in theatres which results in a theatrical aspect ratio closer to 2.40:1.

http://www.widescreen.org/aspect_ratios.shtml#cinemascope

[Claus]

Did some more research and it turns out that Jailhouse Rock isn't a real cinemascope film. It was either shot at a 1.33:1 or 2:00:1 aspect ratio and matted to 2.35:1 for theatrical release. This explains why there is more picture on the top and bottom of the frame in the colorized version than the current dvd.

The dvd/bd presents the film as shown in theaters.