# I Pit Widescreen DVD's **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 7, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-widescreen-dvds/283582 "2005-01-07T16:07:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-widescreen-dvds/283582/61 "2005-01-10T14:12:16Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > You all keep saying this, but you seem totally oblivious that you are missing detail by shrinking the picture. I also have a cheap-ass 27" TV. With widescreen, I may be missing detail, but there’s only a few instances where it has even been a minor annoyance. I can still see each sparking diamond on Satine’s bodice. Once in a while, I can’t read a note some character’s holding. I suspect that when the note was five feet high on a movie screen, I probably could have made it out. But never has it mattered in terms of understanding the story, the motivations, or the (what was it Milos said?) “the pace, content, and story; and the meaning of the film is still conveyed”. In contrast, a poorly done Pan and Scan does interfere with those things, for reasons already listed. A well-done 3.5 film doesn’t. At that point, it becomes viewer’s choice. I happen to be very fond of long tracking shots and deep focus. I was indeed that geeky college student who got all excited when learning about Mise en Scene in _Citizen Kane_. They make me happy. They look like shit in a 4:3 ratio. Ergo, I prefer widescreen, even for many TV shows. ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-widescreen-dvds/283582/62 "2005-01-21T18:56:27Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Well, now that more and more TVs are going 16:9, I think you can expect more of this. I know that HBO shows Sopranos in widescreen, and “Lost” has a widescreen broadcast, too. Within a few years, I hope that it’s the dominant format for TV and that broadcasting reflects it… For now, if you have wide-screen you can clearly tell that a baseball game (or whatever) is still framed for a 4:3. Hopefully they’ll start changing that when widescreen (if widescreen) becomes the dominant format. Ummmm… you _do_ know that the HDTV standard calls for a 16:9 ratio by default, right? And that a few years from now - whenever the FCC grows enough backbone to put their foot down about HDTV adoption by everyone - it’ll be _impossible_ to buy a 4:3 TV anymore (except perhaps for “special use” TVs like those used in kiosks and in cars, etc.) The FCC keeps putting it off and putting it off - wasn’t HDTV-only broadcasting supposed to happen in 2001 or 2002… then in 2005 then in 2006 and now it’s 2009? Or something like that? Whatever - it makes no difference, as these whiny 4:3 bitches will be out of luck by then and foolscreen will die the horrible, horrible death it deserves. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-widescreen-dvds/283582/63 "2005-01-21T19:11:41Z")
What about the arguments my mother keeps making? I keep telling her, wide-screen is better, but she keeps insisting, “But those black bars cut off the top and the bottom!” :smack: Hopefully, I’ll be able to convince her by showing her those comparison links. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-widescreen-dvds/283582/64 "2005-01-21T19:15:25Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Hopefully, I’ll be able to convince her by showing her those comparison links. Print them out and keep them on your person at all times. I especially like the “Stigmata” fullscreen/widescreen selection screen. ---
**Author:** ![Ink\_a\_dink\_a\_dink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ec9cab/32.png) [@Ink\_a\_dink\_a\_dink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ink_a_dink_a_dink)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-widescreen-dvds/283582/65 "2005-01-21T22:44:04Z")
We got a 50" plasma HDTV. Widescreen is the way to go. Especially when out TV settings also allow us to move the image so it takes up the whole screen. So none of the bars. Nice! Inky ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-widescreen-dvds/283582/66 "2005-01-21T23:40:48Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > You all keep saying this, but you seem totally oblivious that you are missing detail by shrinking the picture. I’d rather average out the detail loss across the whole image than have nice detail on 2/3rds and no detail at all on the part that was completely removed. Sometimes the missing portion is merely annoying, but sometimes it totally jacks up the movie. [See here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=295760) ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-widescreen-dvds/283582/67 "2005-01-22T14:26:12Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > Wasn’t **Casablanca** shot in 1.33:1 aspect ratio? Yup. And if you’re ever watching a Fred and Ginger film in widescreen, you’re missing everything that makes it worth watching… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-widescreen-dvds/283582.md?page=3)