Widescreen is OK for fancy features but for gonzo, it's hard enough to find directors who can capture a decent angle in 4:3 let alone 16:9 !

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2.35 is too wide

T.C.

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International Booty #6 had several scenes
shot in this format & I enjoyed the footage
very much.

I always look for the widescreen format version
in selecting mainstream DVD movies.

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I'd love to see some 'scope gonzo porn , the filmmakers will just have to be more inventive with their compositions

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Videographers can capture the same frame width by just including more material on top & bottom. How is additional material on top & bottom any worse than black bars?

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It's great on the huge cinema (movie theater) screens for which it's actually intended, but on home TVs? Who really wants black bars taking up at least one third of an already relatively small screen?

As far as I'm concerned, widescreen is the biggest marketing con that the electronics industry has succeeded in foisting off on the consumer in recent years.

Edited by - floraman on 11/3/2003 3:56:33 AM

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Maybe it doesn't matter to someone that a good chunk of the original filmed photography is missing on a full screen video release, but I'd rather have the black bars and see everything as it was supposed to be.

In porn, I agree that it's better to have more real estate to devote to flesh. But for those features with top notch production value and a story, I prefer widescreen to give it a mainstream feel. For that same reason, I think gonzo would feel wrong if shot in 16:9.

- Saki [faqs]

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Widescreen mainstream stuff is fine in the cinema or even on a large TV screen (say 140 cm diagonal plus), but try watching a widescreen movie on a "normal" TV and more often than not it's a case of either sitting up close or peering at the screen from further away and trying to make out the finer details between the big black bars (and no - there's nothing wrong with my eyes).

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I might add that I stick to the standard TV screen dimensions for my BANANA CREAM PIE series, which is more traditional gonzo ....

David Aaron Clark

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In the land of never-ending rain , Widescreen TVs are everywhere these days . They're selling like hotcakes , even to less well off folks like me . Walk into any electronics store and more than half will be of the wider persuasion with some manufacturers stopping production of large 4:3 sets altogether . Trust me , on a 32inch widescreen you neither have to squint or lean forward to tell what is going on . Watching 4:3 films on this set is a pain though as you end up with 2 annoying black bars down either side of the screen . See your potatow is my potaato , let's call the whole thing off .

I wonder , does this mean that Widescreen sets aren't infiltrating the living rooms of people in Germany , America and all those other counties that aren't Britain ?

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Granted, widescreen TV's are not cheap, but they are getting cheaper every year. And for those who say that it's a ploy by manufacturers, keep in mind that the reason why HDTV is not more widespread is because the electronics lobby has fought hard to push back the drop-dead date for analog transmission due to increased unit costs, much to the chagrin of broadcasters who had to buy a lot of expensive equipment to support HDTV production and transmission.

From The Long Last Gasp of Tube-Based TVs: With a government-mandated switch to digital broadcasting, further development of tube-based analog television has basically ended. "It's no use developing fancy picture-tube TVs anymore, because they won't be noticed by customers," a Philips engineer in the Netherlands noted in an e-mail message. "These bulky TVs are put on shelves in the back of the store, and the thin flat panels are put on display in the front, because that's what sells."

- Saki [faqs]

Edited by - saki on 11/3/2003 6:30:53 PM

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Anyone who buys a 4:3 HD compatible TV over the next few years is making a mistake.

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The broadcaster who has made the biggest stink about the tuner mandate is Sinclair, who has done everything in their power to prevent the digital conversion from taking place. First they fought over the broadcast standard, although it was a decision that had already been made and changing it would have made all existing HDTV decoders obsolete. Now, virtually every station that they own that has been converted to digital, is running at the absolute minimum power that they can get away with, while still complying with the FCC mandate.

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You've not seen a widescreen TV set up correctly , my friend . I'm guessing here , but did you see these sets in Dixons ( or whatever the German equivalent is ) ? The people who work in these shops appear to have only very minimal training and hardly ever have the knowledge to handle the new equipment . An arrogant statement but often true .

If everyone is distorted then that's most likely because the picture ( broadcast or DVD ) is only really in 4:3 but the shop assistant has stretched the image to fit the screen . If there are black bars at the top and bottom and the image looks right then that is because the source material is in 2.35 : 1 . This , I think , is the ratio used in cinemas but it is very rarely transferred onto DVD . More often films are sold in 16:9 which fits a widescreen telly perfectly to the edges . 2.35 : 1 is only normally used for epics ( like Lawrence of Arabia ) where they don't want to lose the majestic scale of events .

Damn , you seem dead against widescreen . I wish I could change your mind about trying it , as this has been the biggest improvement in TV viewing that has ever happened baring colour broadcasts ( IMO ) . Having ' The Blue Planet ' playing on screen is like having a giant aquarium in your living room - with sharks and whales in it ! Seriously Bud give it a try .

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Edited by - Walter Burns on 11/4/2003 8:38:56 AM

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Scope (2.35:1) is not possible on DVD right now. At least on the prosumer software. Only 4:3 and 16:9. Anyone know more than that?

Percy

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