difference between widescreen and fullscreen DVD?

Answer 1

Adding to the first response...

Movies are shot in numerous aspect ratios - so a DVD that is true to the original is considered OAR - Original Aspect Ratio. Most movies are shot in one of two ratio's: 1.85:1 and 2.40:1. Some movies, such as Star Wars and LOTR are shot in even wider formats. IMAX is different altogether.

Your "standard" TV is 4:3 which reduces to 1.33:1. A "widescreen" TV is 16:9 which reduces to 1.88:1. So even "widescreen" that has been adopted in the US is not true cinematic aspect ratio.

If you buy the widescreen DVD, it will most likely be in OAR which means that even with a widescreen TV, you will have small black bars on the top and bottom, but you will see the entire film as it was originally intended for you to see.

On the other hand, if you buy a "full screen" version, you will see only a 4:3 image. When they convert a movie for this suare'ish picture, they use a technique called "pan & scan." They literally re-shoot the movie by cutting out this smaller square inside the bigger rectangle. If you saw images side-by-side, you'd be missing a lot of stuff.

Sometimes scenes where originally there were 2 people talking on screen at the same time are cut and the focus changes from person 1 to person 2 and back. Car chase scenes are insanely edited, etc. It's just not the same. If you have a TV 27" or bigger, you shouldn't find the black bars on a widescreen to be annoynig. And obviously if you have a widescreen/HDTV you should always opt for the widescreen versions of a DVD.

Answer 2

Most modern movies (and HDTV) are filmed in widescreen format (IMAX is an exception) and the director takes advantage of this in how s/he sets up the scenes. That said, the ratio of width to height (i.e. the aspect ratio) for widescreen movies varies from 1.78:1 > 2.4:1, so there is no universal format. In contrast older moves (pre-1960 or so) were usually filmed in 1.33:1 (4:3) format ... which not coincidently is the format of a standard definition TV.

When DVDs first came out manufacturers had to make a choice how to present the image. Since people had standard definition TVs and many objected to the small image which resulted when a widescreen film was shown with black bars on the top and bottom to fill the narrow screen, manufacturers offered a so called "full screen" or "pan and scan" version of the movie. This was done by croping the original widescreen image and throwing away the portion on each side of the section judged of most interest. The link below has a good diagram showing the relationship visually.

Early DVDs often had a widescreen version and a fullscreen version on the two sides of a DVD, but as "extras" became important these became less common and the buyer had to choose which format they wanted.

The problem with fullscreen (or pan and scan) is that the result always loses some of the original image and in some cases can significantly compromise the director's intentions. Do a Google search for "pan and scan" to find examples.

On the other hand widescreen always results in black bars above and below the actual image on a 4:3 format screen (and often on a 16:9 "widescreen" TV since only 1.78:1 films fill the screen). Some people really hate black bars, others ... particularly those with somewhat larger screens ... accept them. It's currently a personal choice, although widescreen is probably the future norm.

You didn't ask , but there is one further consideration ... what does it mean when the DVD is labelled "enhanced for 16:9 TVs" or "anamorphic"?

This is a scaling technique (see the link at the bottom of the page reached from the link below) which allows DVDs to retain full vertical resolution for the image portion of a film displayed in widescreen format. It works transparently for the viewer due to interaction between the scaling of the DVD player and TV itself (although the two have to have the correct settings enabled through their menus).

Hope this

Answer 3

I personally prefer widescreen. It is more like going to the movies. Fullscreen takes up the entire screen you are watching it on. Widescreen has the black parts at the top and bottom. Movies in theaters are widescreen. In the old days when they took movies from theaters to TV it would not fit right and there was always part of the film missing off the right or left. Two people would be on screen talking to each other and only one could be seen. This is not so much a problem these days. But I still prefer widescreen.

Answer 4

all movies are made in widescreen format. when the company "formats them to fit your tv screen" they have to cut out some of the picture on either side of the screen. With widescreen you still get the whole picture it just looks like you don't cause the top and bottom parts of the screen are black. you're not losing any of the picture, thats just how the movie was originally made for the theaters

Answer 5

I always choose wide-screen, because you get all the foul-ups, interview with stars and director...and un-edited scenes...they show you how and were the movie was made( foreign country)etc.