Which is better: Fullscreen or Widescreen?

Question

In the past on a smaller TV I used to watch DVD's in Widescreen only. Now I own a large, flat-panel, LCD HDTV and it seems Fullscreen looks pretty good on it. A couple times I've put in a DVD with widescreen a message came up before the film that the movie was re-formatted, which was something I'd only see watching fullscreen in the past. So what is the verdict in this situation?

Answer 1

I use to watch fullscreen, those bars on the top and bottom when in widescreen drove me crazy.

Then my husband showed me how fullscreen does this trick called "Pan and scan". This technique takes an image from the movie and moves the entire shot to keep what the editor thinks is important. (For example, there might be 2 guys sitting at a table face to face talking and the widescreen shows both. "Pan and scan" will move the frame from the guy who's talking to the other guy when that guy starts talking. This makes it so your missing the other actors (Scanned out of the shot to keep it full screen) completly!

Since I can tell when they pan and scan that made it so I hate fullscreen.

So, I bought a big flat screen T.V. and watch widescreen only. (I now have my own theater!)

Answer 2

No serious movie lover prefers fullscreen. It can cut off as much as 50% of the image, meaning you are literally only seeing half the film. When you're talking about a visual epic like "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars," this is just unthinkable. Widescreen is the only way to go. It's like I always say: if you saw a movie in the theater and there was a big black tarp covering up half the screen, you'd complain. However, lots of people essentially pay for the same experience by buying fullscreen DVDs.

Answer 3

Full screen is intended for televisions that are NOT high defenition..those television are still using a format called PAL.wich is full screen..Widescreen is the normal digital cinema and also you get a panoramic view..wich means you see much more of the surroundings in the movie..I like to watch movies in widescreen myself but i all comes down to preffrence and also the size of your television..if you only have a 20 or so inch television your not going to want to watch anything in widescreen because the picture will be pretty small...In the next few years the standard will be widescreen and also Dvd's will go the way of the VHS tape now that Blue-Ray has come out on the market...

Answer 4

I prefer Widescreen because you get to see the entire cell of the film. Now, unfortuneatley, in order to do so, they have to format the screen, which causes the black lines to appear and kind of eliminates the use of your entire screen.

However, fullscreen does in fact use your entire television screen, however, for a film cell to go from film to fit a full screen tv, it loses some of the actual cell.

So it's kind of a catch 22. You can either see the entire film cell and not use your entire television screen, or have the fullscreen picture, but you don't see the entire film cell. If you're not picky about seeing what occurs on the outer edges of the film cell, then go with full screen.

Like I said though, I prefer the widescreen. But it's entirely up to you.

Answer 5

Full screen is called Pan & Scan. It screws up the cinematography and the artists true vision when he does a scene. Some Pan & Scans are so awful they will make you sick. Watch The Fan & Multiplicity then come and tell me fullscreen is better.

Fullscreen is awful. It cuts off the sides or modifies the shots with this goofy *** motion pannng that makes you car sick. Widescreen is better.

Answer 6

Despite all the grief I get from my boyfriend for having a TV that's smaller than my computer monitor, I have to say that I like widescreen best, regardless of my TV's size.

For many years I've been watching the original Star Wars trilogy on this set of 'letterbox edition' VHS. Recently I was watching the full screen DVD's, and was totally thrown off by what was cut out!

Answer 7

Widescreen i think is better on a tube tv fullscreen looks FAT

Answer 8

WIDESCREEN-is the best. For example when u see 2 ppl in a car and they are talking to each other--u see them both--if in fullscreen--the camera pans back and forth from each person who is talking--I hate that.

Answer 9

In my experience - when a DVD says 'widescreen' on it, it is always better to watch it Widescreen - especially if you use the new HD DVD.

I guess it really depends on your own personal experience though - if it looks better in Full Screen - then watch it in Full Screen!

Answer 10

I have always liked fullscreen better, but everyone else (and I mean every single person) likes widescreen better