PCA Forums

I can't enjoy the dvds that my wife usually rent , some comes in full screen but most of them are in wide screen . I have a 17' monitor so is terrible to watch a movie, I'm using power dvd
somebody knows a way to avoid thattttttttttt

There's a way. It's the way the film was recorded and put onto the DVD. You can rip it, crop it, and encode it but that takes forever.

but is a rented dvd.
it has a security seal.

You can rip it, crop it

Umm, that would look terrible. Fullscreen versions of movies are NOT just cropped. They're called "Pan & Scan". They're reshot from the widescreen master (fullscreen films have a seperate listed of credits for the pan & scan crew) and the pan & scan director (not always the original director) decides what part of the wide screen is shown at any one time. They can pan back and forth across it.

AUGIX: 1st of all I ONLY rent and buy widescreen DVDs. You should try watching some this way, you might learn to love them. I prefer to see the movie the way the director INTENDED it to be seen, not cropped down for TV. Often you'll lose the dramatic impact of important scenes in a pan and scan.

If you prefer fullscreen most decent video rental stores (like Block Buster) usually carry both versions. Check the box label - it's clearly marked (it will say "wide screen" or "anamorphic").

SO do I have to rent anamorphic?
or that is the widescreen other name.

You want to rent "Fullscreen". Anamorphic is widescreen.

Yeah cropping it wouldn't look the best but it would give him fullscreen. Anamorphic is still widescreen just not as big black bars. Also, some movies I've seen are only available in widescreen.

but is a rented dvd.
it has a security seal.

Programs get around the DVD security....

Yeah pan and scan sucks, but on a 17" monitor I understand wanting to view fullscreen, but even if I watch a DVD on my 19" I still prefer widescreen, altho I usually watch them on my TV. You can't watch them on a TV Augix?

Invest into a video card that has s-video/composite out (most now-a-days have s-video and I personally wouldn't buy a card that doesn't) As long as you have a tv that can use s-video then all you gotta do is hook the two up and you can watch movies on your T.V. This is what I used to do before I finally got a set-top dvd-player. However, if your T.V. only handles composite, then you might have a harder time since typical vid-cards don't have composite on 'em.

I always thought most DVD software allowed you to view it P&S (simply by "zooming" in and fitting it to screen--so not exactly "real" pan&scan). And lastly, you can get a cheap DVD-player now-a-days for $130-ish at best buy. Not too hard on the bank (I ended up with a JVC XV300 and it works great).

With power dvd, you should be able to right-click on the movie and select 4:3 (full screen), but like others have said, you will lose about 15% of the movie on the corners as it has to resize it to that resolution. Normally with power dvd, the aspec ratio is the default which normally would be wide screen.

There is an easier solution.

Buy a 16:9 widescreen TV.

education.

once you see how badly Pan & Scan mauls the director's vision for the film, you will never go back.
P&S is the devil!

there are tons of examples on the web with side by side comparisons to show you what you are missing. here's a good one.
http://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/feature/20020925/

glossary of terms and explanation.
http://www.scoopy.com/widescreen.htm

I could never watch a DVD without widescreen. It is cutting off the flim in full screen. Then again, my TV is a 36" Sony Wega: High Def. and my pc monitor is a 19" Sony HMD-A440... widescreen looks so much sharper.

anyone try the divx "the playa? i think it was called..simply the player now..maybe i;m getting the 2 confused..anyways, running the free 5.02 bundle... you can select various aspect ratios in it..quite nice...i watch a lot of movies on my tv screen and monitor depending how many of us are watching the flick...it's also nice cause it seems to play some of the movies that won't work with the ms player.

and gee, i have a much greater appreciation for widescreen than before..i thought it was just a way to p### me off

Here's some nice visual examples:
http://dvd.ign.com/news/16377.html