I figured this topic would best go into the dvd section. I recently just bought the VHS set and it is fullscreen. Before the movies it doesnt say anything about it being formatted to fit my tv and their isn't anything on the back of the boxes that says something like this either. I have heard that The Godfather movies were shot in fullscreen. Does anyone know this for sure?

My VHS is also fullscreen, though I know that the DVD collection is only available in Widescreen, which as a personal preference I like better anyway. DOn't know if it was originally shown in full screen.

Mick

The DVD is in wide screen, and FFC has been quoted as saying that was the way the movie was intended to be seen.

Personally, letterbox movies used to really annoy me. I've gotten used to it, but when I get a true wide-screen tv to eliminate the "black bars" I'll be happier.

When you watch a film in wide screen or letterbox you are seeing it as it was filmed. A movie screen has a rectangular ratio and all the cinematography and angles and so on are based on that ratio. I also believe (and I could be mistaken) that the film and the camera lenses are also shaped to that ratio as well. When you watch a film in full screen format it’s basically like placing a square over a rectangle. Formatted to fit your TV screen basically means that the film has been butchered. Here is a link that explains this beautifully, much better than I just did.

http://www.widescreen.org/widescreen.shtml

So, in effect, things are distorted to look longer on screen?

I prefer to watch films in letterbox mode; they tend to be of higher quality. If I had an option of a film in widescreen or normal mode, I'd go for the former.

Mick

It's also probably just like screen resolution Capo, the reason widescreen/letterbox looks better is because it IS smaller than its fullscreen counterpart in comparison.

Right, I get you, thanks.

A question: I do not own a DVD player (YET!). So I watch my films on the PC. The Godfather (only watched Part I so far) is in fullscreen on my PC, and I did notice that things were "stretched" vertically a little. I'm wondering if once I get a real DVD player the quality will be higher?

Mick

Well I dont know how to do this on a PC but if you get a dvd player and they still look distorted and in fullscreen, change it to "letterbox" mode. When I first got my dvd player it would play some dvds that were widescreen in fullscreen and they looked stretched because my dvd player was in "pan & scan" mode.