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In case the articles, essays and opinions throughtout this site just weren't enough for you, here's my online diary (a.k.a. 'blog'). It's as close as you'll come to the inside of my head, so don't say I didn't warn you
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   Wednesday, October 02, 2002

SCANNED AND PANNED

As a film buff who both loves DVD and now makes a living from the format, I've been increasingly tetchy about the growing split in the market. More and more movies on disc are being offered in two versions -- one a "widescreen" disc that shows the director's complete composition between two horizontal black bars; the other, a "full screen" disc that crops at least a third of the image to fit a standard square TV screen. Simply put, I enjoy the first, I resent the second. I just don't think anyone should tamper with the presentation the filmmaker intended.

Also, the competing formats are confusing to the customer who would prefer one or the other but may not know the difference from a label. Fortunately, help has come from an odd source: the official Star Wars website features a concise and well-illustrated explantion of Widescreen vs. Full Screen that even softened my stance a little. If you're buying a movie anytime soon, it's worth a look.