# Why Is Netflix Secretly Cropping Movies?



## Big Don (Jul 20, 2013)

[h=2]Why Is Netflix Secretly Cropping Movies?[/h]  							 								By Jason Bailey on Jul 17, 2013 2:00pm Flavorwire Excerpt: 


Like a lot of film writers, I spent a good deal of my life  working in video stores. Some of that occurred in the time frame  (2000-2002, roughly) when DVDs began to replace VHS, and as a result, I  was on the receiving end of much anger and confusion over widescreen  formatting  letterboxing, as we called it, which began on LaserDisc,  appeared on a few VHS tapes, and became the standard on DVD (luckily,  since widescreen televisions were also becoming ubiquitous). Im not  seein the whole picture! customers would complain. Its got these  lines on the top and bottom! And I would patiently explain that getting  a widescreen movie frame into a television was a case of putting a  rectangular peg into a square hole, and the black bars actually showed  you _more _of the picture, and preserved the original image. And customers would nod and smile and understand completely _just kidding_.  They stared at me blankly before saying the exact same nonsense about  what a rip-off it is to have only part of the TV being used and it was a  terrible job, the end. But we won, ultimately! In the pan-and-scan vs.  widescreen battle, widescreen came out on top. So why, in 2013, is  Netflix cropping their movies?
 Cinephiles have been murmuring about this since the service began  streaming, noting that, too often, films original aspect ratios were  jettisoned for reasons unclear. The worst offenders were the now-absent  Starz Play titles (that contract ran out early last year  it was the original Streamageddon),  which were the digital equivalent of VHS tapes or pan-and-scan DVDs:  widescreen images chopped off into a square, 4:3 picture, which often  results in losing up to half of the original image.
End Excerpt
A better question, IMHO, is why, when all my TVs are the NEW *BETTER* Widescreen format are many DVDs still presented in letter box format? WTF do I have the GD black lines top and bottom? If the shape of the old style 4:3 TV Screen was the reason for the GD Letterbox, why is my 16:9 TV afflicted?


----------



## Sukerkin (Jul 20, 2013)

That's down to the aspect ratio the film was shot at I think, Bill.


----------



## Sukerkin (Jul 20, 2013)

A bit of discourse amongst fellows who seem to know what they are on about as to the technical details:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/800470


----------



## Steve (Jul 20, 2013)

16:9 is one standard, don, but many films are shot in wider.  

The question I have is why any movie lover doesn't have a projector in their house with at least a 110" screen!  


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


----------



## Big Don (Jul 20, 2013)

Sukerkin said:


> That's down to the aspect ratio the film was shot at I think, Bill.


If you say so, Mike


----------



## Big Don (Jul 20, 2013)

Steve said:


> 16:9 is one standard, don, but many films are shot in wider.
> 
> The question I have is why any movie lover doesn't have a projector in their house with at least a 110" screen!
> 
> ...


Because you haven't bought me one...


----------



## Steve (Jul 20, 2013)

Big Don said:


> Because you haven't bought me one...



. Cheaper than a 65" tv anymore.  You can get a good projector set up for under $1000.  A great one can be had for about $2500.  


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


----------

