What's with the "Full Screen" movie rentals?

Question

Level 1

5 points

What's with the "Full Screen" movie rentals?

I"m as ****** as the next guy about the "No HD rentals" issue, but even more ****** off that most of the rentals I'm clicking on aren't just not available is HD, but aren't even available in "Widescreen". All Macs have a "widescreen" display now, and even your iPods, iPod Touch, and iPhone's are widescreen. No one wants to download a rental of a "Full Screen" movie anymore. My God, "300" in Full Screen - What are they thinking? If they want to offer "Full Screen" rentals, it should be an option, like when you go to the video store to buy a DVD, and are offered a "Full Screen" version or a "Widescreen" version. I don't think they even sell Full Screen TVs anymore. I have the same problem with PPV from the cable company... If it is not offered in Widescreen, I don't rent it. The same will be true here. I just never imagined Full Screen would ever even be offered, much less the only option.

PowerMac G5 Quad 2.5GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Jan 16, 2008 10:12 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

85,366 points

Jan 18, 2008 6:49 AM in response to Arthur Perry

I would suggest for those of you who find typos in the iTunes store, to report them to customer service via the gray "contact us" button on the bottom of:

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/buy/

The more who do, the more likely we'll get more accurate info before renting.

Message was edited by: a brody

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Answer 2

Joecal

Level 1

0 points

Jan 16, 2008 11:23 AM in response to Arthur Perry

Must be a typo on Itunes.

I rented 300 last night and watched it both on my computer and Iphone in widescreen. In the case of the phone, you can tap and switch from full to wide too.

If you did rent and it is full, check your settings.

Message was edited by: Joecal

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Answer 3

Arthur Perry Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 16, 2008 12:37 PM in response to Joecal

Original poster here... Thanks Joecal! Based on your experience, I went ahead and rented 300, and was happily surprised to have the same result you did - it was in widescreen. It would appear you are right, and it is a typo in the iTunes store. Thank God you responded, otherwise I would have never rented from the iTunes store anything that didn't say "widescreen". I hope they fix that soon, so others don't make the same assumption I did.

Peace, and Thanks

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Answer 4

mihoshi

Level 1

10 points

Jan 19, 2008 3:08 PM in response to Arthur Perry

The iTunes store has pretty much everything in widescreen that it can, but as with most televisions and "home theater" setups... Widescreen really doesn't matter. I know that some people prefer widescreen, but I don't. I have a projector not a TV so I have a 20 foot screen and the black lines in most "widescreen" movies eats up 4-5 feet of space. The only movies that come formatted for a widescreen TV in the first place(I am talking about on DVDs) are the Anamorphic Widescreen DVDs. They have a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, but very few DVDs actually have this, most are in 1.85:1 aspect ratio or 16:9 which is actually a fullscreen movie with black lines at the top and bottom.
As for HD rentals in the iTunes store, this is AppleTV only, and that is not Apple's fault, this is due to DRM. In order for you to play a copy-protected Blu-ray or HD DVD you have to have http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDCP compliant hardware, the apple TV is HDCP, but you computer is not, so therefore Warner Bros/FOX/Sony etc. Can not be guaranteed that you won't be able to pirate their content.

Most people do not have a widescreen TV, and yes most Computer screen LCDs are capable of just about any resolution, but a lot of people are still in the non-HD zone.
I agree that many people want HD content, however given how hollywood lost the battle to keep DVDs copy-protected, they have taken enormous steps to protect HD content.....

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Answer 5

NBOL

Level 1

4 points

Jan 17, 2008 3:59 PM in response to Joecal

Are you sure that it is in widescreen, or is your computer just stretching or zooming it?

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Answer 6

capaho

Level 4

3,677 points

Jan 17, 2008 6:19 PM in response to Arthur Perry

The HD option will be available only when purchasing directly via an Apple TV, once the Apple TV software upgrade is released.

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Answer 7

Jan 17, 2008 8:19 PM in response to Arthur Perry

even though it sais "fullscreen" all of the movies are in widescreen. if you preview the movie, you will clearly see that they are in widescreen.

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Answer 8

Jan 18, 2008 12:58 PM in response to Arthur Perry

This was a server side bug which is now fixed. Movies are showing Widescreen correctly for me now.

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