Blockbuster Widescreen Petition. PLEASE READ!

[videoholic]

Some of you are whacked and don\'t like widescreen movies in their correct aspect ratio.  Apparently Blockbuster is bowing to you freaks and is limiting their supply of widescreen and adding to their stock of Pan and Scan movies on DVD.

Please go here and sign this petition to tell Blockbuster that we want widescreen still on the shelves....

They are over 20000 signatures.  Please sign it.  It will take you less than 15 seconds.


http://www.petitiononline.com/widedvd/petition-sign.html?

i have to agree with u, and i signed the petition.  when will people learn, democracy doesn\'t work!

bah, 90% of my customers at BBV complain about "widescreen" and how it cuts the top and bottom off of the picture

ignorance is bliss

i want to smack the crap out of every single one of them

the widescreen people [me] are a VERY small percentage of thier customer base

Originally posted by mm
bah, 90% of my customers at BBV complain about "widescreen" and how it cuts the top and bottom off of the picture

ignorance is bliss

i want to smack the crap out of every single one of them

the widescreen people [me] are a VERY small percentage of thier customer base

just like me and my *family guy* petition.

The worst is that us (smart) widescreeners have to pay more to get widescreen, when it should really be cheaper!  Often it only comes with special editions and stuff, it\'s very irritating.  

I had to pay $20 more to get the widescreen box set of StarWars SE, back on VHS all those years ago.

I think I might sign the petition (I\'ve seen this floating around the home theater forums) but I\'m not sure whether it\'s worthwhile.  Blockbuster is such a big corporation, I don\'t think they\'d give a damn about 20,000 signatures.  I have been boycotting BB for years now, and I\'ll never give them a cent of my money for anything.

The Blockbuster rise to power is the main reason why thousands of small community video stores were driven out of business in the 90\'s.  Now due to an odd loophole in the agreement reached between the MPAA and the video retailers back in the 80\'s, DVD rentals are not covered under the same royalty agreement that VHS cassettes were.  For the moment, Blockbuster is reaping a windfall as consumers switch over from VHS to DVD rentals.  BB\'s stock did very well in 2001, rising from below $10 to 28.66 per share, while many other consumer entertainment stocks went into the toilet.  I choose not to contribute to their coffers.  Blockbuster can burn in hell.

I\'m 100% Hollywood Video.  Total 16:9 material everywhere.  You guys have one of these in your area?

Here in Ottawa, Canada, BB trounced Jumbo Video out of business.  Their only competition is Roger\'s Video but the nearest one to me is far away.  It\'s too bad, Roger\'s ownz BB in every way, bigger stores, keep all the old/rare movies (BB now sells them to make room for 100 mainstream movies a day), and have an enormous DVD collection.  If I had 500k to invest, I\'d open a Roger\'s in my area, it\'d own the movie rental biz for a five kilometer radius within a year.

I don\'t rent movies anymore, I get free movies on my dorm\'s channel, and buy any others I like.

But I went ahead and signed for ya.  Letterbox is da bomb!

Originally posted by THX
I\'m 100% Hollywood Video.  Total 16:9 material everywhere.  You guys have one of these in your area?

Yes, I\'ve heard of it, we have them here.  I use a local video store called Rocket Video instead.  They are much friendlier, and their selection rules over BB or any other chain.  The owner is a fan of foreign films, and he has good taste.  

Originally posted by Coredweller
(everything Coredweller said)

Hmm, are you sure we weren\'t twins seperated at birth? I swear, everything you say I totally agree on.

coredweller, if it wasnt for BBV, we\'de be stuck with mom and pop rental stores that carry 2-3 copies of 100$ new releases [yes they cost that much].  who do you think pushed the gaming industry to allow rentals of games?    i dont say this cause im an employee, in fact i really hate my job, but i get paid too much for how little work i actually do.  plus how can i argue with 7 free rentals a week.  

they are just a major corporation doin the best it can to make itself bigger.  just like micro$oft, mcdonalds, alcoa, ENRON, etc etc

[videoholic]

VHS has rental pricing, but DVD does not.  IT is very odd that DVDs come out on the market the same time rental VHS does.  SO BBV makes a boatload of cash on DVD rentals copared to VHS.


And as far as 20000 signatures not making a difference.  Are you freaking nuts.  More than likely if you complain about widescreen then you are an enthusiast of movies.  so say you spend 5 bucks a month on rentals.  That\'s 60 a year.  Multiply that by 20,000 and well it\'s early, but I\'m sure you get a pretty big number.

20,000 is nothing compared to the overall audience

yes, they reap a windfall for DVD\'s

they pay about 16-17$ for each DVD copy they purchase, BUT this will change eventually

another thiing to remember, VHS tapes last longer than DVD\'s
we dispose of at least 25-30 DVD\'s every month due to carelessness.  

"i got it that way" or "it played fine for me, it must have been the person who had it before me"  are the most common excuses i hear everyday.  people just toss the disks around and after a few times, they become unplayable

i once had some lady drop a case in the drop slot, and upon opening it, i found the disk shattered into several slivers.  i proceeded to call here, and she said "it was like that when i got it".  if it was possible to reach thru the phone and strangle here, i would have.  needless to say, i couldnt charge her for it.

in the end, you might think blockbuster or [insert company here] sucks or they have bad business practices, but in the end, its "we the customers" who suck.  not even just at my current job.  even when i worked at a restaraunt, i saw morons every day.  i\'d see people pluck hair out of thier head, and drop into the last few bites of thier 17$ fettuchine dish, so they wouldnt have to pay for it.  

so i rephrase, customers suck and thats why business\' work the way they do

I\'m English but I signed the petition as well - we do have Blockbuster video over here as well y\'see.  Seeing as at the moment most VHS films are in 4:3 and most DVDs are 16:9 or 22:9, couldn\'t the "widescreen wingers" rent videos and the smart people rent DVDs.  
Or as an alternative, why not let the thick people rent DVDs (widescreen) as nomal, but get them to sh*t on the TV screen before watching the film, so as to simulate the pan/scan effect.
Finally, why don\'t blockbuster just tell them to f*** off and buy a widescreen TV!