Pan and Scan stinks

[cjrogan2003]

OK, I know I have a reputation for complaining, but this is a legitimate complaint. Pan and scan ruins the image, distorts the original look, increases grain, makes contrast and black level look very poor, and ruins the original look. How much is lost when a movie is panned and scanned? A LOT:

 

1.66:1 (European ratio)

20% of image lost

 

1.85:1 (VistaVision, standard ratio)

28% of image lost

 

2.00:1 (Metroscope)

33% of image lost

 

2.20:1 (Todd-AO, Super Panavision)

39% of image lost

 

2.35:1 (CinemaScope, Panavision, Technirama)

43% of image lost

 

2.55:1 (early CinemaScope)

48% of image lost

 

2.76:1 (Cinerama, Ultra Panavision)

51% of image lost

 

Look at TCM's showing of Around the World in 80 Days for an example of pan and scan at its WORST...The brilliant, panoramic views are DESTROYED. What about The Sound of Music? Another bad example of pan and scan...Some movies MUST be seen in letterbox! ALL VIDEO RELEASES SHOULD BE IN LETTERBOXING! DEATH TO PAN AND SCAN!

[bggalaxy]

Widescreen has always been my favorite way to watch movies and I get frustrated during P/S versions. Just this weekend I saw a little tidbit on the letter boxing compared to P/S. For anyone who is bothered by the black bars should try to catch this in between movies if they can. They would be amazed at how much movie they miss in P/S.

[pgm80s]

A teacher of mine once showed me a good example of the diference between P/S and widescreen.

In Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey"

There is a scene where two of the astronauts are speaking or playing a game. And the ships computer HAL is watching them the whole time. Well in widescreen you see both of their faces on opposite sides of the screen with HAL's camera in the middle. In P/S you see the camera but not the men, I think maybe you see their noses or something. I just remember this because he really liked the film and said that P/S took a lot away from that particular scene.

[kenwal34]

When possible,I purchase all of my DVDS in wide screen.This can be tricky.I purchased The Greatest Story Ever Told {Super panavision} and the image was very small.Most however,have been most satisfactory even on my small 27 inch tv.

[cinemetal]

I am rigid in my stance: I will NEVER watch any film shot in an aspect ratio larger than 1.85:1 if it is being shown in pan-and-scan.

 

Thanks for the stats, by the way!