- Feb 7, 2001
- 12,232
- 30
- 101
Saw this over at The Digital Bits:
Well, folks... we've got another battle to fight in the widescreen wars, and this time it's Blockbuster lined up on the other side of the battlefield. We've been hearing from tons of readers who say they've tried to rent copies of The Mummy Returns, Cats & Dogs, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Jurassic Park III on DVD from the giant. When when they do, they're surprised to find NO copies of the widescreen version of the films on store shelves.
It seems that when there's two versions of the disc available, Blockbuster only stocks the pan & scan version. When people complain to the company, they're basically given the brush off. One reader had this to say this morning: "When I asked the clerk when the widescreen (16x9) copies would be available, he said probably never." Another reader tried the customer service number, and got this response: "We don't decide what goes on our shelves. Only the studios decide that." Which is complete bullshit. Blockbuster is a 1000lb gorilla in the industry and it does plenty of term dictating to the Hollywood studios. And we think it's time that someone took them to task for this widescreen thing. At the very least, the retailer should stock both versions of a disc. Clearly, they're not serving the needs of an important and vocal portion of their customers. So here's what you can do:
1) Call their customer service hotline and complain - 972-683-5959
2) E-mail their customer service people at this link and do the same
3) Phone and write to their world headquarters to complain at this address: Blockbuster Inc. 1201 Elm Street Dallas, Texas 75270 - 214-854-3000
4) An online petition's been started to show Blockbuster just how many people they're pissing off - sign it, have your family and friends sign it and link to it from your websites.
5) Try another video retailer in your area.
We've also created a set of graphic logos you can use if you like (link to the online petition). Wouldn't you know it? Their own corporate logo isn't full frame friendly!
This widescreen vs. pan & scan thing is only going to get worse if we let companies like Blockbuster have their way. It's easy to imagine the studios deciding to support only full frame if stores and rental giants negatively skew widescreen sales numbers by not stocking widescreen copies of DVDs. Some believe it's already happening. So let Blockbuster know how you feel on this issue and tell your friends to do the same. It's time they get the message.
If you have the time please let Blockbuster know that we want widescreen NOT pan and scan.
Check out the original article on The Digital Bits website, the logos they made are pretty funny.
Well, folks... we've got another battle to fight in the widescreen wars, and this time it's Blockbuster lined up on the other side of the battlefield. We've been hearing from tons of readers who say they've tried to rent copies of The Mummy Returns, Cats & Dogs, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Jurassic Park III on DVD from the giant. When when they do, they're surprised to find NO copies of the widescreen version of the films on store shelves.
It seems that when there's two versions of the disc available, Blockbuster only stocks the pan & scan version. When people complain to the company, they're basically given the brush off. One reader had this to say this morning: "When I asked the clerk when the widescreen (16x9) copies would be available, he said probably never." Another reader tried the customer service number, and got this response: "We don't decide what goes on our shelves. Only the studios decide that." Which is complete bullshit. Blockbuster is a 1000lb gorilla in the industry and it does plenty of term dictating to the Hollywood studios. And we think it's time that someone took them to task for this widescreen thing. At the very least, the retailer should stock both versions of a disc. Clearly, they're not serving the needs of an important and vocal portion of their customers. So here's what you can do:
1) Call their customer service hotline and complain - 972-683-5959
2) E-mail their customer service people at this link and do the same
3) Phone and write to their world headquarters to complain at this address: Blockbuster Inc. 1201 Elm Street Dallas, Texas 75270 - 214-854-3000
4) An online petition's been started to show Blockbuster just how many people they're pissing off - sign it, have your family and friends sign it and link to it from your websites.
5) Try another video retailer in your area.
We've also created a set of graphic logos you can use if you like (link to the online petition). Wouldn't you know it? Their own corporate logo isn't full frame friendly!
This widescreen vs. pan & scan thing is only going to get worse if we let companies like Blockbuster have their way. It's easy to imagine the studios deciding to support only full frame if stores and rental giants negatively skew widescreen sales numbers by not stocking widescreen copies of DVDs. Some believe it's already happening. So let Blockbuster know how you feel on this issue and tell your friends to do the same. It's time they get the message.
If you have the time please let Blockbuster know that we want widescreen NOT pan and scan.
Check out the original article on The Digital Bits website, the logos they made are pretty funny.
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