do Welles films look better window boxed?

[tim1]

I vaguely recall a thread on here years ago where it was stated that Welles films look better window boxed and you're missing some of the image if you watch it full screen, is this true? If so which of his films most benefits from watching it window boxed, and is anyone willing to trade copies?

[Wilson]

Televisions typically have overscan, meaning that the image you see is not in fact all of the image on a DVD, or what have you. Some players have reverse zoom functions, wherein you can zoom out on the picture and see what the overscan is covering up. While it would be preferable if all players could do this, most people don't consider it a grave impediment to their viewing. I zoom out everything I watch, but when I'm at a friends, I don't sit there and think "This is butchered!" while watching a non-zoomed out image. There are others here who will feel differently.

[tim1]

So there's no advantage of actually modifying the discs themselves when you can just watch it reverse zoomed?

[Wilson]

Not sure what you mean by modifying the discs themselves, but yeah, if you have a player with reverse zoom capability, then you can do your own windowboxing.

[blunted by community]

I zoom back everything I watch, and when I'm at a friends, I sit there thinking, "i'm wasting my time watching this not zoomed back." i drag him/her over to my house and force them to watch the movie zoomed back. i can't live without my zoom back deck. you have not seen welles till you see films like the trial, touch of evil, kane, chimes, zoomed back.

[mteal]

And now we can see Welles films zoomed back (or windowboxed, if you prefer) without straining the pocketbook too much. Toshiba's SD-3960 DVD player has a very nice windowbox feature, and the player can be bought at Best Buy for about $70. I got one, and I'm real happy with the way it's spiced up my DVD collection. Highly recommended.

[R Kadin]

mteal - if that Toshiba could be rendered region-free, as well, perhaps we should nominate it for "The Official DVD Player of Wellesnet".