View Full Version : BlockBuster and Love
kevinw
03-16-2003, 08:45 AM
My wife had to stop at BlockBuster to pick up a movie for the kids and decided to grab one for us.
This is something, because she hates BLOCK BUSTER only slighty less than Best Buy. She will not set foot in a Best Buy becuse of horrendous service and idiot employees..but to the point , She brings a copy home of the "Ring". When I ask," Why that movie? ", she responds with -" It was the only one they had in WIDESCREEN and I know you complain about the ones that say FULLSCREEN." .....
I thought I was gonna cry...Have I got me a Woman or what?:D
Ratman
03-16-2003, 11:46 AM
He-he...
You gotta love it! My lovely bride can't tell the difference yet!
You have given me hope!!
"Have I got me a Woman or what?"
Your are blessed! :)
"My lovely bride can't tell the difference yet!"
Mine (of 36 years) knows the difference but doesn't really seem to care. She'll watch a DVD on whatever the last stretch mode was. The fact that some (or alot) of the picture is missing doesn't seem to bother her at all :D The same goes for rather the sound is mono or DD5.1. :D :D
You've got to love them!
Lee
HiD-ho
03-16-2003, 05:41 PM
Originally posted by kevinw
I thought I was gonna cry...Have I got me a Woman or what?:D
Kev, does she have a sister. Of course, I mean a sister with questionable/forgiving taste in men! :rolleyes:
mikehbkwm
03-16-2003, 08:21 PM
Hey Kevin thats awesome man. My wife knows the difference also cause I taught her and she wont really watch anything fullscreen anymore either. We are lucky guys.................
spaceman_spiff
03-17-2003, 09:26 AM
My wife will not only look for widescreen, she will also look for ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN. She also looks for the aspect ratio, but gets confused on which one is 16:9.
She has also gotten into cars :D
I should have done really good deeds to have her. :p
Rocko
03-17-2003, 01:24 PM
My wife has said that she'd just as soon watch a DVD on our 16 yr old console tv than on our new 57" Widescreen. The other night we were watching Shrek on DVD, which looked great. In a scene where Shrek's looking out over the town as sunset turned to night, I heard her say "wow" under her breath. It's the first complimentary remark she's let slip out about the TV.
So now I know she's not blind.... just stubborn.
TheBigE
03-17-2003, 04:09 PM
Originally posted by Rocko
...So now I know she's not blind.... just stubborn.
:D :D :D :D :D
sledgmb
03-17-2003, 07:27 PM
this thread is hilarious!
i've at least got my wife tought to only buy widescreen dvd's. more specifically, she is to stay away from anything that says fullscreen. but i can relate to alot of the other guys on this thread. my wife would be happy with the smallest television with built-in speakers. she doesn't care one bit. i'm still trying to convince her we need a 5.1 speaker setup. she's worried it's going to make our living room look like a "bachelor pad."
I find that the spouse is usually happy (actually both spouses are) if the living room is left nice and presentable and there is a separate Home Theatre Room for the Big TV, the Big Sound, the appropriate seating, etc.
Our living room has only a small receiver and some in-wall speakers, while our "home theatre" has the setup you can see in "HT2" of my signature.
I know this isn't always possible, but it is desirable.
My wife appreciates the home theatre and enjoys programmes and movies on the large screen in surround sound, but if I'm not home, she couldn't care less. She either reads or watches a programme or two on our 27".
gonar
03-17-2003, 07:43 PM
Back in the laser disc days, my wife bought me Klute for X-Mas second hand though she didn't give it to me. Weeks later, I found it hidden behind the door because she realized it wasn't widescreen and was too embarassed to give it to me. I thought that was cute, and still joke about it. She just assumed all LDs were ltbx, like why bother? In general, though, she won't watch a movie that she really wants to see if it isn't widescreen (at least in scope).
sledgmb
03-17-2003, 07:57 PM
57U - you and my wife have the same idea here. when i push her for change, she says that it would be different if we had another room in the house we could dedicate to home theater. she could care less how much i put in there. she wants the main living room (that guests see) to be very presentable. she's one of those "decorating" types...
Kevin:
Pat yourself on the back for some great in-house training of the wife! My girlfriend had been suffering with me months ago while I was so frustrated getting the new system up and running, so she learned way more than she probably bargained for.
How many women know that they better hit that aspect ratio button and "stretch" (oh my gawd, did I use that word?) the picture if I'm not around and little Johnny is watching the Cartoon Network for hours.
But the highlight of her training here came one night a few weeks ago when we were both exhausted from a hard day at work and we had planned to go see our beloved KENTUCKY WILDCATS play at Rupp Arena. In attempt to pull out all the stops to get us to stay home that night she said, batting her eyes: "Hey.......Tom.......saaaaaaaaaaaaay.......isn't the game in HD tonight on the widescreen???"
Nice try, but we went to the game, damnit! But ya gotta love 'em for trying!
:D
SteelBluePT
03-18-2003, 05:49 PM
This thread is the best, My wife could really care less about how/what she watches a movie/show on. speakers? who cares, just give here the bare bone minimum and she wouldnt mind one bit. It has been a long and arduous road, But I DO finally have a 30" widescreen HDTV-ready tv! Anyway, If I send her ourt for a movie, theres no telling what she will come back with--one time when we were to watch The Fast and the Furious- she rented the tape! You read that right- the tape! Widescreen? Fullscreen? Why bother looking, its a dvd.... For all those that have wives/girlfriends that are "in the know" and put forth an effort of to viewing material- I envy you! BTW, the F&TF rental was the last time she has rented anything by herself... :)
edit: btw, is the thread topic "Blockbuster and Love" an off-shoot of Chrysler's 'Drive & Love' slogan?
Our Blockbuster used to have all the DVDs and the Tapes separate. They've recently been directed by Head Office to mix them all together.
What a stupid idea! I told the manager that no-one with a DVD player would come in looking for a DVD and want a tape. I also indicated that people who don't have a DVD player must really enjoy looking at all the DVDs. The manager totally agreed but said it was a directive from HO.
Do corporations go out of their way to piss us off?
Don't they ever listen to their customers or front line employees instead of their marketing people?
Jeez.:rolleyes:
sledgmb
03-18-2003, 06:31 PM
my blockbuster recently did the same thing...
but i thought it was a decent idea. sometimes if i wanted a certain movie bad enough i'd head over to the tape area just to see if they had it. now, all you do is go to the movie you want. pretty simple in my eyes...
I never want to see a movie badly enough to watch it on tape.
Sorry but 240 vs 480 lines doesn't cut it.
Pan and Scan (most tapes are P&S) vs Widescreen doesn't cut it either.
Also no DD5.1 sound.
No DVD extras.
I cannot imagine "making do" with such an inferior product.
mikehbkwm
03-18-2003, 07:38 PM
I agree and this is why I hate Blockbuster they suck ass. They dont ever listen to their customers and dont give a crap. And 57 your right VHS is such an inferior product now that I hate watching it.............................
Trick414
03-19-2003, 01:55 AM
I have heard a different take on this issue:
Dec 2000 I got my DVD player for christmas from my wife. I then started really noticing the DVD section at our local Blockbuster. At that time they had about 3 or 4 columns devoted to DVD.
Each month or two another column was added to the DVD selection. It was clear they were ramping up. I even mentioned to my wife the time was finally coming for DVD.
About the time they had over half of the columns in DVD, they did that switch to integrated VHS/DVD on the same shelf.
I spoke with the manager who confirmed my theory. They are throwing DVD's in the face of the customers who kept mindlessly roaming to the VHS section. Now, they see essentially every movie in the store is in DVD format.
In other words, Blockbuster is pushing DVD on to it's customers. They have that throw-down DVD player they sell for 60 bucks or so right at the counter at my store.
They know that DVD is where it's going, but don't want to alienate their installed customer base. Just ease them into it...
I'm not a BB fan by ANY stretch, but it seems like a pretty good marketing tool to me.
leadvocal
03-19-2003, 03:57 AM
When I first got my Mits widescreen I couldn't hook up my old A/V reciever to it (I've since gotten a new one). Anyway, before I got the new one I said to my wife 'lets watch a dvd' and she replied 'it won't be in surround sound!' That was my ticket to go out the next day and get a new reciever :D
As for Blockbuster, they charge an average of $4 for dvd rentals. I've joined Netflix and for $20 a month I've been getting 10-15 dvd's a month. Less than half of what I would pay BB.
billw
03-19-2003, 09:25 AM
57U,
I agree totally. My wife is not allowed to bring home a VHS tape.
In fact I had a smiliar experience the other night with the movie the Ring. I think this was the movie but anyway, she said " I am not sure if it is any good but I know it is in widescreen"
My understanding is that blockbuster is making a push to phase out the VHS tapes. This seems much easier to do by combining them and slowly limiting the offering.
rikelm
05-23-2003, 09:38 PM
When I got my wife to the local audio/video specialty store, she was blown away with HDTV. I told her I had dreamed of having a bigscreen HDTV/home theater for years and that the long room(26x13) in the basement-No windows, would be perfect. And it would be great to watch the UK basketball games on. She doesn't understand the differances in HD or SD but if its important to me its worth it to her. It was her job to do the decorating and mine to do all the wiring and componant selections. I framed and wired the walls and ceiling, She hung the sound damponing insulation. I hung the drywall she finished and painted it. Man I love that woman. I built the componant rack into the wall with the back under the steps so I can get to the back of it. People that walk in first remark is wow this looks just like a theater. All the way down to the lighting. I even built a false wall covered with a speaker grill material for my 110" steward screen, to hide the front and center channels. Picked the Sharp HD DLP projector. Mitsibitsi HD DirecTV receiver that doubles as OTA HD receiver, Denon DTS receiver, DVD PS player. Klipsh RF5 series Speakers all around. We now have movie dates at home and she picks them by " this one is widescreen DTS it should look good in the theater" Since she helped build it she takes care to make sure the movies she picks will look and sound good. We had to stop going to blockbuster though cause they lack enough widescreen. Right now we are looking for "Liar Liar" in widescreen. I have a VCR hooked up to it but it is only collecting dust. We would rather watch corn grow in high def than a new release movie on VHS. Moral of the story--- If your wife is involved in bulding it she understands what is best to watch on it.
DoubleDAZ
05-23-2003, 10:17 PM
Have you thought about trying Netflix? Now that Primetime TV is in its rerun season, I've thought about trying it. Being a letter carrier, I see how quickly they deliver DVDs. Of course, here in Phoenix we happen to have a distribution point right across town.
Anyone have any experience with Netflix and lack of widescreen? Should I ask the question in a separate thread?
Cheers,
