Turns out MGM has been releasing DVD's for god knows how long in "widescreen" by taking the fullscreen version and cutting off the top and bottom of the image. So when you buy a widescreen DVD made by MGM you're actually getting less of the original image than even a fullscreen version. Fuckers. Well some greedy lawyers put together a class action lawsuit so now you can send your DVDs back to MGM and trade them for either $7.10 or another DVD from a list of 325 titles. I don't know what is in this list of titles, if they're the same DVD's but not fucked up or if they are other MGM DVDs that aren't screwed up.
You can find out if you have any of these screwed up DVDs by reading the list of eligible DVDs (5 of my 30 DVDs were in the list) and you can request a claim form by calling 1-800-285-2168 and speaking your name and address to an automated system so they can mail you the form and pre-paid mailing labels.
I'll be getting a claim form soon and will try to find out what this "list of 325 titles" is that one would choose from to replace your existing DVDs. You can find more information here. It's worth checking out in that about 15% of my DVDs were this pan and scan cropped situation. What a fucking lame company.
3 Comments
1. thank you, gene, for posting this.
2. 10 of my dvd’s are on that list. let us see if i can remember them now. i bet i can’t. four weddings and a funeral, secret of nimh, princess bride, wargames, return to me, sfw, cq, y tu mama tambien, crap, i don’t remember the last two.
3. but i was surprised, don’t you own princess bride?
4. i read the list again. mod squad and much ado about nothing.
5. what if i don’t want any of the movies on their list though? maybe i will wait till you get the thingy in the mail. though i could certainly do without wargames, mod squad, and return to me if offered better movies.
We have six bogus widescreens. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love class action litigation.
meli and i just got our claim form in the mail. the list of available replacement DVDs, while extensive, is also extremely lame. i think we’ll end up keeping our defective DVDs.