MGM Widescreen Issue Reaches Settlement

For nearly 5 years, various MGM DVD titles were released as widescreen, but in reality the films were Fullscreen, or Pan&Scan with black bars graphically added to the top and bottom of the picture. Effectively, this process chops even more off the picture than a fullscreen presentation normally loses. They would then print and market the discs as a widescreen presentation, maintaining the 16:9 ratio that defines the letterbox viewing experience.

325 titles were identified as false widescreen and a website has been launced to allow consumers to either receive a new, corrected copy or a $7.10 refund for each disk on the approved list. Claim forms are available as is the the Eligible List (pdf) as is further information on the suit at http://www.mgmdvdsettlement.com/. Requests have to be in by March 31st, so get your piece as soon as you can. A couple high profile discs include several James Bond titles, several Rocky titles, Spaceballs, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Terminator and Hannibal.