If you have been with Widescreen Advocate since we launched in 2002, you remember the dark days. You remember digging through a bin of fifty "Full Screen" copies of a new release at your local store, desperately hoping to find the one single Widescreen copy hidden in the back. You remember the endless arguments with family members about "those annoying black bars."

We fought back. We educated consumers, we wrote letters to the studios, and we voted with our wallets.

And I am incredibly proud to say that we have won.

If you look at the home video market today, the Pan & Scan DVD is officially a relic of the past. New theatrical releases are hitting store shelves with a single, glorious specification: Original Theatrical Aspect Ratio.

What finally killed the Full Screen DVD? It was the ultimate combination of technological progress and sweet, sweet irony.

Following the 2009 digital television (DTV) transition, millions of holdouts finally ditched their heavy, boxy CRT televisions. According to recent reports, the majority of U.S. homes now have a 16x9 high-definition display in their living room.

Suddenly, the script flipped entirely. Consumers who had unwittingly bought "Full Screen" DVDs over the years popped them into their brand new widescreen televisions, only to be horrified by black bars appearing on the left and right sides of the image. The studios' primary excuse for chopping up movies evaporated overnight. People finally wanted films that filled their wide screens, and that meant giving them the Original Aspect Ratio.

We will keep the OAR Watchdog database archived here for historical purposes, to remind us of the hundreds of titles that were mistreated during the early days of the format. But as far as the industry is concerned, the debate is over. Pan & Scan is just television. OAR is theater.

To everyone who signed a petition, boycotted a modified release, or took the time to patiently explain letterboxing to a confused friend—thank you. We saved the picture.