Additionally, if they were burnt into the image, us 4:3'rs may have some difficulty reading them.
However, I bet that I too would complain if I were in your folks' shoes.
I know this is not an anamorpic release, but how do traditional anamorphic DVD releases handle subs? Are they in the black for 4:3 viewing, but overlay the image for widescreen TVs?
It would be ideal if there was a preference for on-image or in-black for subs on DVDs.
I thought I came up with a solution for the widescreeners - closed captioning - but I just checked, Greedo dialogue is not in the CC.
Too bad.