first- I had trouble reading your first sentence. I understand what you are saying but there seems to be a cluster f**k of words there.
Anyway... I think we should rewind some years back and instead of going 16x9 from the start of HD, gone right to 2.35:1. Why was this not done? Sure, we would have black bars taking up half the screen on SD 4:3 stuff, but heck, you could almost fit two news 4:3 news channels side by side on a display like that. 16x9 would have side black bars, but so what. Action packed 2.35:1 movies would look awesome!
There was a coalition of movie people, including as I recall Francis Ford Coppola, who appealed for a wider-than 16x9 aspect ratio standard for HDTV. I believe they were pushing for something like 2:1. Unfortunately, they came in waaaaay too late in the ATSC standards development process to be taken seriously.
I still have a dream of having a front projector with anamorphic lens, for 2.35:1 constant image height, but I really don't see the need for it in rear projection and flat panel. You'd just shift the question about "why do I have black bars above and below the screen" to "why do I have black bars at the side of the screen?" Or worse yet, the stretch mode that some people seem to like in 16x9 would become ridiculously stretched into 2.35:1.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
scott @ Jul 25th 2008 8:29AM
first- I had trouble reading your first sentence. I understand what you are saying but there seems to be a cluster f**k of words there.
Anyway... I think we should rewind some years back and instead of going 16x9 from the start of HD, gone right to 2.35:1. Why was this not done? Sure, we would have black bars taking up half the screen on SD 4:3 stuff, but heck, you could almost fit two news 4:3 news channels side by side on a display like that. 16x9 would have side black bars, but so what. Action packed 2.35:1 movies would look awesome!
Mr. E @ Jul 25th 2008 12:29PM
There was a coalition of movie people, including as I recall Francis Ford Coppola, who appealed for a wider-than 16x9 aspect ratio standard for HDTV. I believe they were pushing for something like 2:1. Unfortunately, they came in waaaaay too late in the ATSC standards development process to be taken seriously.
I still have a dream of having a front projector with anamorphic lens, for 2.35:1 constant image height, but I really don't see the need for it in rear projection and flat panel. You'd just shift the question about "why do I have black bars above and below the screen" to "why do I have black bars at the side of the screen?" Or worse yet, the stretch mode that some people seem to like in 16x9 would become ridiculously stretched into 2.35:1.