>>> Movies. Movies have been widescreen forever. People want to watch the
>>> movie "unaltered" at home. That's why.
>> Really? I hadn't noticed that one.
> 
> It was my understanding that most TVs in the UK these days are widescreen 
> anyways; if that's the case, it's not surprising you wouldn't notice the 
> difference. :-)

Most *new* TVs are widescreen. (Indeed, it is apparently impossible to 
buy one that isn't.) Which is most perplexing, because there are no TV 
signals broadcast in widescreen, so owning a widescreen TV instantly 
means that everything you watch must either be distorted or have black 
bars down the sides. Um... and this is a "good" thing because...??

>> Is there a reason why movies are filmed this way?
> 
> http://www.widescreen.org/aspect_ratios.shtml seems to have some relevant 
> information.

Only really says what aspect ratios were used and how it was done - not 
why these ratios existed in the first place.

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