Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> >> 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,
> >
> > Um... most channels in the UK broadcast in widescreen, and have done for several
> > years. Most new shows are now recorded in widescreen too, even the BBC news.
>
> Interesting. Everything I see on TV is still in 4:3 aspect.

I don't know if the analogue signal supports widescreen, you might need to use a
digital receiver. Obviously, anything recorded before 2005/6 (whenever!) will be
4:3, and will be either stretched (urgh; I'm with Warp) or side-barred
(preferable) by a widescreen tv.

> Now that my mum has a widescreen TV, this means that I can either have
> people with elliptical heads, huge black bars, or cut off half the
> picture. I opted for cutting off half the picture. (Which means that if
> they show something that *is* widescreen letterboxed, it comes out
> right. Except that, apparently, even "widescreen" films aren't actually
> 16:9 aspect, so you still get letterboxing...)

Well, there's a range of movie aspect ratios, the "shortest" of which matches up
to the standard tv ratio (is that 16:9?). The wider format will indeed be
letterboxed even on a widescreen tv, although to a much lesser degree. You may
also have a 'zoom' setting (again, for movies), which will fill the screen
vertically and cut off a very small area of picture at the sides.

I must admit, the ability of widescreen TVs to automatically format the picture
is very variable. My current TV seems quite happy to side-bar, letterbox etc
depending on the signal, and only very occasionally seems to get confused, but
older CRT widescreens often were incapable of getting the ratio right without
manual intervention... :)

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