The HD Revolution Has Arrived (And It Might Save Widescreen)
For the last five years, the studios have fed us the exact same excuse for chopping up our favorite movies: "The average consumer has a square 4:3 television, and they hate the black bars."
We've fought back with petitions, letter campaigns, and the OAR Watchdog, but the studios have stubbornly clung to the Pan & Scan DVD to appease the lowest common denominator. But if you've been to a Best Buy or Circuit City recently, you've probably noticed something that is going to make the studios' favorite excuse completely obsolete.
The high-definition revolution is finally going mainstream.
For years, flat-panel HDTVs were luxury items that cost thousands of dollars. But this spring, prices have absolutely plummeted. We are finally seeing 40-inch LCD and Plasma televisions drop below the $1,000 mark. Families aren't just dreaming about HDTVs anymore—they are actually putting them in their living rooms.
Why does this matter to the Widescreen Advocate? Because every single one of these new HDTVs is a widescreen 16x9 display.
We are about to see a massive shift in how the general public views aspect ratios. For the first time, Joe Six-Pack is going to take his "Full Screen" copy of Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings, put it on his brand new widescreen TV, and realize the picture doesn't fit! Instead of letterbox bars on the top and bottom, he's going to have pillarbox bars on the left and right. The studios are going to have a very hard time justifying "Full Screen" releases when the screens themselves are no longer square.
Add in the fact that the next-generation format war is heating up. Whether you are buying the new Blu-ray or HD DVD players, both formats are strictly built around 16x9 high-definition. Pan & Scan does not exist in the HD era.
We aren't out of the woods yet. Standard DVD is still the dominant format, and the OAR Watchdog list is still too long. But for the very first time, the hardware sitting in the average American living room is on our side.
If you have a friend who is upgrading to an HDTV this year, do them a favor: explain aspect ratios to them. Show them why they need to buy the Widescreen Edition to truly show off their new TV. The tide is finally starting to turn!
We've fought back with petitions, letter campaigns, and the OAR Watchdog, but the studios have stubbornly clung to the Pan & Scan DVD to appease the lowest common denominator. But if you've been to a Best Buy or Circuit City recently, you've probably noticed something that is going to make the studios' favorite excuse completely obsolete.
The high-definition revolution is finally going mainstream.
For years, flat-panel HDTVs were luxury items that cost thousands of dollars. But this spring, prices have absolutely plummeted. We are finally seeing 40-inch LCD and Plasma televisions drop below the $1,000 mark. Families aren't just dreaming about HDTVs anymore—they are actually putting them in their living rooms.
Why does this matter to the Widescreen Advocate? Because every single one of these new HDTVs is a widescreen 16x9 display.
We are about to see a massive shift in how the general public views aspect ratios. For the first time, Joe Six-Pack is going to take his "Full Screen" copy of Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings, put it on his brand new widescreen TV, and realize the picture doesn't fit! Instead of letterbox bars on the top and bottom, he's going to have pillarbox bars on the left and right. The studios are going to have a very hard time justifying "Full Screen" releases when the screens themselves are no longer square.
Add in the fact that the next-generation format war is heating up. Whether you are buying the new Blu-ray or HD DVD players, both formats are strictly built around 16x9 high-definition. Pan & Scan does not exist in the HD era.
We aren't out of the woods yet. Standard DVD is still the dominant format, and the OAR Watchdog list is still too long. But for the very first time, the hardware sitting in the average American living room is on our side.
If you have a friend who is upgrading to an HDTV this year, do them a favor: explain aspect ratios to them. Show them why they need to buy the Widescreen Edition to truly show off their new TV. The tide is finally starting to turn!
~ See what you've been missing! See it in Widescreen! ~