[OT] Why do so few people understand aspect ratios?

[David Christopher Chipman]

Thomas Milne wrote:
> I don't know if anyone on here does any video encoding, but can anyone
> tell me why it is that so many people insist on adding the black bars
> to their videos? It's amazing how many people I run into who cannot
> seem to grasp the difference between 4:3, 16:9 and panoramic. They
> think if a movie is widescreen, ie. 16:9, they need to add the black
> bars to 'pad' the video...why?
>
> Are their TV's wrong? Their computer displays? I've had all kinds of
> TV's, old CRT and flat screen, I've never, ever, needed to mess with
> video to make it display properly. Ever.
>
>   
Hey there,

It's not the end user's fault, really. It has to do with the fact that 
the aspect ratios for some video content is not that same as broadcast 
TV, which "most" monitors are designed for. That's why the black bars 
are there. Other wise they have to pan-and-scan the source image, to 
look at "important" things. OK?

-David
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