Monday, September 24, 2007

Fat TV Faces

I love my daughter and son-in-law and they take good care of us, BUT don't make me watch TV at their house. They have one of those awful hi-def TVs. Just because it is huge (probably the size of all of ours put together), doesn't mean you have to stretch out a regularly transmitted show to the edges, but they do. This makes everyone look about 50 pounds over weight, and terribly out of proportion. Joe Morgenstern (WSJ, 9-22) agrees:
    Almost all flat panel TVs are tailored to the proportions of the hi-def transmission--they have screens with 16:9 aspect ratios--but they don't all receive hi-def signals, and most programs are still being beamed conventionally, in a squarish 4:3 format that was never meant to fill a wide screen.

    Since they made the investment, they want their programs to fill the screen; never mind that 4:3 programs are correctly displayed on 16:9 panels ONLY WITH BLACK BARS FLANKING THE IMAGE. Compact cars resemble stretch limos and puffy faces look lik their cheeks have been pulled out in opposite directions."
I feel a lot better now.

1 comment:

JAM said...

The pharmacy we go to has one in the waiting area and it was like that for a long time. I asked them one day what was the point of a high definition tv if you turn around and everyone is squashed down like that.

I've noticed the last few times in there that it has been set correctly. Now things look wonderful.