Stretch Your TV, Stretch Your Web TV
You almost can’t buy a TV today that isn’t a widescreen, yet the majority of our TV programming is still broadcasted in the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio (square shape) format. But you’ve got that nice widescreen tv so you got to use that all too common stretch feature, which more often than not produces a poor image and is not at all flattering for our favorite celebrities.
What was originally designed to be a feature to handle legacy content is unnecessarily making its way to the web. CNN, who broadcasts in 4:3, has just recently updated their web site and has implemented a new video player. Oddly, they have opted to replicate this stretching effect on their web site.
Maybe their assumption is that people are used to seeing CNN stretched or they are trying to give the impression that they shoot in widescreen. This is nothing new to CNN as Chris Fahey points out, they also stretch the video on the TVs in their studios.
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