HDTV question

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:23:55 -0500, "Bill O'Neill" <billohno@gmail.com> said:

> I am ignorant of the HDTV universe, so who can explain why CNN HD that I 
> am watching here from a coffee shop in Middlebury, Vermont, on a 50" 
> plasma-double-secret-probation-mega-large screen has "HD" wallpaper down 
> each edge of the screen leaving what seems to be the old aspect ratio 
> for content?

"High definition" does not imply 16:9 aspect ratio (even if they
nearly always go together).  By sticking with 4:3, CNN gets two
benefits:

1) They can easily upconvert legacy 4:3 sources (which would include
most of them).

2) They can easily downconvert to NTSC without letterboxing.

I'm not sure anybody is quite ready for Larry King in widescreen
anway....

-GAWollman