Cathode Ray Tubes lend themselves to circles (or, indeed, hemispheres). Televisions standardized on 4:3 aspect ratio as kind of a circle with four sides kind of dented in.
Then there was all the hell of different aspect ratios in the late 2000s or so that…kinda hasn’t stopped?
Televisions have mostly crystalized on 16:9. Computer monitors are all the fuck over the place; 16:10 is common on laptops but surprisingly difficult to find in standalone monitors, gaming monitors start at 16:9 and only go wider, I believe mine is a 21:9? And then there’s smart phones, which A. are often ultrawide, and B. are usually held in portrait mode.
Then there’s media itself. Television recorded before ~2006 is often 4:3, with the exception of some shows like Babylon 5 which saw HDTV coming and filmed in widescreen that was cropped for 4:3. Modern television is made for 16:9. Movies? Most of them are made wider than 16:9, with some directors going even wider/vertically narrower to be more “cinematic” because their pay scales with how far up their own asses they are. Same thing happens on Youtube. Linus “Sebastian” Tech Tips was often in the habit of bitching about camera notches/holes in phone screens being in the way of content…while simultaneously mastering his own videos at an ultrawide aspect ratio, so that they’re letterboxed on standard televisions and most computer monitors, and they extend to the edge of a phone screen where all the rounded corners and camera holes are. It’s like he’s bad at decisions or something.
Linus “Sebastian” Tech Tips was often in the habit of bitching about camera notches/holes in phone screens being in the way of content…while simultaneously mastering his own videos at an ultrawide aspect ratio, so that they’re letterboxed on standard televisions and most computer monitors, and they extend to the edge of a phone screen where all the rounded corners and camera holes are. It’s like he’s bad at decisions or something.
🤣
I totally disagree with your stance on wider screen movies and TV shows though. Generally speaking, if it’s an aesthetic choice.
I’ve started to suspect that the minor deviation from 16:9 is a bandwidth saver that streaming services have imposed, though. Because the total pixels go down. And as far as I’m aware, there are no anamorphic video files served on YouTube, Netflix or other services. That seems to have stopped being practiced after we moved on from DVDs.
They were called “roundies”. Usually the top and bottom were purposefully obscured by the casing. Just look up TVs from the 50s to see what I’m talking about.
I can’t help but imagine a world in which displays were circles instead of rectangles or squares.
I don’t like it. 😬
Screen doesn’t always need to be rectangular. Look at this nice screen:
Cathode Ray Tubes lend themselves to circles (or, indeed, hemispheres). Televisions standardized on 4:3 aspect ratio as kind of a circle with four sides kind of dented in.
Then there was all the hell of different aspect ratios in the late 2000s or so that…kinda hasn’t stopped?
I’d rather have a triangular interocitor.
You collective head of knuckle.
Has it not? I feel like 16:9 has basically won, with a consolation prize for 16:10
Televisions have mostly crystalized on 16:9. Computer monitors are all the fuck over the place; 16:10 is common on laptops but surprisingly difficult to find in standalone monitors, gaming monitors start at 16:9 and only go wider, I believe mine is a 21:9? And then there’s smart phones, which A. are often ultrawide, and B. are usually held in portrait mode.
Then there’s media itself. Television recorded before ~2006 is often 4:3, with the exception of some shows like Babylon 5 which saw HDTV coming and filmed in widescreen that was cropped for 4:3. Modern television is made for 16:9. Movies? Most of them are made wider than 16:9, with some directors going even wider/vertically narrower to be more “cinematic” because their pay scales with how far up their own asses they are. Same thing happens on Youtube. Linus “Sebastian” Tech Tips was often in the habit of bitching about camera notches/holes in phone screens being in the way of content…while simultaneously mastering his own videos at an ultrawide aspect ratio, so that they’re letterboxed on standard televisions and most computer monitors, and they extend to the edge of a phone screen where all the rounded corners and camera holes are. It’s like he’s bad at decisions or something.
🤣
I totally disagree with your stance on wider screen movies and TV shows though. Generally speaking, if it’s an aesthetic choice.
I’ve started to suspect that the minor deviation from 16:9 is a bandwidth saver that streaming services have imposed, though. Because the total pixels go down. And as far as I’m aware, there are no anamorphic video files served on YouTube, Netflix or other services. That seems to have stopped being practiced after we moved on from DVDs.
3:2 my beloved. best monitor ratio.
They were called “roundies”. Usually the top and bottom were purposefully obscured by the casing. Just look up TVs from the 50s to see what I’m talking about.