On Thu, 25 Nov 1999 18:05:31 GMT, "Travis Carter" wrote:

>Actually, if one has a camera capable of filming in an "anamorphic" 16:9
>mode, the results are very professional indeed. Output via 480p on an HDTV
>display will increase resolution by nearly 33%.
>
>If an anamorphic mode is not available on the camera, just remember to frame
>your composition for 16:9. Later, as you crop while editing, you won't
>loose any valuable picture information.
>
>IMHO, widescreen features do look somewhat more "professional" and give the
>impression of a panoramic view. And if the resultant video is shown on a
>16:9 display, it looks absolutely incredible, even when not anamorphic.

But with a loss of video information - image area is lost,
along with those all those pixels turned black...!
If one is trying for maximum picture detail within a given
available image area, throwing away part of that area to
modify the proportion may not be the way to go; if the
camera (or lens) can provide an anamorphic image, then
stretching it is the way to go; it appeared the original
poster was choosing to throw out picture information by
cropping a normal frame to a letterbox proportion, and
that would result in less picture information in the
frame (with a result that would appear more "professional"
only to the visually illiterate...!;-). There is little
enough video information in a frame now for a clean,
finely-detailed image with most video formats - throwing
some of that valuable information away seems rather odd
to me...;-)