I always got neurotic about Aspect Ratio use (and misuse) when others were incomprehensibly not bothered by it. Thank you David for legitimising my neurosis on this solid gold topic.
Oh boy, I had forgotten about all of this. I worked at 7 pres during this period and the aspect ratio switching in presentation was a pain. The ARC was in our pres suite & if the trigger from the ACR-25 got missed we would have to refresh over & switch in manually. Ha, that may explain the Ansett spot - in fact it was probably me being slack & thinking, stuff it, I can't be bothered reaching over to the rack !!
I know in the UK, the BBC created a compromise of 14:9 for analogue television when widescreen programming was starting to emerge in order to allow 4:3 TV's to view 16:9 content with slight cropping and letterboxing. It would also allow everything to be filmed in 16:9 with a 14:9 safe area. Important for the commercial broadcasters as it made showing advertising easier for both them and the advertiser. Before digital TV, Europe had PALplus where shows were shown letterboxed on 4:3 TV's with additional information to allow a widescreen TV (for the small number of owners who had them at the time) to decode a full resolution widescreen image. Didn't last long with digital TV around the corner. Before that, British Satellite Broadcasting proposed showing widescreen programming via MAC but they quickly "merged" with British Sky Broadcasting and one of their mandates for the merger was the exclusive use of PAL over MAC.
Its interesting to watch the ratio switch back and forth while watching clips on Rage, gives an indicator when the songs came out. But there seems to be a third ratio sometimes, where its not as narrow as 4:3 but not quite wide screen. Perhaps its something to do with the evolution of this stuff in other countries?
There’s a Coles ad playing at the moment that’s like that. At a guess I’d say they made it 14:9. God knows why. Maybe then they don’t have to crop it as much when they put it on TikTok and Facebook reels?
I bought the original Mad Max on VHS from Australia back in 1986 or 87 yet when compared to the UK VHS version the picture looked squished on the Australian tape and it had a much better picture quality than its UK counterpart.
My experience watching an NRL game in 2001 suggests the safe corners were not thought of during the transition period. For those with analogue TVs (including myself), the left edge of the score graphic was missing for at least a decent chunk of the first half. Looks strange now, seeing news and sport from 2001 to about 2011, with watermarks so far from the edges and graphics likewise or with so much 'white space'.
The CEO said they're working on getting their 767s back in the air and safety is very important, hope for the future, etc. It was a few months before they went out of business
The first digital TV transmissions actually began in the US in 1998 but yeah 2009 was when most stations shutoff their analogue signal. But NTSC video is a whole other (tedious) thing
Believe it or not my husband and I still watch TV on an old analog TV with a cheap Set Top Box ( I’m still trying my darnest to convince him to finally get wi-fi)…… ⚛️☮️🌏
4:3 makes for a differnt experince - seeing more dont make the wiever smarter in contrary dumber it seems . It 16:9 since the "classes" pushes for that format and I guess you David.
I always got neurotic about Aspect Ratio use (and misuse) when others were incomprehensibly not bothered by it. Thank you David for legitimising my neurosis on this solid gold topic.
There's a special place in hell reserved for people who shoot phone videos in portrait mode...
we spent years telling people to record correctly for youtube vids.... then tiktok came along and everyone lost their minds....
@@WacKEDmaN it was happening long before TikTok, but it certainly made it worse
I didn't notice this video wasn't in 16:9 until you pointed it out at the end, very clever.
Not really but thanks!
Oh boy, I had forgotten about all of this. I worked at 7 pres during this period and the aspect ratio switching in presentation was a pain. The ARC was in our pres suite & if the trigger from the ACR-25 got missed we would have to refresh over & switch in manually. Ha, that may explain the Ansett spot - in fact it was probably me being slack & thinking, stuff it, I can't be bothered reaching over to the rack !!
@@marktubeie07 Ha no way!
Thank you for this video because I’m from Australia to 🙏
Thank you for the comment about vertical phone videos haha. Turn your damn phone people.
I know in the UK, the BBC created a compromise of 14:9 for analogue television when widescreen programming was starting to emerge in order to allow 4:3 TV's to view 16:9 content with slight cropping and letterboxing. It would also allow everything to be filmed in 16:9 with a 14:9 safe area. Important for the commercial broadcasters as it made showing advertising easier for both them and the advertiser. Before digital TV, Europe had PALplus where shows were shown letterboxed on 4:3 TV's with additional information to allow a widescreen TV (for the small number of owners who had them at the time) to decode a full resolution widescreen image. Didn't last long with digital TV around the corner. Before that, British Satellite Broadcasting proposed showing widescreen programming via MAC but they quickly "merged" with British Sky Broadcasting and one of their mandates for the merger was the exclusive use of PAL over MAC.
@@tgheretford Yeah 14:9 is that compromise aspect ratio. Only learned that after I made the video!
I know that Austar boxes had 14:9 (called "4:3 Postcard"), so maybe
You can see that 14:9 in that Top Gear clip.
I love this channel!
Hi David - listening to you with Chris Taylor on ABC Sydney. Could you post the full Ansett Ad? It would be gratefully appreciated.
Its interesting to watch the ratio switch back and forth while watching clips on Rage, gives an indicator when the songs came out. But there seems to be a third ratio sometimes, where its not as narrow as 4:3 but not quite wide screen. Perhaps its something to do with the evolution of this stuff in other countries?
There’s a Coles ad playing at the moment that’s like that. At a guess I’d say they made it 14:9. God knows why. Maybe then they don’t have to crop it as much when they put it on TikTok and Facebook reels?
I understand this was tedious, but it was also interesting and informative. Thank you.
5:08 I still do this!
But now some stations don't work because they use codecs that the box can't handle.
@@CaptainKremmen My 2008 DVDR only had an SD tuner in it. Couldn’t watch the HD channels. Bit lame
I bought the original Mad Max on VHS from Australia back in 1986 or 87 yet when compared to the UK VHS version the picture looked squished on the Australian tape and it had a much better picture quality than its UK counterpart.
My experience watching an NRL game in 2001 suggests the safe corners were not thought of during the transition period. For those with analogue TVs (including myself), the left edge of the score graphic was missing for at least a decent chunk of the first half.
Looks strange now, seeing news and sport from 2001 to about 2011, with watermarks so far from the edges and graphics likewise or with so much 'white space'.
tbf it took me ages to get my head around aspect ratio, especially when it comes to collecting laserdiscs.
I need to know what that Ansett ad was about. Must have aired perilously close to their demise.
The CEO said they're working on getting their 767s back in the air and safety is very important, hope for the future, etc. It was a few months before they went out of business
Please film in Landscape 🙏🙏 That would have me a lot of time at work.
We had a very similar situation with aspect ratios in the US, though our transition timeline was much more compressed (around 2005 to mid 2009)
The first digital TV transmissions actually began in the US in 1998 but yeah 2009 was when most stations shutoff their analogue signal. But NTSC video is a whole other (tedious) thing
And there I was hoping you'd show a trusty "safe area generator".
Sorry to disappoint
Believe it or not my husband and I still watch TV on an old analog TV with a cheap Set Top Box ( I’m still trying my darnest to convince him to finally get wi-fi)…… ⚛️☮️🌏
Great video !
"All aussie TV is 16:9" Not if it's a Franco Cozzo ad from the 1980's being rebroadcasted at 5:30 in the morning on ch9 lol
Megalo, megalo, megalo....
@@charlie-jay What did Franco Cozzo say when he stepped into a bucket of grey paint? Oh no my footisgray!
Ah yes but they’re still transmitting the black pillars on the sides of the screen because the technical standard is 16:9 for all digital channels
I get what you are saying, it's transmitted in 16:9 which is including the black bars. I didn't think of that. lol
@@VictorianDxer 🤣
6:05 how did a South Australian show end up on Victorian television ?
@@avus-kw2f213 Just emailed them and they put it on
Dude you gotta work with tony martin
4:46 UA-cam on iPad experience
That wasn't tedious at all that was interesting
4:3 makes for a differnt experince - seeing more dont make the wiever smarter in contrary dumber it seems . It 16:9 since the "classes" pushes for that format and I guess you David.
An aspect ratio is just the relation between two values. It doesn't represent any particular size besides the one it was originally produced in.