Source: HDTVmagazine.com
HDTV Magazine Reports: HBO Panned
Many of you have written to HBO regarding pan-and-scan. HBO is apparently sending the following response to all who write: Thank you for your email regarding letterboxing on HBO's HDTV feed. Based on our experience in bringing Hollywood films to TV, we have found that the majority of our subscribers strongly dislike the black bars associated with letterboxing and prefer to watch movies that completely fill their TV screens. While this consumer preference is well established for standard TV sets (i.e., those with a 4x3 aspect ratio), we believe it will hold true for viewers purchasing wide format sets (i.e., with a 16:9 (1.78:1) aspect ratio). Letterboxing on many wide format TVs results in a smaller picture than consumers prefer since these sets often have less vertical picture height than the 4x3 set they replace. This is at odds with the expectation most viewers have that a wider screen format will eliminate the need for the letterboxing they occasionally experienced with standard sets. In short, letterboxing on widescreens makes the black bars even more objectionable than on standard sets, which we know most TV viewers dislike. As you know, this is not a new debate. When the industry committee creating digital television standards established 16:9 as the standard aspect ratio, some cinematographers disagreed. Nonetheless, the FCC decided to adopt the 16x9 format as the standard for digital television in the U.S. Regrettably, we realize that not everyone agrees on letterboxing. We believe, however, that our decision will please the majority of the people who watch HBO. Again, thanks for your feedback. We hope you will continue to enjoy HBO HDTV. One readerís response to an e-mail sent to HBO: Your response to my email is totally absurd. If viewers find letterboxing so objectionable, please expain why DVDs have almost completely dropped the two sided (pan-and-scan and letterboxed) format that was common a year ago in favor of a single letterboxed version. And if you do not think these discs are being marketed with wiide screen TV owners in mind, please explain the anamorphic process common on DVDs. It does not benefit anyone but owners of widescreen. Please also explain why consumers did not embrace DIVX, which had non-letterboxing as a central tenant. I very seriously doubt that you have in fact surveyed ""the majority of "" your subscribers. As an owner of a wide screen HDTV, let me inform you that the idea is to waste less vertical space with black bars, not to eliminate them. The entire purpose of buying a wide screen TV is to preserve and view the originally intended content. Lastly, please be aware that the demographics for HBO HD are NOT the same as for regular HBO and will not be so for many, many years."" Kevin R