King5 Seattle, the local NBC affiliate has always had a very good looking broadcast along with good sound. That is, until recently. I usually only watch shows such as Conan O'Briend, SNL, and Crossing Jordan. All of which are shot in HD, therefore, in widescreen. Until recently, they were broadcast in widescreen over the analog signal. For several months now, they seem to be zooming to fill a 4:3 screen! It's not even pan & scan!
It is so blatantly obivous and annoying that I can't even watch. I attempted to watch SNL tonight but characters were either halfway off the screen or not visible at all! The NBC logo is not visible. It is simply rediculous.
My only guess is that they received too many complaints from Joe Average about the black bars on their TV. "I want to see the whole picture... Wah Wah Wah".
I guess we have to suffer due to the stupidity of others.
That is my theory anyway, I have emailed King5 and am hoping for a response.
Even if there is another reason for this nonsense, I see evidence of widescreen misunderstanding everywhere. In the local video rental store, I always hear people arguing about how fullscreen sooo much better and widescreen sucks. No wonder there are so many fullscreen DVD's!
