Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Who Widened Our Perspective?


Just a couple of years ago, all our TV's, monitors, laptops, cellphones all operated under an aspect ratio of 4:3. Basically, we were all squares (or close to them, at least).

Then all of a sudden, we find that all our TV's, monitors, laptops, cellphones, etc. now operate at 16:9 or 16:10, or a close variant of what everyone knows as "widescreen." No one really protested against the "swift orderly change" (Ben Gibbard, yet again). I guess our perspectives just all widened (zing!).

Someone, some people, some group out there decided it. It's probably the same group that decided NTSC-format VHS would govern here and PAL for various parts of Europe. Yes, the
same ones who decided the hard copy of your pictures ought to be in 3R, 4R, and 5R while your soft copies at at least 1366 x 768 resolution for that crisp desktop background. The same ones who dictated that your monitor's refresh rate is better set at 75Hz or higher. The ones who made Blu-ray win the High Definition Optical Disc Format War of '08...

Whatever this Jedi Council is, I want in.


-Leo Rafael L. Quesada, Entry #11

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