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Comment by garyclarke27 | Hacker News Reader

I detest Netflix and other streamers recent fashion for using letterbox format - completely wasting a significant chunk of my precious screen real estate. Why do idiot directors think this is a good thing? These will never be shown in cinemas and even there the best format is Imax which has even more vertical space than 16:9 TVs

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As a professional industry, Hollywood is probably the worst offender when it comes to being so obsessed with itself that it genuinely can’t tell when it’s doing something in service of pandering to and perpetuating its own weird culture.

I kind of look at this in the same way as the fact that so many movies or TV shows can’t help but eventually have a plot where someone makes a movie or a TV show, maybe at a stretch a stage production. And, somehow, all the characters know a whole lot about stage productions.

Idiot directors? I was going to rebut your comment but on second read I’d rather just point out how dismissive and inflammatory your comment is.

As long as it’s not too aggressive (Scope) I don’t mind it. The aspect ratio can have a feel to it.

4:3 > *.

Nah, 3:2 > 16:10 > 4:3 > 16:9

eventually, i hope the entire wall can be a high resolution screen so that whatever aspect the artist chose, can be represented in sufficient size, we shouldn't have to care about "wasted screen real estate", creators should be free to record their work in whatever aspect they feel conveys their idea the best.

Honestly, on a 65" screen at around 10' away I rarely notice the black bars for letterbox or even 4:3 content.

personally, on my 16:9 55" at home, I don't care about the bars either, not for 4:3, for 21:9 it's still a bit annoying .

Then it gets fun. "It'll be even more fun when we can afford to have the fourth wall installed. How long you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a fourth wall-TV put in? It's only two thousand dollars." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451

Meanwhile, gen Z is watching things vertically on Tiktok.

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