We've discussed it again and again, the ills done by so-called HD channels against perfectly good content, whether it's passing off SD as high definition with Fox Widescreen, vomit-inducing stretching on TNT & TBS or the inexcusable cropping, zooming and pan & scanning of movies broadcast on AMC and HBO. But which one is the worst? Let your voice be heard, and if we forgot anything drop us a line in the comments.

Disney's approach to handling its animated classics has been a careful one, even down to the inclusion of Disney View to keep older features like Pinocchio in their proper aspect ratio and keep viewers from stretching. In creating a Blu-ray version of the 1939 movie Gulliver's Travels, E1 Entertainment has chosen.... a different way, cropping and zooming to make a widescreen picture where none existed before. Check the picture above for evidence of the transfer's issues, while ToonZone has links to a few other reviews pointing out not only the problems (jerky movement, poor sound) created in this rerelease, but also E1's claims that it has been "restored" with lost images and safe areas, while the truly interested can check the AVS Forum thread for even more terrifying revelations of misleading 5-star Amazon reviews and false claims of ignorance or poor setup by those complaining about the quality.

Read - "Gulliver's Travels" Blu-ray, or How Not to Do Animation Squash and Stretch
Read - Gulliver's Travels 1.33:1 only please!

The 70th Anniversary release of Disney's Pinocchio on March10 marks yet another first for the studio, as the Blu-ray edition fills in the widescreen frame with (optional) decorative bars dubbed Disney View. Since simply picking up an ultra widescreen LCD wouldn't help, Disney has opted for 16 sets of watercolor artwork to frame the picture, depending on the scene. Next up for the treatment is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and given the positive reviews for Pinocchio's picture quality, it looks like a good way to compromise between those of us who are happy to watch the movie the "right" way, and those who can't stand empty space caused by the the film's original 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

Read - Disney spruces up Pinocchio Blu-ray
Read - SoundtrackNet Review

It never fails, one of the first thing just about every new HDTV owners asks is; why are there black bars on my new widescreen TV? And this is the reason why just about every HD discussion forum has a sticked thread at the top of the forums explaining why this still happens. So in this edition of HD 101, we figured we'd have our go at trying to give a simple answer to an age old question. The most basic explanation is because the image you want to watch isn't the same shape as the your TV. Of course that seems too obvious and now you're thinking; but why not, they're both widescreen? But rather than getting into the why are there so many shapes -- called aspect ratios from here on out -- we'll show you the various formats and the different ways they might be displayed on your HDTV.

While YouTube is still just dipping an experimental toe in the HD waters, it's throwing old school 4:3 out the window for good, adjusting video players and webpages to 960 pixels widescreen aspect ratios. If you want the most resolution the service can offer, URL tweaks will still be in order but expect to see black bars to the sides each and every time you're RickRolled from now on. Naturally, opinions are mixed about the change, with 16:9 heads mostly cheering the news and others complaining their 4:3 vids are shrunk, plus any content uploaded with top/bottom bars already inserted is even smaller, but we'll sacrifice that for a better look at Bulletproof Monk, if we could just find it on the site.

Don't let that December 9 street date fool you, it seems like many are taking our advice and getting their hands on The Dark Knight Blu-ray disc as soon as possible. Reports have popped up on more than one forum over the last weekend of people ordering -- and receiving -- copies from retailers with 7-11-style views of release date tyranny, or for the less scrupulous, downloading ripped copies. Even worse the biggest Blu-ray debut to date is being met with criticism before it even (officially) goes on the shelf, with complaints about edge enhancement, compression and director Chris Nolan's aspect ratio choices in relation to IMAX / non-IMAX footage. Need to check it out for yourself? A bit of poking around should earn a copy sooner rather than later, no mail-ins necessary.

Read - AVSForum
Read - Blu-ray.com

We can't say we spotted this one in person (sorry, Chuck lost its luster after about six episodes), but we'll still join in the chorus of laughter. The image spotted above was an advertisement for Microsoft's little 'ole operating system, known around the underground as Windows Vista. What you're supposed to see there is "Windows: Life Without Walls," but instead, you're missing the final "s." In fact, Michael Smith points out that most 4:3 set owners actually saw even less than that (think "Windows: Life Without"). The capture was taken from a locally broadcast 4:3 NTSC feed of the show, and amazingly enough, it wasn't the only commercial aired that night with some of the critical information hanging off in no man's land. Have any of you spotted this recently, or was this just a one-time screw up?

C'mon, who hasn't had an inexperienced movie goer over that politely asks why black bars still show up on a widescreen HDTV? Have you ever wondered if a set would be produced to harmonize with those films shot and presented in 2.35:1? Sound & Vision sat down with a number of industry experts and asked them that very question, and while many believe that the same technology that has become commonplace in custom projector installs is feasible for TVs, it's not apt to happen anytime soon. Essentially, there's just not a large enough market for ultra widescreen displays; the hardcore among us that would spring for one are in the minority. Richard F. Doherty, research director of The Envisioneering Group on Long Island, was one fellow who seemed to have more faith than anyone else, even going so far as to suggest that we may see at least a prototype of one such set at CES 2009. Mark our words, we'll be keeping an eye out -- after all, it shouldn't be too hard to spot in the sea of 16:9 units.

From the Capt. Obvious department, if you're shopping for a new HDTV, and you buy a widescreen TV (there 4x3 HDTV's also, which this site fails to mention), even if the size is listed as the same, it will be a few inches shorter in height. They've got a chart to make sure you don't actually end up with a smaller (height-wise) TV than you had before.

Of course, you'll probably be gaining quite a bit of real estate when you watch widescreen formatted programming like high definition broadcasts or DVD's, which in my opinion is a lot more important. I know I'm looking at my 4x3 32" Sony with a questioning eye now that I do all of my gaming in 1080i. I suppose especially for people who might not be getting high definition broadcasting right away (like 50% of you), the last thing you would want to do is spend the money and look at a smaller picture, so consider this an FYI.

[Via digg]