[VMPhil]

Hope no one minds me posting one of my uploads here, I recently dusted off my old VHS/DVD recorder (a Christmas present in 2005!) and am gradually going through a dusty box of old videos to see what I find, posting the results on my YouTube channel.

Here from October 1994 is a clip from Channel 4’s ‘Right to Reply’ about the gradual beginnings of widescreen television tests, and a debate on how to fit the images onto existing 4:3 sets without confusing/irritating people.

m.youtube.com 

Sorry to be an annoying pedant, but in your YouTube description when you say widescreen broadcasts didn't start offically until digital TV launched in 1998, that's not quite true. There was an analogue system called "PALplus" which ITV and Channel 4 used to broadcast a number of programmes, and there were widescreen TV sets on sale in the mid 90s that supported it (I believe that's what this Right to Reply report is about). I think ITV mainly broadcast films in the format, but Channel 4 showed things like the 1995 series of Fifteen to One in true 16:9 and broadcast in PALplus format.

As that report implies, the fact that viewers on 4:3 sets were forced to watch such broadcasts in 16:9 letterbox is why there was only limited use of this format I think. When digital set top boxes arrived they gave the viewer the choice to view in 16:9 letterbox or 4:3 centre cut-out. (Personally, I think they should have added a 14:9 compromise option too, the same as how 16:9 programmes were broadcast on analogue, and a feature that I had on a later Philips set top box).