Youtube changes Aspect Ratio from 4:3 to 16:9

useful to know.

from http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000475.html
“Greetings. It appears that YouTube has switched their standard video display window from 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9 widescreen. As anyone can tell you who has ever worked to try make sure that a 16:9 image displayed reasonably in YouTube’s previous 4:3 window — not as straightforward as you might think — this should be a welcome development, as was “high quality” video mode (if you know how to trigger it).

Of course, videos previously encoded 4:3 will now display black side panels, just like your home HDTV when showing standard definition fare — assuming you’re using the proper TV display mode and don’t select the painful “distort the image to fill the screen” setting. (Note to History Channel: stretching most of your standard definition shows feeding on your “History HD” channel looks seriously awful.)”

Tags: 16:9, 4:3, Aspect Ratio, Youtube