I prefer the 16:9 that Spike broadcasts. Yes, get your pitchforks, you cinema purists, but I paid for 512 square inches of display, and I want to use it. I grew up watching Star Wars on VHS and broadcast, "reformatted to fit your screen." When I was a teenager, I saw them in the theaters. I also recently rented e4/5/6 on widescreen (2.35:1) DVD for my 9 year old to experience for the first time.
You know what I got from the cinematic aspect ratio? Nothing. Not a darned thing was missed. The black bars at the top and bottom of the screen are far more distracting than the extra 33% of STAR FIELDS and TAPESTRIES on the ends of the screen are worth. Same thing for Dances with Wolves, Blade Runner, Miami Vice, and friggin' TRON.
I like the way USA, Spike, and others "mutilate the [fat-headed] director's vision" so that I get the important stuff, and don't waste power drawing black bars with my LCD. I pray for a time when the Sony Superbit DVD comes back; 720*576 anamorphic frame size @24FPS, using the full 9Mb/s on 8.5GB dual-layer DVDs. Screw this $200-300 BD player that requires an ethernet connection; my $100 DVD recorder upconverts just fine, thank you.
