We all know the benefits of anamorphic video. My question is: can it be variable? What I mean is, as things are now, only sources filmed/shot at 16:9 get the full benefit of anamorphic video - all the lines are used. Wider material still has unused lines. Would it be possible (at least in theory) for this wider material to be transferred using all available lines, then add a flag or something to the data stream that tells the display that not only is the source anamorphic, but the aspect ratio, and the display would vary the amount of squish accordingly? Thus, no matter what the aspect ratio, from 1.78:1 to 2.76:1 or whatever, all the lines would be used all the time. I don't why this couldn't be feasible, but I'm not a real techie in this area. Any opinions?
Long before DVD I asked myself the same question. Apparently it was difficult to keep the TV in calibration notably with convergence, geometry, overscan, when varying the picture height. So only two aspect ratios 4:3 and 16:9 were standardized. Video hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm
