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Re: Was anyone here recording rage on DVD recorder in 2003?

"But the best thing about it, back then, was that they didn't tamper with the aspect ratios on the analogue signal, as everything was broadcast in 4:3... until 2010 or thereabouts."

That's not quite right. Analogue remained 4:3 until it was switched off. The timing varied around the country, but the final analogue signals got turned off in Melbourne on 9 Dec 2013. Any letterboxed 4:3 clip was broadcast on the analogue signal as-is, and any widescreen 16:9 clip was letterboxed to be broadcast 4:3.

However ever since 2002, rage un-letterboxed all clips on the digital signal to maximise their presentation on a widescreen TV. I got my first widescreen TV in June 2006, and I clearly remember turning rage on for the first time and seeing Aerosmith's "Janie's Got A Gun" in full screen, even though it was originally a letterboxed 4:3 clip. I initially thought maybe Aerosmith also made a widescreen version and rage had updated their library, but then I realised what rage had done. I was blown away.

Re: Was anyone here recording rage on DVD recorder in 2003?

^ What I meant by the untampered-with aspect ratios was that, before about early-mid 2010, rage would air letterboxed 4:3 videos in their original, intended aspect ratios. However, from that point onwards, such videos aired as though they were 16:9 being letterboxed to 4:3. So, for example, a letterboxed 4:3 video containing slim horizontal black bars would now be aired as though it was the 16:9 enlarged signal being squashed back into 4:3, with thicker horizontal bars. Before then, it would have aired with the original, thinner bars.

I know this as I used to ask someone I traded with who still recorded the analogue signal to grab some letterboxed 4:3 videos for me.