You say TVs were roughly 1:1 and that “Today, your flat-panel, widescreen tv’s can see more of the picture, so to speak, but still fall a little short on aspect ratio.  A common ratio for tv’s is 4:3 – that is, 4 inches wide for every three inches tall.” That’s a bit off. TVs before flat screens were 4:3, and practically every flat screen is 16:9 (1.777). So while they’re still not the same as what we see in the theater, a widescreen is close for many, and can certainly display wider movies just fine IF the DVD or Blu-ray is created properly.

Other than that, though, I definitely agree with the sentiment. 3D in movies is usually cheesy at best.

Now 3D in games – when done right, that will be great.

Have you ever seen the movie the Interpreter? There is a special feature on that movie’s DVD where the director, the late Sydney Pollack, explains aspect ratios and why “pan and scan” is an abomination.

I had already had it in my mind that pan and scan was inferior, but he articulated it in a way that crystallized it forevermore for me.

As far as 3D, I’ve only seen one movie that comes close to Avatar–and that’s an animated film that was natively made for 3D, How to Train Your Dragon.