"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...

You presume also that the entire display area, and every pixel, *must* be
used at all times. :-)

No I'm not, quite the opposite.

...but with an analogue CRT none of the 'faffing about' causes any
addition
delays for the displayed image. One of those cases where a simple analogue
method works quite neatly.

Only if that option exists. DVD players and DVB boxes can optionally convert
16:9 material to either "pan & scan" or letterboxed 4:3, This is a digital
process. I do agree that this is performed fast enough not to cause lip-sync
problems, but it is very definitely "faffing about".

The letterbox option *can* be acheived simply by reducing the vertical scan
amplitude, but only a minority of 4:3 TV sets have that facility.

In such cases the image data isn't 'processed',
so no 'faffing' about of it is required. In principle, all that happens
with CRT is some analogue scan waveforms are altered, essentially just in
amplitude.

When done by the TV, yes. When done in the DVD player or DVB box, no.

David.