Not really. It all depends on what lenses they used. Panavision doesn't automatically equal 2.35:1. Also, a lot of 2.35:1 movies are actually shot in 1.85:1 and soft matted to 2.35:1.

The phrase "Filmed in Panavision" is meant to connote a 2.35:1 production using the company's anamorphic lenses. Their standard spherical or Super35 packages are supposed to be designated with the phrase "Filmed with Panavision Cameras and Lenses".

The Seinfeld credit is just an error. It happens to a lot of movies as well.

ER was not shot in widescreen, the DVDs were cropped to fit a widescreen tv. The reason they did this was because the creators said the show was shot "widescreen safe"

With all of the TV shows coming to DVD in their 4:3 OAR, I get paranoid about pillar boxing screen burn so I find myself zooming the picture to fill the 16:9 screen sometimes. Some shows are widescreen safe, some aren't -- Seinfeld, for example, seems to go right to the top of the screen a lot because when zoomed, you can cut off half of a person's head!

Just a random thought: I have noticed that porn is usually widescreen safe. :D

It's not a stupid question at all. Looking at how all the interviews are done widescreen, I'm certain when the show comes out in the HD DVD format, in the near future, we can probably expect the show to either be cropped to look like it was originally shot widescreen, or it'll have annoying bars on the sides, which ARE annoying compared to letterboxing, for the simple reason that a TV show that was shot full screen should be shown full screen. More reason for TV show fans of shows from 1990s and before not to have anything positive to say about HD DVD.

"or it'll have annoying bars on the sides, which ARE annoying compared to letterboxing"

The same mentality of the foolscreen folks. The original aspect is 4X3. All I can say is, don't watch the bars, watch the show.

What you're saying is crazy. A movie doesn't have black bars when you watch it in a theater, thus making it "full screen". But watching it with black bars is the right way ... on television. See, "full screen" depends on the dimensions of the screen, so it's a misnomer in the current times because some people have the old 1.33 dimensions, some the new 1.85 (or 1.78, I think) dimensions.

What you said above, when filtered through what you meant, is "the simple reason that a TV show that was shot 1.33 should be shown 1.85", which is senseless.

That said, I agree with you that it's likely to be remastered for 1.85 TVs in the next release, but that's all the more reason to get this current proper release.

Sorry, bars that weren't meant to be seen will detract from the enjoyment of the show. The only problem I have with HDTV is the fact that we are pushed the widescreen format. In other words, if we could get HDTV sharpness (1,000+ horizontal lines of resolution) and still have 4:3 aspect ratio, I would love the format, simply because I am a TV show fan (old TV, pre-90s(Except for Seinfeld)and not really a movie fan), and strongly believe that a TV show that was produced 4:3 should be seen 4:3. Considering HDTV means a smaller overall picture (sorry but seeing something widecreen isn't worth losing all the picture area 4:3 offers me), I would still take regular horizontal letterbox on a 4:3 set over vertical letterbox on widescreen sets. Sorry, but if you enjoy TV shows, that's the facts, we shouldn't be forced to see vertical bars, when the originals aired fullscreen ;)