The streaming wars continued recently when the beloved series ‘Seinfeld’ moved over to Netflix after a six year run on Hulu. While ‘Seinfeld’ fans were thrilled by this move, many have pointed out that some jokes have been accidentally removed since switching streaming services. According to viewers, the new 16:9 aspect ratio has cropped out a number of visual jokes made on the show.
When ‘Seinfeld’ originally aired, it was displayed in a 4:3 aspect ratio on TV. However, Netflix streams their shows with a 16:9 widescreen format to fit on modern TVs. This means classic shows have to be cropped to fit on their screen, which has ruined a number of visual jokes made on ‘Seinfeld.’
One joke fans have pointed out is in the season eight episode ‘The Pothole,’ where the actual pothole being referred to is cropped out by the new aspect ratio. According to Engadget, this has happened to other older television series when they switch over to streaming, such as ‘The Simpsons.’ Hopefully this can be fixed, or else Netflix may lose a battle in the streaming wars.
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