MEDIACORP'S Channel 5 made a brilliant mistake on Monday night during the screening of Lara Croft, Tomb Raider when it actually played the standard definition broadcast in the correct aspect ratio. All the commercials broadcast looked a bit strange once I corrected my TV to suit the original 16:9 widescreen content.

Having said that, how many viewers in Singapore have a widescreen television set? That is, the one that looks like an extended rectangle rather than the square-shaped set. Well, in any electronic store, all TV sets are widescreen.

So, why can't viewers watch TV correctly at home? Because MediaCorp and StarHub will not let us. Ninety-five per cent of the content on StarHub originates in widescreen when it is bought. Well before the end user buys it.

Service providers in Europe, the United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand create all their content for our screens and their own in the widescreen aspect.

There is no technical reason why Singapore viewers cannot enjoy these shows in the correct ratio.

Here is one more fact: When television commercials are made in Singapore, they have to be in square format for local viewing, but widescreen for international viewing.

So if MediaCorp and StarHub insist that the content they buy is widescreen, then we can all watch it correctly, except for those few who still have a square-shaped TV set.

Singapore is supposed to be on the cutting edge of technology, not dragging our heels five years behind the rest of the world. It is time Singapore viewers had true widescreen TV.

Charlie Ellis