Not having seen any episodes in a while, I figured I could catch some season 3 episodes on Comcast's OnDemand option. Going through the listings, I saw that they had the invasion episodes listed under Nickelodeon's High Definition section. Avatar in high def? I figured I'd check it out, just out of curiosity.

Watching the episodes, I noticed that they weren't exactly in 4:3 full screen, but they weren't at the maximum 16:9 widescreen either; it was more of something in between. You could obviously tell that there was a bit more picture added on both sides when comparing them to their full screen counterparts.

So what's the deal with these? Does this mean that the remaining DVD episodes will be released in widescreen as well? I highly doubt it, since the "extra picture" on both sides could have been easily cut out in favor of the full screen aspect ratio without losing anything necessary to the episode. I'm guessing this was just something Nick was experimenting with and nothing more. It's an interesting thing nonetheless, though.

I'll try to get some screencaps later for comparison, if I have the time to hook up my DVR to the downstairs TV.