DIRECTV SWITCHES TO 16:9 IN SD

[sdwulfdawg]

Tonight DirecTV switched many of their program channels to 16:9 in their standard definition service.

I'm thinking they are trying to save bandwidth by downscaling their high def channels to their standard counterparts.

 

[Robnoxious]

Unless you are pulling in the signal OTA you are getting some sort of compression.
There's no guarantee your OTA signal isn't bit starved especially if it's loaded with subchannels but it's as good as you'll ever see.
Some cable pipes are better or worse than others but the compression will be there nonetheless.

The only added bonus you might be getting from cable/sat is the luxury of paying for that subpar picture. Wheeee!

 

[Louis_009]

I know ESPN and ESPNU and ESPN2 has thier sidebar logo during the commercials on the SD channels why not ESPNews doesnt have thier sidebar on thier SD channel?

 

[Louis_009]

I know ESPN and ESPNU and ESPN2 has thier sidebar logo during the commercials on the SD channels why not ESPNews doesnt have thier sidebar on thier SD channel?

On DIRECTV

 

[sdwulfdawg]

Unless you are pulling in the signal OTA you are getting some sort of compression.
There's no guarantee your OTA signal isn't bit starved especially if it's loaded with subchannels but it's as good as you'll ever see.
Some cable pipes are better or worse than others but the compression will be there nonetheless.

The only added bonus you might be getting from cable/sat is the luxury of paying for that subpar picture. Wheeee!

You have absolutely no concept what I was referring to. I'm was taking the perspective on what DirecTV may be doing to their lineup of channel offerings. Many of the pay TV channels (Starz, TMC) have gone to a native 16:9 format and ditched a 4:3 format, much as Fox News and CNN have done almost a year ago.

I am a DirecTV subscriber.

 

[nathannah]

I know ESPN and ESPNU and ESPN2 has their sidebar logo during the commercials on the SD channels why not ESPNews doesn't have their sidebar on their SD channel?

The first three networks switched solely to an MPEG4 transport feed in June of last year and killed the MPEG2 feeds that used to be fed in both SD and HD to providers, so only the ESPN/2/U HD wide feeds are offered, requiring cable providers to convert it to 480i SD at their headends for the analog version. ESPN Deportes is also offered only with the HD wide feed. ESPNews and ESPN Classic still offer their MPEG2 SD feeds because most of their contracts still currently only cover SD versions of the channels, with ESPNews HD being added during new carriage agreements.

This does apply on cable, DirecTV, Dish and Watch ESPN BTW; there is no possible way to watch ESPN in 4:3 full frame unless you have the most stubborn cable provider ever that won't upgrade their tech.

 

[whit979]

I look forward to the day when all SD channels are shown in widescreen letterbox, so that I can set my television on one picture zoom setting and never have to deal with the oddities of stretching and what not anymore.

 

[JayR]

I look forward to the day when all SD channels are shown in widescreen letterbox, so that I can set my television on one picture zoom setting and never have to deal with the oddities of stretching and what not anymore.

You should never resort to Stretch-o-vision.

 

[azumanga]

I look forward to the day when all SD channels are shown in widescreen letterbox, so that I can set my television on one picture zoom setting and never have to deal with the oddities of stretching and what not anymore.

You should never resort to Stretch-o-vision.

On that note, I find it ridiculous for some channels to stretch their 4:3 picture to fit a 16:9 screen, yet show the commercials that were shot in 4:3 pillarboxed.

 

[Robnoxious]

You have absolutely no concept what I was referring to.

To the contrary, I knew exactly what you were referring to. Doesn't change the fact the picture is just as inferior then as it is now.

 

[DToTheJ]

This ought to make those standard def Geico commercials look better on DirecTV!

 

[KERCAlum]

As an aside, AT&T U-Verse shows many channels that are native 16:9 in letterboxed format. It's really irritating to watch Speed in SD on a 42-inch LCD both letterboxed AND pillarboxed. (And the only reason I do that is because my daughter records the Supercross races in SD instead of HD to save space on the DVR.)

 

[FreddyE1977]

Once again, those of us who still own old-school CRT televisions without the zoom function
are being flipped the bird.

 

[landtuna]

Once again, those of us who still own old-school CRT televisions without the zoom function
are being flipped the bird.

If you are watching OTA on an old analog TV you are undoubtedly using a converter box. All the boxes I've ever seen have a "zoom" function (although they might call it something different). Of course, it doesn't help if the broadcaster doesn't let you change display parameters.

 

[ajc_trw]

Once again, those of us who still own old-school CRT televisions without the zoom function
are being flipped the bird.

On Verizon FiOS all our OTA channels are zoomed in to center-cut filling the 4:3 frame. I feel I've been flipped the bird every time someone is cut off because of the center cut. Also, having text cut off is annoying. It's pan & scan without the panning.

It reminds me of a Benny Hill bit where a widescreen film with Frank Sinatra was center-cut showing the film starred "rank Sin"

 

[FreddyE1977]

Once again, those of us who still own old-school CRT televisions without the zoom function
are being flipped the bird.

If you are watching OTA on an old analog TV you are undoubtedly using a converter box. All the boxes I've ever seen have a "zoom" function (although they might call it something different). Of course, it doesn't help if the broadcaster doesn't let you change display parameters.

Per the title of this thread, I am watching it on DirecTV. And my DirecTV converters do not offer
me this zoom option.