Can someone explain to me why Channels 8 and 30 are broadcasting in (I guess you call it) fullscreen 16:9? It makes my head want to explode when I'm watching a really cool documentary and they throw fonts up under the speaker and half of them are cut off. Unless my 4:3 TV bites the dust, I'm not going to be switching to 16:9 any time soon. Why can't they just letterbox their content?
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PBS in 16:9
- Thread starter dmcco01
- Start date
Probably because people complained about letterboxing. Most PBS content is now widescreen. The commercial networks center-cut most of their content their content for SD viewers (except NBC's prime time and Conan, and now Fox's animation block), and the three local HD newscasts (WSB, WXIA/WATL, WGCL) are center-cut as well.
Center-cutting is the norm now for 4:3/SD viewers. You will have to have either cable HD service (which should downgrade the picture automatically), or recieve a signal with an antenna and a digital converter with the settings set to widescreen (which will put a windowbox around 4:3 content).
BTW...GPB Knowledge (OTA 8.3/Comcast 246) shows programs in letterbox.
Center-cutting is the norm now for 4:3/SD viewers. You will have to have either cable HD service (which should downgrade the picture automatically), or recieve a signal with an antenna and a digital converter with the settings set to widescreen (which will put a windowbox around 4:3 content).
BTW...GPB Knowledge (OTA 8.3/Comcast 246) shows programs in letterbox.
Thanks for the info, but I don't seem to be able to get 246 on my Comcast Digital. It just keeps telling me that the channel "should be available shortly."
I don't care how many people have complained. I'd like to know the percentages of people who are watching PBS at 4:3 vs. 16:9. I'd guess that the majority are in 4:3. Why screw it up for those of us of 4:3.
Seriously. I work in the industry, but I just can't afford to switch to 16:9 right now unless I absolutely am forced to. I'm going to my grandmother's house tomorrow to hook up her DTV. Do you think she's got a 16:9 TV? Do you think she's going to ask me why she can't see ALL of PBS on her 4:3 TV? I would think PBS would understand their viewer-base and not do this stuff. If there's something technical in their decision, I'd just like someone to explain.
I don't care how many people have complained. I'd like to know the percentages of people who are watching PBS at 4:3 vs. 16:9. I'd guess that the majority are in 4:3. Why screw it up for those of us of 4:3.
Seriously. I work in the industry, but I just can't afford to switch to 16:9 right now unless I absolutely am forced to. I'm going to my grandmother's house tomorrow to hook up her DTV. Do you think she's got a 16:9 TV? Do you think she's going to ask me why she can't see ALL of PBS on her 4:3 TV? I would think PBS would understand their viewer-base and not do this stuff. If there's something technical in their decision, I'd just like someone to explain.
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Asano
Guest
"Screw it up?" Maybe you haven't noticed, but ye olde 4:3 format is in its sunset years. That's like asking "Why are they going around paving all these roads, and screwing it up for those of us with horse-drawn carriages?"dmcco01 said:
Despite the protests of those claiming to champion the digital dawdlers, I would take a look at the sales figures for 16:9 DTVs in the last 5 years, and guess that the vast majority of TV viewers have already updated their sets, and adapted just fine. The better question is, with improved formats and technology so widely available and in prevalent use, why should everyone else be compelled to sit around and wait for your grandma to catch up?
I'm sorry, but sometimes the technology just moves on without you.
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dmcco01 said:
The issue is not with PBS, it's with the local station. The official PBS standard, as of last fall, is 16:9, and all content distributed through PBS is now distributed in 16:9, pillarboxed as needed for legacy content that's in 4:3.
PBS is not mandating that programming it distributes be center-cut safe, and much of it is not. The expectation is that stations that still maintain 4:3 feeds will letterbox the incoming PBS content. For whatever reason, your local station is center-cutting it instead, and that's an issue to take up with them, not with PBS.
I do a show at GPB, and in conversation with my producer the other day, it was mentioned that they're working on straightening this out.
I'm glad to hear that, Richard. It bugs me as well. I was watching on WPBA about a week or two ago "An Evening With Eartha Kitt". During the program, I really didn't notice it being center-cut, but it was definitely evident when the credits rolled. I hated that. Most things have always been center-cut (i.e. movies that are "formatted to fit this screen") anyway, but some simple editing (pan and scan) have compensated for that.
And, Asano, I have to disagree. Just because the digital conversion is dawning, 4:3 is far from gone. After the color conversion almost 50 years ago, you could still buy B&W TVs up until about ten years ago. Most viewers will still have their 4:3 analogs until they burn out, as they're already working with digital cable and satellite. Just because the delivery is different, the formatics will stay the same. Most content will still be 4:3 standard definition. The only difference is that it will be digital. And, really, the only thing changing is the delivery from the stations to the viewer, and that's a small link on a VERY long chain.
And, Asano, I have to disagree. Just because the digital conversion is dawning, 4:3 is far from gone. After the color conversion almost 50 years ago, you could still buy B&W TVs up until about ten years ago. Most viewers will still have their 4:3 analogs until they burn out, as they're already working with digital cable and satellite. Just because the delivery is different, the formatics will stay the same. Most content will still be 4:3 standard definition. The only difference is that it will be digital. And, really, the only thing changing is the delivery from the stations to the viewer, and that's a small link on a VERY long chain.
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