Re: Digital Transition & Aspect Ratios


"Richard Harison" <rh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9a-dnREJC71wgxLUnZ2dnUVZ_jSdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I live in southern Ontario & I noticed the other day that PBS
(WNED-Buffalo)
seems to have already switched to digital. (Though they are
still
broadcasting SD content The logo now says WNEDDT. The other
VERY noticeable
change is the aspect ratio. Here is what I see:
4x3 TV Both letter & pillar bars, effectively making the
25" set a 19"
set. (Expected)
16x9 TV Pillars (as expected from SD signal) BUT also 2"
horizontal black
bars as well/

My questions:
1) Why is the image not full vertically on my 16x9, even
though the vertical
pillars to the sides are expected with SD?
2) Is this what we can expect from all SD broadcasts after the
(now June)
transition?

Assuming you do see full 16:9 images from other OTA or cable
channels, you will see quite a bit of this for some time to
come.

The original material was wide screen but picked up for SD
transmission, so letterboxed in the 640x480 frame. This 4:3
image is subsequently picked up for HD transmission in a 16:9
frame of either 1920x1080 or 1280x720.

The 4:3 image would touch the sides of a 4:3 display with
horizontal bars at top and bottom.
That same image, on a 16:9 display will have both horizontal and
vertical bars.

Since the image is "wide," zooming on your 16:9 display will
correct for the 4:3 letterbox, but the image will be degraded
because there is so much less information in the frame regarding
the picture to expand it. And any HD quality the original may
have had was lost when it became a letterboxed SD image.

One of the worst examples of this is ABC-HD's weekly show "At
the Movies," where almost every video clip is of a widescreen
movie. The show is still formatted for a 4:3 screen (and most
likely SD quality), so each of the clips appears very much as
you describe. One can zoom in for the clip and back out for the
tête-à-tête, I suppose. Personally, I need not see the
commentators' knees or hairline so I leave it zoomed in;-0)


.

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