widescreen sizes

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richgamer

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# 19034 2-Feb-2008 14:18

i have skytv and i want to know what widescreen sizes broadcasters are broadcasting in. is there anyway to find this out using a sky decoder? i know tvnz is not broadcasting in 16:9 because i read it in the paper but it is pretty close to this and it is still widescreen but not 16:9. but i just want to know which channels are using 16:9 and what other widescreen ratios are others using.

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# 108151 2-Feb-2008 14:26

richgamer: i have skytv and i want to know what widescreen sizes broadcasters are broadcasting in. is there anyway to find this out using a sky decoder? i know tvnz is not broadcasting in 16:9 because i read it in the paper but it is pretty close to this and it is still widescreen but not 16:9. but i just want to know which channels are using 16:9 and what other widescreen ratios are others using.

TVNZ IS broadcasting in 16:9, only when programmes which are already in 4:3 will be broadcast in a 'pillar'ed style.
CanWest (TV3 and C4) are also 16:9.

Not sure about any other channels on SKY that are in 16:9.

There are only 4:3 and 16:9 aspects in use.

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cyril7

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# 108152 2-Feb-2008 14:30

Your news paper is out of date of misinformed, from my experience the latter is the case, journalists seem to get their ticket out of a cereal packet or somewhere similar these days, especially where technology subjects are concerned.

TV1/2/3/4, UKTV, Vibe, Rialto, Crimes&investigation, NatGeo, All movie channels (except TCM) and Box office are all 16:9.

TV1/2/3/4 operate 16:9 at all times, however any 4:3 material is pillarboxed as 4:3 into 16:9 frames, and I note sometimes TVNZ pillarbox some 4:3 material to 14:9ish, however all 16:9 material on the above noted channels is transmitted as 16:9 FHA (Full Height Anamorphic.

Cyril

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# 108153 2-Feb-2008 14:33

cyril7: I note sometimes TVNZ pillarbox some 4:3 material to 14:9ish

Like Ellen? It's also off-centre! It's horrible! Sometimes I wonder what TVNZ have done to their programmes...

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cyril7

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# 108155 2-Feb-2008 14:42

Have not checked Ellen, not my kinda show, but I have noted that a lot of 4:3 material is ARC'd to 14:9ish to make it more paletable, this means that the side bars a smaller and there is a small amount of cropping top and bottom. I have noted that this is not always perfect centred, I guess a config issue on the ARC.

The bottom line is that TVNZ/CanWest operate 16:9 FHA at all times, any source material that is not 16:9 will be ARC'd to some extent (ie either 4:3 or 13-14:9) to fit inside a 16:9 FHA frame.

Cyril

PromNZ

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# 108172 2-Feb-2008 16:09

Yeah the arcing for Ellen and others really show up. The issue is that TVNZ/TV3 don't use the industry standard 16x9 -> 4x3 arc. Both networks run a 13x9 look which is fine for all terrestrial viewers watching it on a 4x3 tv.

Folks who watch it via a Sky box set to 4x3 (using the standard arc settings) get a really cropped picture. Half the overshoulder boxes are gone, baselines, etc.

4x3 safe title area really now is a thing of the past, due to arcing, and the ability for people to set their tv's to anything they like (friend had it set once to zoom up and couldn't figure out why everything looked so big and cut off).

richgamer

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# 108289 3-Feb-2008 14:01

is skysport 1/2/3 and prime tv and maori tv in widescren?

and why is TCM not widescreen? all american tv networks film shows in widescreen and have done for years. and what are people saying about the Ellen tv show not being widescreen. Ellen is an american show so i am sure it is filmed and broadcast in widescreen in america so i don't know what people are talking about here.

cyril7: Your news paper is out of date of misinformed, from my experience the latter is the case, journalists seem to get their ticket out of a cereal packet or somewhere similar these days, especially where technology subjects are concerned.

TV1/2/3/4, UKTV, Vibe, Rialto, Crimes&investigation, NatGeo, All movie channels (except TCM) and Box office are all 16:9.

TV1/2/3/4 operate 16:9 at all times, however any 4:3 material is pillarboxed as 4:3 into 16:9 frames, and I note sometimes TVNZ pillarbox some 4:3 material to 14:9ish, however all 16:9 material on the above noted channels is transmitted as 16:9 FHA (Full Height Anamorphic.

Cyril

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# 108291 3-Feb-2008 14:03

richgamer: is skysport 1/2/3 and prime tv and maori tv in widescren?

Nope.

richgamer: and what are people saying about the Ellen tv show not being widescreen. Ellen is an american show so i am sure it is filmed and broadcast in widescreen in america so i don't know what people are talking about here.

See for yourself on TV ONE. You'll understand why I've been fussing about it.

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cyril7

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# 108293 3-Feb-2008 14:19

SkySport1/2/3, Prime and MaoriTV are currently not in 16:9. Sky are currently upgrading their facilities to support 16:9 on all channels but that will not be ready till sometime mid year, so for now its those channels listed.

TCM is supplied as 4:3 by turners in the US, I suggest you take up with Turners as to why they cannot supply 60+yr old movies in 16:9, might I suggest that many were infact pre cinemanscop/panavision etc.

I dont know what season of Ellen is currently being shown, but I am pretty sure only the last two seasons were in 16:9 (not too sure), only material that is major primetime and in HD is 16:9. Any shows that go to air in SD in the US are 4:3, there is no concept of SD 16:9 in the US, so if it was not shot in HD then its 4:3.

Ellen is an american show so i am sure it is filmed and broadcast in widescreen in america so i don't know what people are talking about here.

If you dont mind me saying your attitude appears very rude I am giving you as accurate information as you will find. One thing to keep in mind is that many US broadcasters dont provide 16:9 tapes to overseas (especially PAL world) broadcasters. Its only in the last couple of years that Primetime programs that were shot in HD have made it to PAL countries in 16:9.

There is no doubt Sky is a bit slow in providng 16:9 support, but of the channels mentioned above they are 16:9, and do show 16:9 where 16:9 sources have been supplied by distirbutors.

Cyril

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# 108294 3-Feb-2008 14:24

TV ONE broadcast Ellen programmes which are about 5 days old. They had the "Heath Ledger death" I think on Thursday, so either they just don't want to broadcast in Widescreen (ridiculous!), or they have been distributed with a 4:3 copy (far more likely).

NTSC supported mainly in the Americas and some parts of Asia. PAL still rules about half the globe. Americans...

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cyril7

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# 108297 3-Feb-2008 14:36

I have just checked the KNBC (LA NBC affiliate) schedule, Ellen is screened at 4pm each week day and IS NOT in HD (no red HD marked beside it), therefore would only exist in 4:3.

Just to clarify, in the ATSC system only HD material is in 16:9, any material that is in SD is 4:3, there is no allowance in the ATSC standard for SD 16:9 FHA, so if the show was shown in LA in 4:3 you can bet thats all anyone else will get.

Also if you go to the Ellen Site you will note how the video clip is in 4:3.

I think your presumption that the whole world (US in particular) has gone HD and 16:9 is a little out of kilter, yes they have, but not to the extent most would like.

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Cyril

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# 108305 3-Feb-2008 15:50

Selling point of Rugby Channel was that it was 16:9 and Sky Sport was 4:3. Parliament TV is also 16:9. TVNZ6 and Sport Extra are 16:9 but Freeview only.

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richms

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# 108368 3-Feb-2008 22:29

atsc might not have FHA SD, but does digital cable and sat support it over there?

Richard rich.ms

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# 108381 4-Feb-2008 00:02

Spyware: Parliament TV is also 16:9. TVNZ6 and Sport Extra are 16:9 but Freeview only.

Is sky rebroadcasting parliament TV, Stratos, One, 2, 3 and C4, or are they tuned into the freeview streams?

(sorry a bit off topic, but popped into my head)

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# 108386 4-Feb-2008 00:47

Amazing race...scrubs...both of these are shot in 4:3. Currently the freeview channels are being rebroadcast by sky. Hopefully this will change this year...Their bitrate is appalling.

cyril7

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# 108402 4-Feb-2008 06:41

atsc might not have FHA SD, but does digital cable and sat support it over there?

Yep you are correct, but I have only ever seen this supported on movie channels, not the networks. Most networks on the cable and DirectTV/Dish networks are carried under the must carry rules, are given no/little bandwidth mainly due to the fact that (for the sat anyway) the networks are responsible for the cost of backhauling from where ever to the uplink. DirectTV uplinks from Colerado, so for most networks its an expensive interconnect.

Cable networks just retransmit their local offairs.

Parliment, Statos, and MaoriTV on sky are just redirections to the FreeView muxs, currently TVOne/2 on Sky are via Skys own muxs, and will continue to the contract between TVNZ and Sky ends in 2011, which means unless some compromise is made (ie We will let you have Prime if you let us drop our TVNZ streams for expample) then Sky subs will continue to see a low bit rate TV1/2.

Cyril

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