Films' aspect ratio on Channel 5 HD
Robin McInnes
Posts: 87 Forum Member
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I'm not a frequent watcher of films, but there have been a few oldies on Channel 5 HD lately that caught my eye, and I recorded them on my Sky+.
There were couple of war films a few weeks back, A Bridge Too Far and another one about a bridge that I can't remember the name of, and yesterday afternoon there was an old black & white Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple.
I don't know the exact aspect ratio of these films, but I'm sure they were all originally wider than 4:3 because the intro sections of them which included title captions were all shown in 4:3 'letterbox' so as not to miss out the wording at the edge of frame. (This made the films appear to be a small 16:9 'picture within a picture' surrounded on all sides by black on my 16:9 HD TV.)
As soon as the titles had finished rolling, each of these films became full-size 4:3 aspect ratio, so I'm sure there would be stuff missing from them all on each side edge of the 4:3 frame which would have been there if broadcast in 16:9.
I'm thinking about writing to Channel 5 and having a whinge, but I thought it might be prudent to establish first if there is any good reason why they should choose to broadcast widescreen films on an HD channel in 4:3 aspect ratio.
I can't think of one myself. Can anyone else please?
There were couple of war films a few weeks back, A Bridge Too Far and another one about a bridge that I can't remember the name of, and yesterday afternoon there was an old black & white Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple.
I don't know the exact aspect ratio of these films, but I'm sure they were all originally wider than 4:3 because the intro sections of them which included title captions were all shown in 4:3 'letterbox' so as not to miss out the wording at the edge of frame. (This made the films appear to be a small 16:9 'picture within a picture' surrounded on all sides by black on my 16:9 HD TV.)
As soon as the titles had finished rolling, each of these films became full-size 4:3 aspect ratio, so I'm sure there would be stuff missing from them all on each side edge of the 4:3 frame which would have been there if broadcast in 16:9.
I'm thinking about writing to Channel 5 and having a whinge, but I thought it might be prudent to establish first if there is any good reason why they should choose to broadcast widescreen films on an HD channel in 4:3 aspect ratio.
I can't think of one myself. Can anyone else please?
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They also have horrible placement of their on screen graphic when 4:3 content is shown, it's far too intrusive. How this is not noticed by someone at the station and corrected is beyond me. It's nothing short of incompetence.
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showpost.php?p=72267434&postcount=3064
I feel more confident to whinge to Channel 5 now.
(That Libretio thread is an awesome read!)
To most of us film buffs, its very important.
Oh dear, you remind me of the clever bloke behind me in the mid-90s when I went to see Wesley Snipes' film Drop Zone, as a plane passed the screen, but the sound carried all the way round the auditorium. He said: "Hear that? That's NICAM stereo, that is!"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I know just the type
Still makes for a great anecdote to this date. Those two blokes were complete arseholes. Even made noises about claiming they sneaked into the auditorium...
Then again, it was the Manchester Showcase where they weren't completely on the ball.
A friend of mine got a new TV recently due to the DSO, I went round one evening and he said
"What do ya think of the new TV? The HD looks amazing"
I dare not tell him it was a Freeview DVB-T only TV
LOL, he's not one of those people who work for Currys, is he? They stretch 4:3 images across 16:9 TVs because they're too thick to understand the issue with it
The only PSB channel not to have at least it's main HD free. Those who could get it with an old Sky card had that taken away without any notice or care. Just a reply to the questions about it with a "Yes we can confirm that we have ferked you off and don't give a damn".
It's a shitty little channel.
That's if you can follow the story with one character cut off. Or all of them going "WOW!" at something you can't see.
It's not as the director made the story and would prefer you to see it as he/she intended.