4:3 TV, Why are we still lumbered with it?

[Deleted User] · 04/02/10 - 13:01

I am still surprised about the amount of digital channels that are still 4:3 transmitted 100% of the time. 16:9 TV has been around for 15+ years, yet some TV channels still refuse to embrace it. Why is this? Its especially bad when they do show 16:9 programming, but in a letterboxed format on a 16:9 TV, unless people like stretchy vision???? I remember when Digital TV was launched, we were told it would all be in Widescreen and better picture quality! These days we still suffer from 4:3, and picture quality no better at times than a webstream!!

mike65 · 04/02/10 - 14:42

Some channels it makes no sense on, take the CBS cluster, how much material is filmed in 16:9? Not much I bet.

jzee · 04/02/10 - 14:55

8skellerns wrote: »

Why is this? Its especially bad when they do show 16:9 programming, but in a letterboxed format on a 16:9 TV, unless people like stretchy vision????

Flagging each programme different aspect ratios costs more hence the smaller channels tend to stick with one aspect ratio.

stripedcat · 04/02/10 - 16:03

There are quite a lot of old shows which are repeated and were shot in 4:3 ratio. Don't forget that TV companies(in the UK) didn't really start taking widescreen that seriously until about the late 90s really, and even then they shot their dramas in Super 16 so the ratio is about 14:9 not 16:9.

Some TVs let you stretch the picture to 16:9 which sort of helps(I know if you use a HDMI connected PVR it will remain in 4:3).

Don't forget that even some old black and white films were shot in 4:3 ratio.

Pat Gleeson · 04/02/10 - 16:50

I'd like to see Sky / Virgin introduce a software update expanding the picture format facility already there.

Currently you can fit a widescreen picture to a 4:3 TV by adding bars to the top and bottom of the picture (letterbox).

I'd like to see something similar allowing bars either side of a 4:3 signal (pillarbox).

Letting the TV do it works, but if you - for example - go to the main EPG the aspect ratio stays at 4:3 if that was the aspect ratio of the last channel you watched. I know a lot of people hate letterboxing, but it is the only way to preserve the total picture and resolution of a 4:3 picture on a 16:9 screen. I forget they are there after a while.

Certain channels like Quest and TG4 here in Ireland use a novel solution. The channels are 16:9 irrespective of the source material. When a 4:3 programme is shown, the picture is cropped at the top and bottom, and bars at the side are added, but only half the normal size - e.g. a 14:9 picture in a 16:9 screen.

mike65 · 04/02/10 - 17:31

stripedcat wrote: »

Don't forget that even some old black and white films were shot in 4:3 ratio.

You mean almost every film shot before 1953

and plenty after.

Fatboyfun · 04/02/10 - 18:06

There are still people out there with Black and white televisions, Who won't have (or trust) colour.

[Deleted User] · 04/02/10 - 18:31

Though there are some channels that are showing 16:9 programs in 2.35:1 ratio (NCIS on FX is a prime example) :mad:

Personally, i'd prefer a 16:9 picture, with the 4:3 program inside the widescreen transmission rather than cropping it to fill the screen as you miss chunks of the picture that way.

zx50 · 04/02/10 - 19:46

I've got a 4:3 TV in my bedroom that's only 4-year-old! Like someone else has said, there's plenty of stuff that's been made in the 4:3 ratio that a [obviously] 4:3 TV would be perfectly suited for.

Zeropoint1 · 05/02/10 - 00:46

lennyzero wrote: »

Though there are some channels that are showing 16:9 programs in 2.35:1 ratio (NCIS on FX is a prime example) :mad:

Personally, i'd prefer a 16:9 picture, with the 4:3 program inside the widescreen transmission rather than cropping it to fill the screen as you miss chunks of the picture that way.

I could be really wrong but isn't 2:35:1 (cinemascope) another way to express 22:9 and when viewed on a 16:9 widescreen tv still has black bars tops and bottom? And I don't receive FX to check thts not what the op means.

DVDfever · 05/02/10 - 01:54

lennyzero wrote: »

Though there are some channels that are showing 16:9 programs in 2.35:1 ratio (NCIS on FX is a prime example) :mad:

No they don't. They broadcast everything in letterbox, so if you've got the image stretched across the screen in exactly the way that you shouldn't, then it looks like a 2.35:1 ratio, except with a cast the size of the Roly Polys.

Shadowlands · 05/02/10 - 10:20

DVDfever wrote: »

No they don't. They broadcast everything in letterbox, so if you've got the image stretched across the screen in exactly the way that you shouldn't, then it looks like a 2.35:1 ratio, except with a cast the size of the Roly Polys.

Not for long... Watch this space!

stud u like · 05/02/10 - 10:24

Fatboyfun wrote: »

There are still people out there with Black and white televisions, Who won't have (or trust) colour.

In the Eighties i knew an elderly couple with a black and white tv and they would watch the snooker.

I always got the giggles when they admitted to doing this.

RobinOfLoxley · 05/02/10 - 10:43

I don't mind black bars, either horizontal or vertical.

What really gets my goat is squashed or fat pictures.

As an ex video design engineer, redundant, moved production to China, we always made sure the picture was as perfect as it could be. Nobody seems to care anymore.

DVDfever · 05/02/10 - 11:10

RobinOfLoxley wrote: »

I don't mind black bars, either horizontal or vertical.

What really gets my goat is squashed or fat pictures.

As an ex video design engineer, redundant, moved production to China, we always made sure the picture was as perfect as it could be. Nobody seems to care anymore.

Especially those who work in stores such as Comet and Currys, where the image is stretched any which way they choose.

NoEntry2k · 05/02/10 - 12:59

Shadowlands wrote: »

Not for long... Watch this space!

Thanks for the insider info!

It's really annoying having to change the picture format on my tv to 'letterbox' when i watch Nip/Tuck!

Pat Gleeson · 05/02/10 - 13:43

RobinOfLoxley wrote: »

I don't mind black bars, either horizontal or vertical.

What really gets my goat is squashed or fat pictures.

As an ex video design engineer, redundant, moved production to China, we always made sure the picture was as perfect as it could be. Nobody seems to care anymore.

100% Agree with you.

[Deleted User] · 05/02/10 - 13:47

stripedcat wrote: »

There are quite a lot of old shows which are repeated and were shot in 4:3 ratio. Don't forget that TV companies(in the UK) didn't really start taking widescreen that seriously until about the late 90s really, and even then they shot their dramas in Super 16 so the ratio is about 14:9 not 16:9.

Some TVs let you stretch the picture to 16:9 which sort of helps(I know if you use a HDMI connected PVR it will remain in 4:3).

Don't forget that even some old black and white films were shot in 4:3 ratio.

Weren't we one of the first? The US didn't have widescreen till late into the noughties and it's not widespread as of this decade!:eek:

jeffersbnl · 05/02/10 - 14:15

Mikeandhersonq wrote: »

Weren't we one of the first? The US didn't have widescreen till late into the noughties and it's not widespread as of this decade!:eek:

There were experiments with 16:9 during the early 1990s here (BSB were supposedly testing it, there was Pal Plus trialled by C4), and then C4 and BBC 2 began showing some films in 16:9 letterbox during the mid 1990s but it was with digital in 1998 that 16:9 broadcasting really got going.

The US (largely) waited for HD to go 16:9/widescreen, where as in Europe (and other parts of the world such as Australia) went for 16:9 and then HD- so a two step process. In the US there isn't such a thing as 16:9 SD, where as here its widespread.

Fatboyfun · 05/02/10 - 17:04

stud u like wrote: »

In the Eighties i knew an elderly couple with a black and white tv and they would watch the snooker.

I always got the giggles when they admitted to doing this.

There are people doing that today.

Pizzatheaction · 05/02/10 - 17:59

Fatboyfun wrote: »

There are people doing that today.

I wonder how they get on with the blue and red cash amounts on Deal or No Deal.

technologist · 05/02/10 - 19:25

jeffersbnl wrote: »

The US (largely) waited for HD to go 16:9/widescreen, where as in Europe (and other parts of the world such as Australia) went for 16:9 and then HD- so a two step process. In the US there isn't such a thing as 16:9 SD, where as here its widespread.

Europe has NOT gone 16*9 to anything like the extent that the UK has done.... on the whole they ported thier analogue (which is 4*3 ) to digital ..
but now as HD (which is how many programmes are shot) is 16*9 more SD Prograooems accross the world move to 16*9.

We tend to forget that the BBC propostion was Digital = widescreen....

jenzie · 05/02/10 - 21:08

in order

1: old programming
2: cost

[Deleted User] · 05/02/10 - 21:12

Pizzatheaction wrote: »

I wonder how they get on with the blue and red cash amounts on Deal or No Deal.

Must be fun watching Sports and working out who is who

stripedcat · 06/02/10 - 14:12

jeffersbnl wrote: »

There were experiments with 16:9 during the early 1990s here (BSB were supposedly testing it, there was Pal Plus trialled by C4), and then C4 and BBC 2 began showing some films in 16:9 letterbox during the mid 1990s but it was with digital in 1998 that 16:9 broadcasting really got going.

The US (largely) waited for HD to go 16:9/widescreen, where as in Europe (and other parts of the world such as Australia) went for 16:9 and then HD- so a two step process. In the US there isn't such a thing as 16:9 SD, where as here its widespread.

Yeah as you stated it was only really in the late 90s that in the UK widescreen TV started to take hold. Palplus was experimented on Channel 4, but it was never really done to a large scale. Granada produced Cracker and some series of Prime Suspect in Super 16(so as to broadcast it in 14:9 ratio). The BBC started doing drama in widescreen in about 1998 I think.

ftv · 06/02/10 - 14:21

Pizzatheaction wrote: »

I wonder how they get on with the blue and red cash amounts on Deal or No Deal.

For those of you watching in black and white Wolves are playing in yellow - John Motson circa 1970

Hey there!

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