SP
I wouldn't call black bars a waste of the screen, and I honestly think channels should now be setting themselves up graphically as 16:9 channels, rather than 4:3 channels with extra space on either side. We've had 10 years of transition, that's long enough.
The problem is that if you take graphics out of the 4:3 safe area, particularly in news, some viewers may lose important words from their screen. If someone, for example, watching in 4:3 couldn't see the 'Not' of 'Not Guilty', the broadcaster could conceivably be done for libel.
As for the argument as to the best format for watching programmes on a 4:3 set, I'd have said for many years that 16:9 letterbox was better. However, when my big widescreen TV broke a few years ago, and I had to resort to viewing on an old 14" portable 4:3, I found the picture from the other side of the lounge just too small in 16:9L, and ended up switching to 4:3 cutout. Having said that, the ideal solution would be if all set top boxes had a 14:9 Letterbox option, which usually seems like the best compromise for 4:3 sets.
cityprod posted:
timgraham posted:
But if you have it letterboxed you're wasting 30% of your screen with black bars.
It depends on what you're watching, I usually have it letterboxed because most Australian channels use 14:9 safe areas and you miss bits any other way. But things like news don't need the glory of 16:9.
It depends on what you're watching, I usually have it letterboxed because most Australian channels use 14:9 safe areas and you miss bits any other way. But things like news don't need the glory of 16:9.
I wouldn't call black bars a waste of the screen, and I honestly think channels should now be setting themselves up graphically as 16:9 channels, rather than 4:3 channels with extra space on either side. We've had 10 years of transition, that's long enough.
The problem is that if you take graphics out of the 4:3 safe area, particularly in news, some viewers may lose important words from their screen. If someone, for example, watching in 4:3 couldn't see the 'Not' of 'Not Guilty', the broadcaster could conceivably be done for libel.
As for the argument as to the best format for watching programmes on a 4:3 set, I'd have said for many years that 16:9 letterbox was better. However, when my big widescreen TV broke a few years ago, and I had to resort to viewing on an old 14" portable 4:3, I found the picture from the other side of the lounge just too small in 16:9L, and ended up switching to 4:3 cutout. Having said that, the ideal solution would be if all set top boxes had a 14:9 Letterbox option, which usually seems like the best compromise for 4:3 sets.
