BBC World News from New Broadcasting House

Most channels just letterbox their HD feed to SD. A few channels will change their AFD flag to allow the picture to be center cut or letterboxed on 4:3 TVs . For some reason the BBC never changed it as their SD feed consists of a 14:9 picture letter boxed in a 4:3 frame. Now some of their content is cut off.

I think BBC World was the only channel in North America that broadcast in 14:9.

Edit : I just remembered that some Discovery channel programs were filmed in 14:9 aspect ration and show that way on their 16:9 HD channels in the mid 2000s.

Fox used Widescreen 480i 16:9 as their production format when ABC, NBC and CBS went 720p and 1080i. Fox then deinterlaced this to 480p 16:9 for distribution. They switched to 720p later, but still years ago.

16:9 SD is rare - but not unheard of - in the US, but hasn't taken off as it has elsewhere.



Some letterbox, some centre cut, some use AFDs - but in most cases this is a way of dynamically or statically controlling 16:9 HD to 4:3 SD downconversions, with 16:9 SD still very rare.

Yes - probably because it was the format used in the UK for most 16:9 content broadcast on 4:3 outlets (both 16:9 HD and 16:9 SD before)


Doubt Discovery originated in 14:9 - it's not an acquisition standard (Super 16 film is close to 15:9) Suspect it is more a case that these shows were co-productions with European broadcasters and shot 16:9 SD (or HD) and the programme delivery in SD was 14:9 letterbox not 4:3 full-screen or 16:9 letterbox. If the original production had been shoot-and-protect 14:9 (as most UK 16:9 SD was) then 14:9 letterbox would have been the standard UK compromise for 4:3 viewers.

Ah - I'll presume that's why Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA (a Fox programme) goes out in 16:9 on Channel 4 here in the UK but not HD.

Could be a budget thing - Fox has been 720p for a LONG time in the US. They were only 480i (with 480p tx) for the first few years of digital TV in the US (1998 launch like the UK)

I think Fox continued with 16:9 SD production after they moved to 16:9 720p HD broadcast - as 16:9 SD was a lot cheaper for a while (until tapeless HD really kicked in) So that could be a reason, or it could be the UK compliance editing is done SD not HD.

Sorry I should have explained, the episodes Channel 4 are showing (weekday mornings) are I believe five years old. I don't watch the show regularly myself, just came across it the other day, so I don't know if they have gone 720p since then.

I'm watching World News America on the proper PBS and it's in 16:9 rather than the 14:9 North America feed.

I believe, KCET, the distributor for World News America gets the HD feed directly from the BBC (given the brief break filler when world goes to ad) and distributes it that way to public television stations in the US. Because 14:9 has rarely been broadcast here stations either letterbox it or center cut it on their SD feeds.

Edit : I think I vaguely remember that prior to the DC studio going HD their two box shots were all within the 4:3 safe zone. Now the two shots fill the width of the screen.
Edit 2 : I'm recording the SD feed of BBC World News America on two different channels MPT (Maryland Public Television) and WETA (a PBS station for Washington, DC). I would try a third (WHUT the PBS station run by Howard University in DC as well) as I live in an area that has three different PBS stations but they opted not to syndicate WNA.

Today I recorded three BBC World News bulletins in SD on three different PBS stations GMT at 1200BST on WHUT, BBC World News America at 2230 on MPT and BBC World News America at 2300 on WETA. The shows on WHUT and MPT were center cut while WETA aired it letterboxed. The chyrons and the host were within the 4:3 safe zone but packages where there are no v/o text were cut off. If I had to guess KCET isn't sending out any type of AFD as MPT and WHUT's syndicated programming from other providers switches back and forth.

The PBS station which I watched World News America was WITF-TV in Harrisburg.

I should also add some stations do their own thing where all content is letterboxed on their SD feed even if the content is 4:3.


Katty Kay was on Real Time with Bill Maher from Los Angeles Friday night after being on Morning Joe this morning from DC. She was probably up well before the 6AM start time of Morning Joe and Bill Maher's show doesn't wrap up filming until 11:30PM ET. Gotta wonder how these journalists handle travel without jetlag. I get exhausted after an hour in the car.

She made some quite good points on the show. It's always entertaining seeing journalists that don't work for partisan outlets react to jokes and comments made by others on the show. You seem to get a good idea about their beliefs just from cutaway shots. I will say it seems like she's inline with my beliefs.

I know Bill Maher isn't available in the UK but they stream "Overtime" on Facebook where they take questions and have additional debates on YouTube for international viewers. I haven't caught it yet.



It's American politics but I thought since she's one of the BBC Worlds key talent (based on certain advertising with Stephen Sackur, Lyse Doucet and Yalda Hakim) it was worth a mention.

Oh dear Phil Avery must have worn a blue tie on the weather his tie effectively became transparent and you could see part of the weather through his tie

Haven't they got CSO that can change between green and blue now to give flexibility with what the presenter is wearing?