BBC One South West

Just noticed that BBC One South West is broadcasting Allo Allo with a complete black border on all sides on Sky, other BBC One regions seem to be broadcasting it in full screen.

It seemed to be OK after the opt out in The Politics Show, but I have just noticed it being broadcast this way on Allo Allo, so could it be that Plymouth have left the opt open?

Sounds like the opting out kit has got a bit confused, rather than it being accidentally being left opted out. In theory they shouldn't be able to do that deliberately!

The Leeds feed just went 14:9 pillarbox in the 16:9 frame for a second or two then switched back to 4:3. South West has gone back to 4:3.

I presumed that was when Leeds put their gallery into the chain when they opt-ed out for the Super League show.

It seems to have happened again... Murder She Wrote is being broadcast with the black border on all sides on BBC One South West but in full widescreen on other BBC One regions.

It just seems to be affecting the programme, the ident went out normally, so perhaps it would suggest Plymouth have left their kit in circuit again, or are having problems with it and then the aspect ratio has been switched for the programme by network, therefore producing the black bars on all sides (IIRC, BBC SW broadcasts in 14:9).

Freeview - Redruth - programme being transmitted in conventional 4:3 with no black bars at the top or bottom of the Widescreen image.

The black bars at the top and bottom are likely to be coming from your digibox.

The left and right bars are added when the programme is played into the system to make it the right shape in a widescreen environment. These are then removed - with DTT this is done by the box, with satellite this is done before going to the satellite.

As the local programme before was in widescreen I suspect the widescreen switching in Plymouth has got stuck so it's going out as if it's a 16:9 programme

The programme was transmitted in 4:3 ratio on Freeview not barred 4:3 within a 16:9 frame.

My Samsung digibox and TV are both set to 16:9, although the TV is actually on "Just Scan" mode as this gives more of the picture than when it is in 16:9, but the black bars are still there even when the TV is in 16:9.

Like I said, I have only ever noticed this problem after The Politics Show on both Allo Allo and Murder She Wrote - and the black bars on all four sides are only visible on channel 987, so this is why I believe it is something to do with Plymouth and not my setup.

Interestingly, the black border disappeared when Murder She Wrote ended, so could it be something to do with the way BBC1 South West is broadcast for uplinking and is only noticeable on programmes broadcast in certain ratios?

Just seems strange that it should only happen after an opt and on two programmes that are quite old (presumably, originally 4:3?)

There's a fair bit of this spurious switching going on. Last night on BBC North-Yorks the rugby was shown on DTT/D-Sat in 14:9 pillarbox (14P16).

Is the Beeb's new DVB code/mux centre in use for any other region/tx than Selkirk yet ? Perhaps all of these problems are teething issues with the migration of services to there ?

This must be a satellite only problem as I switched to DTT and the programme was as expected (as I described above).

There have been a number of issues with local opt-chains - mainly in the three sub-opt regions (Plymouth+Jersey, Leeds+Hull, Norwich+Cambridge) whereby the AFDs have stuck.

And yes, I know Hull is editorially a full region, however in opt-out terms it is still a sub-region AIUI.