So tell me if I'm right... As far as regional news is concerned, making the 4:3 picture that comes out of most of the regional centres into 14:9 had to be done in completely different ways on analogue and digital.
On analogue it's a case of slapping black bars at the top and bottom of the picture, so there's actually no zooming; the picture size is unaltered from when regional news was in 4:3.
But on digital, the 4:3 picture actually does have to be zoomed in to partially fill the 16:9 frame, with black lines down the sides.
Which is why the picture quality on BBC regional news (Newsroom South East aside) looks so horrible on digital but not so bad on analogue???
RW
RW
And while I'm thinking about it, is there an assumption in broadcasting land that analogue viewers are all watching on 4:3 sets and digital viewers on 16:9 sets, when probably the opposite is true?
So we get widescreen programmes shown in 14:9 on analogue, yet digital set-top boxes only give 4:3 viewers the options to watch in 4:3 and 16:9. The boxes come preset in 4:3 'full-screen' mode, and I bet few viewers ever change it - which means most 4:3 digital viewers are seeing less of the picture than they would see watching on analogue!
The alternative is full 16:9, which I have my set-top box set to, but try watching a weather forecast in 16:9 on a 14 inch set - you can't see a thing!
Totally depends on the region and how much they have to spent on kit. There is an innitiative to bring all regions into the real 16:9 world at the moment, but this takes time and a whole lot of cash.
I suspect that most will mask off the 4:3 picture to give a 16:9 'look'. Then this will be ARC'd for digital viewers.
Your assumption about viewers is partially correct.
If a programme is made in 16:9, then the viewer they target is primarily a 16:9 viewer, but 4:3 viewers are also taken into account (safe text areas etc).
14:9 is not a consideration when making programmes, it is merely a compromise format between the two standards.
I think there is still a trigger pulse sent out in the VITS which tells the TV to switch between normal & widescreen. Not sure on this one - it used to be the case but probably stopped when it was decided to broadcast widescreen pictures in 14:9 format for analogue viewers.
Moving on to STB's, that's the problem these days - everything is Plug & Play, ie plug it in & it will work, no need to read the manual. Taking a few minutes to read the manual should explain the formats which are available to you. Also, if you have Sky Digits installed, the nice man who installed it should explain the box & menus available if he's doing his job right. If he didn't, write a letter or email Sky and I'm sure they will investigate. They should be explaining the box to its customers.
(Edited by Techy Peep at 11:15 am on Aug. 24, 2001)