What about MTV Base?? Does that channel even exist anymore?
NW
It spoils it really, you notice is it with shows like Mr Bean, on Comedy Central SD its cropped into 14:9 and looks poor as a result of it, yet on CC HD they show it in native 4:3 and it's good quality, okay not HD but better than what SD is pumping out.
I'm quite surprised TCM is still in 4:3, it's a bit of an embarassment for a film channel to be showing films in letterbox mode when most viewers have widescreen sets, and even more so when Sky and Film4 have HD channels but TCM doesn't.
Viacom either have outdated systems or for some reason or other have decided to broadcast all 4:3 material cropped to 14:9, except on the HD channels (i.e. Comedy Central). Pretty odd.
It spoils it really, you notice is it with shows like Mr Bean, on Comedy Central SD its cropped into 14:9 and looks poor as a result of it, yet on CC HD they show it in native 4:3 and it's good quality, okay not HD but better than what SD is pumping out.
I'm quite surprised TCM is still in 4:3, it's a bit of an embarassment for a film channel to be showing films in letterbox mode when most viewers have widescreen sets, and even more so when Sky and Film4 have HD channels but TCM doesn't.
VM
There was a trailer for Mr. Bean on Comedy Central a month ago or so, from the Christmas episode and the scene with the brass band. The first half was cropped, then the rest was stretched 4:3 to 16:9. The stranger thing was that it didn't cut like this, they actually faded it so you saw it go from being cropped to being squashed. 
When they do HD, they do it fantastically. Brilliant quality, graphics and trailers all in HD. But for some reason they have no clue how to deal with SD content, let alone 4:3 content.
When they do HD, they do it fantastically. Brilliant quality, graphics and trailers all in HD. But for some reason they have no clue how to deal with SD content, let alone 4:3 content.
OV
Not sure if it has changed recently, particularly with the launch of MTV HD (I'm watching it through Sky Go at the moment), but when they switched to 16:9 given the soft picture it was quite obvious that the playout was still 4:3 letterbox, ARCed at transmission to 16:9. Seems Viacom are taking quite a strange approach to adopting widescreen, as Nickelodeon has been 16:9 for quite some time on the HD channel yet SD remains 4:3.
I believe Comedy Central's playout for SD and HD are provided by seperate providers (it wouldn't surprise me if Sky deal with the HD channels), which might account for the difference.
Viacom either have outdated systems or for some reason or other have decided to broadcast all 4:3 material cropped to 14:9, except on the HD channels (i.e. Comedy Central). Pretty odd.
Not sure if it has changed recently, particularly with the launch of MTV HD (I'm watching it through Sky Go at the moment), but when they switched to 16:9 given the soft picture it was quite obvious that the playout was still 4:3 letterbox, ARCed at transmission to 16:9. Seems Viacom are taking quite a strange approach to adopting widescreen, as Nickelodeon has been 16:9 for quite some time on the HD channel yet SD remains 4:3.
It spoils it really, you notice is it with shows like Mr Bean, on Comedy Central SD its cropped into 14:9 and looks poor as a result of it, yet on CC HD they show it in native 4:3 and it's good quality, okay not HD but better than what SD is pumping out.
I believe Comedy Central's playout for SD and HD are provided by seperate providers (it wouldn't surprise me if Sky deal with the HD channels), which might account for the difference.
PA
It spoils it really, you notice is it with shows like Mr Bean, on Comedy Central SD its cropped into 14:9 and looks poor as a result of it, yet on CC HD they show it in native 4:3 and it's good quality, okay not HD but better than what SD is pumping out.
I'm quite surprised TCM is still in 4:3, it's a bit of an embarassment for a film channel to be showing films in letterbox mode when most viewers have widescreen sets, and even more so when Sky and Film4 have HD channels but TCM doesn't.
I was watching Frasier on Comedy Central Extra over the weekend and it was shocking picture quality. 14:9 cropped. Awful. Why they can't just broadcast it in 4:3 I'll never know.
Viacom either have outdated systems or for some reason or other have decided to broadcast all 4:3 material cropped to 14:9, except on the HD channels (i.e. Comedy Central). Pretty odd.
It spoils it really, you notice is it with shows like Mr Bean, on Comedy Central SD its cropped into 14:9 and looks poor as a result of it, yet on CC HD they show it in native 4:3 and it's good quality, okay not HD but better than what SD is pumping out.
I'm quite surprised TCM is still in 4:3, it's a bit of an embarassment for a film channel to be showing films in letterbox mode when most viewers have widescreen sets, and even more so when Sky and Film4 have HD channels but TCM doesn't.
I was watching Frasier on Comedy Central Extra over the weekend and it was shocking picture quality. 14:9 cropped. Awful. Why they can't just broadcast it in 4:3 I'll never know.
RD
Is it just me or does the cropped MTV logo feature on a wall in one of the character's bedrooms in MTV's trailer for the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Are they that bad that they are airbrushing the old logo out of existance?
rdd
Founding member
MTV are SO widescreen they even show The Fresh Prince of Bel Air in 16:9. It makes Uncle Phil look fat.
Is it just me or does the cropped MTV logo feature on a wall in one of the character's bedrooms in MTV's trailer for the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Are they that bad that they are airbrushing the old logo out of existance?