NG
noggin
Founding member
It's a complicated discussion.
If the show is entirely 4:3 content, then I agree, it should be broadcast as 4:3 and flagged as such. However if the show is a mix of 4:3 archive and 16:9 content, then the 4:3 content has to be converted and the show made in 16:9. If the show is 16:9 then it is likely to be shown on analogue outlets in 14:9 letterbox.
If you convert the 4:3 to 16:9 with a full 12P16 pillarboxing and use black bars either side this will mean the 4:3 content goes out postage stamp (aka window box or floating) on analogue where it will be 14:9 letterboxed - with black bars all the way round the archive. Not ideal. However the garish coloured bars either side will look equally silly (though probably not fail a technical review...) Sometimes you can do something more aesthetically pleasing by filling the bars on the left and right with a zoomed and blurred version of the main video - though on some content this can be distracting.
ARCing 4:3 content to 16:9 using a 14P16 pillarbox (small amount of crop top and bottom, thin black bars left and right) you don't get the floating issues on analogue when letterboxed 14:9 (aka 14L12) - but you do have some top/bottom crop on all outlets.
Some editors/producers/directors like using a full 16:9 zoom on 4:3 content (aka 16F16) - but for me the amount of cropping top and bottom from the 4:3 original is excessive, and the resulting picture is usually very soft as the archive (often not great quality) is processed so that (usually the central) 432ish lines of the original are expanded to fill 575/576 lines... Often looks very soft as a result.
If the show is entirely 4:3 content, then I agree, it should be broadcast as 4:3 and flagged as such. However if the show is a mix of 4:3 archive and 16:9 content, then the 4:3 content has to be converted and the show made in 16:9. If the show is 16:9 then it is likely to be shown on analogue outlets in 14:9 letterbox.
If you convert the 4:3 to 16:9 with a full 12P16 pillarboxing and use black bars either side this will mean the 4:3 content goes out postage stamp (aka window box or floating) on analogue where it will be 14:9 letterboxed - with black bars all the way round the archive. Not ideal. However the garish coloured bars either side will look equally silly (though probably not fail a technical review...) Sometimes you can do something more aesthetically pleasing by filling the bars on the left and right with a zoomed and blurred version of the main video - though on some content this can be distracting.
ARCing 4:3 content to 16:9 using a 14P16 pillarbox (small amount of crop top and bottom, thin black bars left and right) you don't get the floating issues on analogue when letterboxed 14:9 (aka 14L12) - but you do have some top/bottom crop on all outlets.
Some editors/producers/directors like using a full 16:9 zoom on 4:3 content (aka 16F16) - but for me the amount of cropping top and bottom from the 4:3 original is excessive, and the resulting picture is usually very soft as the archive (often not great quality) is processed so that (usually the central) 432ish lines of the original are expanded to fill 575/576 lines... Often looks very soft as a result.
)