Why can't digital TV go out in 4:3 like analogue?

Why can't digital TV just go out in 4:3 like analogue. I switched my 'look' of digital to 4:3 and the sides were cut out.

I watched Look North the other day on Digital BBC One and the sidebar said it was called 'Ook Orth'. But over on Analogue 4:3, it said 'Look North' Why is digital different?

Analogue 4:3 in this sense is actually 14:9 - a kind of half-way house. That is why everything appears on ana and not digi.

We get the same problem (as I said earlier) with Eporting Cotland.

Sorry, I didn't see your notice about Eporting Cotland'. But why don't they put the 14:9 thing on digital channels - you know, the bit where you change the screen.

The reason is that on ANALOGUE 4:3 most widescreen 16:9 programmes are broadcast in 14:9 letterbox, they are converted by the broadcaster into this format on transmission.  This puts small black bars top and bottom, and only chops a little bit off the sides of the picture. (It is technically known as 14L12)  

When widescreen programmes are broadcast on DIGITAL TV (DSat, DTT and DCab) only the full 16:9 picture is broadcast.  The receiver set-top-box has to convert the picture locally for 4:3 viewers - and could do this any way it liked in theory....

However it is cheaper not to offer 14L12 (14:9 letterbox) as an option - and in fact no current set top box offers this as an option. (The circuitry required to do the shrink to 14:9 is more difficult than to 16:9)

Because they are cheaper to provide all current digital set top boxes just offer 16:9 letterbox (16L12 - thick black lines top and bottom, nothing missing on the left or right), and 4:3 centre cut-out (12F12 - no black lines top and bottom, a lot chopped off left and right).

(Look North, in fact all current English regional News shows and Reporting Scotland, are slightly different as they are made in 4:3, but never goes out in this format. They goes out in 14L12 on analogue but the letterbox bars are just black lines masked over the studio output.  The studio output is also converted for digital into 16:9 in the same way as many reports on the main News and News 24 are - 14:9 PILLARBOX (14P16) - hence it has thin black lines on the left and right on digital 16:9 viewers, and is cropped slightly for 4:3 12F12 viewers, or seen in slight postage stamp on 4:3 16L12 by viewers. Their insets should not be chopped off - but it is very difficult for everyone to get their heads round the different aspect ratios things are being broadcast and/or seen in in the brave new world of digital....)




(Edited by noggin at 2:57 pm on July 15, 2001)

If we are going to have widescreen it should be true letterbox 16:9 format in analogue, not this stupid halfway house. If people with tiny 4:3 TV's don't like it, tough, that's the way it is now.

It isn't going to persuade anyone with a 4:3 TV to get with the latest technology, to keep broadcasting in 14:9, because no-one will notice it. We might as well not bother if broadcasters continue to use 14:9. There are still people with b/w TV's, should we cater for them as well by making sure all pictures look OK in black and white? No, so let's give the luddites something to think about, eh?

OK, rant over

I don't understand why the regional BBC guys are broadcasting in this format, when it's plain obvious that they are still using 4:3 cameras. At the end of the day, there are no disadvantages at all, we' ve lost the top and bottom, and on digital, left and right as well!

Go back to proper 4:3!

I know!

But don't forget that South East Today will be 16:9 widescreen when it launches and London Live will follow shortly after it. I think thats right.

Also, Midlands Today should be going 16:9 widescreen in October. Thats not for certain but its possible.

I think the reason is to be consistent with the network news during the main headlines sequences at 1.00, 6.00 and 10.00; and for digital viewers it wouldn't look very good to be jumping in and out of widescreen all the time. And, as mentioned, some regions are beginning to convert to 16:9 output themselves.

Interesting to note that although BBC South East only slaps black bars on top of Newsroom South East, and shows its other programmes in 4:3, BBC South shoves them over their entire output on analogue (don't know what happens on digital), and the bars usually appear during the preceding trailer, and disappear sometime after the regional programme has finished.