I don't mind black top and bottom bars on my 4:3 tv when watching 16:9 stuff, and I wouldn't mind black side bars on a wide tv when watching 4:3 stuff. Broadcasters should just shove everything out with the signal to tell the tv which mode to go into, and leave it at that.
They do, but not on analogue. If you get a widescreen set, it's easy just to leave your box in 16:9 and then let the television switch between 4:3 or widescreen.
Apart from of course...SOME people....who love to crop everything that's 4:3
I don't mind black top and bottom bars on my 4:3 tv when watching 16:9 stuff, and I wouldn't mind black side bars on a wide tv when watching 4:3 stuff. Broadcasters should just shove everything out with the signal to tell the tv which mode to go into, and leave it at that.
They do, but not on analogue. If you get a widescreen set, it's easy just to leave your box in 16:9 and then let the television switch between 4:3 or widescreen.
Yes, I've just been editing that post as it was a bit confuesd. I mean't they should just do that, and never broadcast 4:3 within a 16:9 frame. I did have an end to that sentence that said 'even on analogue', but deleted it. It can be done, I've seen threads about Channel 4 sending certain signals for widescreen tv's on analogue. I can't remember what they were for though.
If they sent 16:9 programmes out properly on analogue, people might get sick of seeing tall thin people and move on to w/s earlier than they might have before. And lots of new 4:3 tv's have a 16:9 letterbox mode too.
Think about this, everything is 4:3 really, and all that happens is that they send a signal to tell the tv to stretch the picture when it's a widescreen programme. If they stuck 4:3 footage into programmes as-is without cropping or whatever, you'd see a stretched 4:3 image on a 16:9 tv. Now, if most people don't know or care about setting up the tv properly, will they notice? Is it so bad to have short fat people onscreen now and then throughout a programme, when most of the people watching don't care what shape the picture is as long as it looks like it's in widescreen to them?
If you care about the shape of the picture, and it was policy to just stick 4:3 footage straight into 16:9 programmes, you could just tape the programme and watch the archive sections back with the tv in 4:3 mode!
See the first of the Happy Birthday BBC2 promos and the 50 Years of TV Weather promo for examples of what I'm talking about.
I'm embarassed to say it but I usually watch 4:3 material streched!
My Dad does that too which is annoying!
well, at least it's not as bad as zooming and cropping, you havn't lost any of the picture. if you really can't stand the black side bars, it's the best of the options. mind you, you could always paint some bits of card silver and stick them either side of the telly to cover the black bars as if they were part of the tv casing
I have a big 4:3 shaped TV so 4:3 stuff fills the screen and 16:9 stuff is watched with black bars at the top and bottom. On my smaller 4:3 portable I watch 16:9 stuff in centre cut-out most of the time. I prefer larger 4:3 sets to widescreen sets and wouldn't get a widescreen set because 4:3 with black bars either side looks silly and zooming/stretching to a different setting for every programme would drive me mad.
I have a big 4:3 shaped TV so 4:3 stuff fills the screen and 16:9 stuff is watched with black bars at the top and bottom. On my smaller 4:3 portable I watch 16:9 stuff in centre cut-out most of the time. I prefer larger 4:3 sets to widescreen sets and wouldn't get a widescreen set because 4:3 with black bars either side looks silly and zooming/stretching to a different setting for every programme would drive me mad.
But the vast majority of widescreen TVs will switch the ratios automatically via a signal from the set-top-box, so it needn't drive you mad. Also I don't see why black bars at the side should be any sillier than black bars at the top and bottom.
I don't see why black bars at the side should be any sillier than black bars at the top and bottom.
especially as the number of 16:9 programmes is increasing, whereas the number of 4:3 programmes broadcast is decreasing.
...though sadly, all too slowly.
Well there are almost no 4:3 BBC programmes these days - isn't "Talking Movies" on BBC Two the only new BBC One or Two show still originated in 4:3, since Parkinson left BBC One and TOTP2 ceased?)
