Is anyone else having problems with TV3/RTE's widescreen?

Maxwell

I have a 42" plasma and Im tearing my hair out because TV3 (mostly) and some of RTE2 (Lost) is showing out of porportion to the widescreen they are submitting.

I have tried changing my setting's - but the picture/credits are still out of the picture

Am I going mad here or how do I have this fixed. This doesn't happen with SKy channels etc - just RTE & TV3

Help

Skyuser

Are you sure the programme that's on RTE/TV3 is in widescreen. Because RTE/TV3 don't show the 'W' sign in the info box, I change my picture settings to 4:3L and check if it's widescreen that way whenever i'm unsure.

Maxwell

Asking people here in work aswell, and they are having the same problems. I have changed my picture setting's and the picture is still "cropped" i.e. Its not showing the full widescreen on my TV.

marksi

Your settings on the digibox should be 16:9, SCART control ON. Make sure you have connected the TV to the TV SCART socket and not the VCR one.

The plasma screen must be told to use 16:9 mode. Some do not auto switch.

I haven't watched this week's Lost yet but all previous ones have been correctly transmitted in 16:9 (16F16).

watty

My WS switching on FTA box and Sky box is always perfect, but if the program on ITV is 4:3 and I hit TV mute as the ads come on and do it same time as the auto switch to 16:9 the dratted TV drops out of AV mode and switches to last RF channel.

On the FTA box we mute the ads on the Sat box, not the TV so it is fine.

My Supervison DVD never selects WS/4:3, I have to read back of DVD case and do it manually. I have 3 DVDs now that are WS transfer but NOT, animorphic, i.e, they are letterbox on 4:3. I watched one last night that claimed to be 16:9 (1.78:1) but actually it was 2.37:1 or something letterboxed into 16:9 animorphic frame.

BBC regularly Window Box 4:3 into 16:9 animorphic frame.

What hope have we mere mortals of putting all the display settings right on our boxes and displays when the Broadcasters & DVDs are niether consistant, explain it or in some cases don't use it properly.

One night a film on ITV was WS, but for first 1/2 they had the WS flag set to 4:3 we had to manually overide to 16:9, then after an advert break they fixed it. ([16:9] flashed from our TV's own OSD WS switch circuit)

Widescreen

Maxwell wrote:

I have a 42" plasma and Im tearing my hair out because TV3 (mostly) and some of RTE2 (Lost) is showing out of porportion to the widescreen they are submitting.

I have tried changing my setting's - but the picture/credits are still out of the picture

Am I going mad here or how do I have this fixed. This doesn't happen with SKy channels etc - just RTE & TV3

Help

Just going slightly off your point- the main issue I have with RTE/TV3 w/s is that not enough programmes are ACTUALLY in widescreen. i.e. the news,champions league matches(even those in the UK being covered in w/s ) and various other progs. Why can't RTE/TV3 do what beeb/itv do and have programmes that go from widescreen to 4-3. i.e. studio coverage in w/s and if necessary the match(ie a european based game) in 4-3... :mad:

marksi

watty wrote:

BBC regularly Window Box 4:3 into 16:9 animorphic frame.

Only 4:3 sports feeds which are part of a 16:9 programme.

rikerdonegal

Maxwell wrote:

I have tried changing my setting's - but the picture/credits are still out of the picture

I can't speak for RTE but I've noticed that TV3 have started to use what I can only describe as "pretend WideScreen".

For examply, they are adding their own black bars (top and bottom) to late night re-runs of Keen Eddie. I haven't seen last night's yet, but they did it with the previous episode.

This meant that, as soon as the writers/producers/actors were listed, some of the text was off-screen.

Seems like something stupid they are doing in line with their new logo.

What makes it even odder is that there are, I believe, genuine wide-screen versions of Keen Eddie available.

Sparky

My Tv always autoswitches between 4.3 and 16.9, once i leave my tv in auto mode. If I leave it in widescreen mode, it will stay in widescreen regardless of 16.9 or 4.3.

On my old widescreen telly, if you left it in 16.9 mode, the minute a programme would go to 4.3, the tv would switch to auto mode.
On one occasion, I removed scart pin 18 to stop this, but I got fed up of stretched faces and went back to normal.

Ganymede

I watch RTÉ via a roof-top aerial, I don't have SKY, and usually when a programme is broadcast in 14:9 mode, which is not proper widescreen, the picture tends to be cropped left and right of the frame. It's particularly noticeable during the opening titles and closing credits and can be rather annoying at times. It is very obvious during LOST, for example, letters to the left and right of the picture were missing. This has nothing to do with the picture sttings on my TV - it's down to the way the programme is broadcast on analogue.

I suppose it's a compromise between catering for those with 4:3 sets and the rest of us with 16:9 sets

watty

NO. It is a compromise between those with PAY TV and those without. RTE WS is not on the aerial at all, a 16:9 set should have black bars either side.

Only on Pay TV is "true" Widescreen (animorphic 16:9) broadcast.

Again why do the majority suffer reduction in quality for a Pay TV platform that does not even earn RTE revenue.

Those without Pay TV are thus treated as second class citizens in Ireland.

rikerdonegal

I wrote to TV3 about their broadcasts of Keen Eddie and this is the reply I got:

Dear Sir

Thank you for you enquiry regarding Keen Eddie.

As you are aware, TV3 is now broadcasting programming in widescreen format as and when it is available to us.

Until all materials are delivered in a 16:9 ratio, some compromises occur when we only have a 4:3 copy. Unfortunately Keen Eddie falls into this category.

I hope this doesn't spoil your viewing too much.


Regards
Operations Manager

The Hill Billy

I've noticed the same particularly when watching Lost. However, there is nothing wrong with your set. I've flicked through all the screen size settings while watching it & they all come up with a cropped image.

Next time you are watching Lost - notice that even though the credits at the start are running off-screen on the bottom right, the RTE logo (top left I think) is in the correct position. This indicates that the image is being transmitted already cropped.

Ulsterman 1690

What hope have we mere mortals of putting all the display settings right on our boxes and displays when the Broadcasters & DVDs are niether consistant, explain it or in some cases don't use it properly.

Well said and anoher thing.........

Why do broadcasters insist on "letterboxing" (particularly on analouge feeds.) I bought a widescreen TV in the hope of being able to see programmes without black bars and/or missing bits from the picture

Not a hope

Regardless of what mode I put the damn thing thing in those blasted black bars are still there on almost all analouge (and quite a few digital) channels

The Irish channels are the worst with the TV switching randomly during adbreaks

All transmissions whether 16:9 14:9 or 12:9 (4:3) should be anamorphic with a WSS flag telling the set which ratio a programme is in and TV sets should have narrowscreen widescreen and auto settings on the remote