Picture format

Rizzo the Rat

Hi
Is there a way of ensuring your picture format stays in widescreen all the time no matter what format the channel or programme is broadcast? I have my sky box set at 16:9 as normal but recently my 42" Philips LCD TV has started to change picture formats. Eg if i put on Ch 405 (SSN) it automatically adjusts picture format to 4:3. This never used to happen before.
Thanks

barnicles

If you are using SCART

Go System Setup --> Picture Settings --> SCART Control --> OFF

zilog_jones

Why do people like watching 4:3 programmes in fat-head vision?

Hotblack Desiato

Because they're paying for every one of those screen inches, dammit!

What bugs me is when a broadcaster can't be bothered to get it right. The Discovery channels put out a lot of stuff in 14:9 which is not going to look right on any TV.

Edit: when I said "14:9" I actually meant "f**ked up 16:9 with black bars top and bottom for no reason other than to annoy the hell out of the viewer". 14:9 would have the Black Bars of Doom on the sides.

Watching Moto GP coverage (supplied in 4:3) you have a choice between BBODOTS on the BBC, or Stretchy-ArmstrongVision on Eurosport. I actually prefer the look of it on Eurosport and their commentary is a million times better too

Sometimes when watching MotoGP on BBCi it goes into 'postage stamp' mode :mad: how retarded is that.

zilog_jones

Yeah it's surprising how many satellite channels are still only 4:3, like Paramount 1 & 2 and all the Discovery channels. Is there bitrate or horizontal resolution a lot lower than other channels or something?

watty

There isn't without damaging your brain or the picture.

WS TV
Put TV to auto or 4:3 or 16:9 (depending on model) and Setbox to Widescreen/16:9 and use properly wired SCART (or HDMI).

On some boxes/tvs you need to manually change.

Unless you have black bars at sides on 4:3 pictures on a WS TV you are wrecking the picture quality.

Note Cinema NEVER uses 16:9 (=1.78:1). 1.66:1 WS gives bars at side. 1.85:1 gives fine black band hidden on many sets due to evil overscan. 2.35:1 is common and gives big black bands.

Get used to the black bands or buy a projector.


All channels can be 384x288, 544x576, 704x576 or 720x576 for SD. The 16:9 mode is a flag. same pixels. So a 4:3 picture at 720x576 is higher resolution (visually horizontally) and 16:9 images are ALL much less horizontal resolution visually (as pixels are elongated a lot). 720x576 @4 is best quality on satellite and 544x576 @16:9 (some ITV WS) is worse quality.
Some shopping channels and interactive use 384x288, they can be individual channels or if an interactive stream 4 images tiled in one video stream.

384x576 and 240x288 are only used in interactive streams. (2 images per video and 6 images per video tiles)

HD uses only WS. No animorphic flag, so any 4:3 content is windowboxed as is 1:66 content. At the moment there is only 1920x1080 x25i used for European transmission, but 1440 x720 x25p (same bitrate lower Horizontal /vertical resolution, x2 temporal resolution in vertical direction only) is allowed.

zilog_jones

I know about the different resolutions and the anamorphicness of 16:9 SD video, but I'm just wondering why said channels broadcast their 16:9 programmes in crappy 14:9 letterboxed format and not proper widescreen, and was thinking maybe the resolution and bitrate they use (I don't know what they do use) is not good enough for widescreen without looking really blocky.