RTE picture format of last nights match

snaps · 11-09-2008 5:04pm #1

Had to laugh today when reading the sun. There was an article about the picture format of RTE's coverage of the match last night from Montenegro.
Rte stated that the reason why there was bars at both edges of the screen was because Montenegro had no widescreen TV transmissions and that RTE used the local TV feed! They said they (RTE) couldnt do anything about this!!!

Thats funny, I watched it on Setanta last night, they had a stretched cropped screen so it filled the screen with no bars at the edges? Surely they used the same feed??

copacetic · 11-09-2008 5:13pm

You've answered your own question there. RTE broadcast the 4:3 signal filling the height of the screen, which then doesn't fill the width of a 16:9 TV.

I didn't see Setanta coverage but they had the same 4:3 signal to work with, based on your information they filled the width and lost the top and bottom of the picture? It is either that or ARC it, leading to distortion.

This happens a fair bit with signals from smaller countries and even bigger countries in Europe during champions league etc.

snaps · 11-09-2008 5:46pm

yeah But RTE stated nothing they could do with it!!!! Setanta coped after a few minutes of the 1st half!

super_furry · 11-09-2008 5:51pm

There was nothing they could do if they wanted to give viewers the full picture. Setanta cropped off the top and bottom on their picture, meaning the viewer was missing out on some of the action.

Danno · 11-09-2008 5:51pm

Isn't most of TV3 home productions (News, Sport Tonight etc...) in 4:3 but stretched out to fill a 16:9 TV?

copacetic · 11-09-2008 5:51pm

snaps wrote: »

yeah But RTE stated nothing they could do with it!!!! Setanta coped after a few minutes of the 1st half!

by cutting off a big part of the picture? that is not what most people would call 'coping' with it. You saw less of the picture on setanta but think that was much better?

edit: Just to be a bit clearer:

RTÉ gave us pillarbox, Setanta gave us tilt and scan. Pillarbox you get to see the whole picture, with tilt and scan it can seem like you have more of a picture than pillarbox; but you don't, you have less.

If you are supporting a broader base like RTÉ you have to think about people with 4:3 TVs also. If you sent them a tilt and scan picture, they only get the 4:3 cropped area of the already cropped picture. So they end up much worse off, i.e just the centre circle in above example.

Mossy Monk · 11-09-2008 6:29pm

Danno wrote: »

Isn't most of TV3 home productions (News, Sport Tonight etc...) in 4:3 but stretched out to fill a 16:9 TV?

TV3 News always sends my tv into 4:3 mode. If it is filling your screen then your tv is not setup correctly.

snaps wrote: »

yeah But RTE stated nothing they could do with it!!!! Setanta coped after a few minutes of the 1st half!

How exactly did they cope? RTÉ at least showed the game in the correct aspect ratio. Granted the coloured bars didn't help.

M5 · 11-09-2008 8:47pm

France is still 4:3 AFIK, 6 nations matches broadcast from france always have that problem too

DMC · 11-09-2008 9:07pm

Not the last season, iirc. Pretty sure it was widescreen last season, the Rugby World Cup certainly was.

BBC have produced pictures from Italy for the past few years. RTÉ always take the FR2/3 feed for the rugby, whereas BBC get a clean feed with no french scoreboxes.

DMC · 11-09-2008 9:13pm

Mossy Monk wrote: »

How exactly did they cope? RTÉ at least showed the game in the correct aspect ratio. Granted the coloured bars didn't help.

RTÉ were caught between showing the studio in 16:9 and the live match in 4:3. I would prefer RTÉ's picture over Setanta's last night, as I don't like the heads of people being chopped off needlessly just for tilt and scan.

Mind you, on 14:9 analogue, RTE's would've looked slightly weird. Why can't they copy the BBC's way of doing sport; 4:3 on analogue, 16:9 on digital. No 14:9 for sport.

You often see this with MotoGP on BBC, Suzi Perry's bits are in 16:9, while actual race coverage is at the whim of the local broadcaster, in 4:3, it just switches to pillarbox. But on analogue, all you see is a full 4:3 screen.

snaps · 12-09-2008 6:47am

I was watching on Setnata with some of the picture missing then........Thats why i missed Irelands winning goal!!!!!!!!!

kowloon · 12-09-2008 7:01am

I watched it with side bars on a 4:3 screen, horrible!

celticfc · 12-09-2008 12:49pm

DMC wrote: »

Suzi Perry's bits

Hmmmm

azzeretti · 12-09-2008 6:56pm

Mossy Monk wrote: »

TV3 News always sends my tv into 4:3 mode. If it is filling your screen then your tv is not setup correctly.

A lot of newer TV's (at least any I have got in the last few years plus friends and family's) don't auto fit. So unless I set the display, manually, back to 4:3 during TV3 news, it stays on my default setting, 16:9.
Not sure why this is, I remember the first 32" TV's I got auto adjusted depending on the signal, but I haven't seen that in a while.

Is that what you mean, when you say "TV not setup correctly"

EDIT: Could this be that HDMI doesn't send the signal the way scart did/does?

Mossy Monk · 12-09-2008 11:15pm

azzeretti wrote: »

EDIT: Could this be that HDMI doesn't send the signal the way scart did/does?

That is possibly it. I watch tv through scart so it auto changes for me that way. Can't say how HDMI acts.

Danno · 15-09-2008 10:23pm

I use SkyHD via HDMI. I have my TV (Philips 32pf9541) set to Widescreen and my SkyHD set to 16:9. TV3 *seem* to be the only channel with 16:9 anamorphic distortion out of the Irish Channels. Even TG4 seems continiously normal!

Phibsboro · 16-09-2008 9:21am

I think its funny that someone is slagging RTE for doing the right thing here

If they had done what Setanta did, there would have been a lynch mob out for them - there is very strong feeling amoung TV purists about how 4:3 should be presented. Granted the coloured bars were a tad distracting but they made the point that they were RTE-added and emphasised that the feed was 4:3.

As for Setanta, I can't imagine they actually tilted and scanned it, I can't imagine thats even possible on a live pic (assuming tilt and scan is the vertical equivalent of pan and scan which apparently it is, i.e. it involves a person *choosing* which bits of top or bottom to loose, scene by scene). I imagine they just zoomed it until it fit the 16:9 screen and left it at that. I much prefer what RTE did, I get the full picture as broadcast locally and if I choose I can zoom it myself on my TV (and, as has been pointed out, people watching the Setanta broadcast on an old 4:3 telly wouldn't have seeen half the game, literally

).

C

snaps · 16-09-2008 6:11pm

Phibsboro wrote: »

I think its funny that someone is slagging RTE for doing the right thing here If they had done what Setanta did, there would have been a lynch mob out for them - there is very strong feeling amoung TV purists about how 4:3 should be presented. Granted the coloured bars were a tad distracting but they made the point that they were RTE-added and emphasised that the feed was 4:3.

As for Setanta, I can't imagine they actually tilted and scanned it, I can't imagine thats even possible on a live pic (assuming tilt and scan is the vertical equivalent of pan and scan which apparently it is, i.e. it involves a person *choosing* which bits of top or bottom to loose, scene by scene). I imagine they just zoomed it until it fit the 16:9 screen and left it at that. I much prefer what RTE did, I get the full picture as broadcast locally and if I choose I can zoom it myself on my TV (and, as has been pointed out, people watching the Setanta broadcast on an old 4:3 telly wouldn't have seeen half the game, literally ).

C

No one is slagging, its a disscussion mate. The bars at the edge of the screen drive me potty. I cannot recieve RTE with a decent picture (Via digital) only via aeriel which at times is not a great picture. The Setanta picture was much better for me than watching it on a grainy RTE picture.

Apparenty im watching RTE of an Illegal "Deflector" type transmiiter from MAyo which is soon going to be shut off, So after that I will have no access to Irish TV, Unless i subscribe to Sky (Which no way I am going to do for channels I pay my licence for). So I will put up with Setantas coverage of any Irish match I can.

Phibsboro · 16-09-2008 6:49pm

snaps wrote: »

yeah But RTE stated nothing they could do with it!!!! Setanta coped after a few minutes of the 1st half!

Ah you were definitely slagging

Nothing in your original post about poor reception or grainy RTE pic, just assuming that RTE had done something wrong and Setanta had somehow "copped" it and sorted it out

Assuming a decent picture on both channels, RTE did the correct thing - anyone who had a 16:9 telly would be able to zoom their picture if they wished, anyone with a 4:3 would get the best possible pic.

Its a complicated area that is much misunderstood (a lot of times I misunderstand it myself

) and the implications of what Setanta did aren't obvious until you switch between a proper feed and its zoomed one.

C

snaps · 16-09-2008 7:09pm

Phibsboro wrote: »

Assuming a decent picture on both channels, RTE did the correct thing - anyone who had a 16:9 telly would be able to zoom their picture if they wished, anyone with a 4:3 would get the best possible pic.

C

Correct me if im wrong pressing zoom wouldnt correct this on a 16/9 tv via a analogue broadcast? I know when ive come across this on satellite (Itv Uefa cup broadcasts) Ive had to set my sat reciever to 4/3 output and then my 16/9 TV had a full stretched screen?

This is actually quite interesting.

Phibsboro · 16-09-2008 7:14pm

(what a goal from gerrard!)... Its not really a question of "correcting" it - the picture as displayed by rte has the most information in it. If you wish to lose some information to have it fill the screen then any 16:9 should be capable of doing it, tho you will obviously loose either something off the top and bottom or else stretch it. Analogue/digital isn't relevant i don't think...

C

dxhound2005 · 16-09-2008 10:36pm

When Bill O'Herlihy said they were getting complaints but that was they way it was being shown everywhere I checked TV Montenegro and Polsat Sport on Hotbird and it was in full screen on both. I didnt notice that it was cropped but it probably was.

I was going to watch it on Polsat with the RTE Radio commentary on the net but that turned out to be 10 seconds behind the pictures so I went back to Network 2.

Gadgie · 17-09-2008 3:10pm

Danno wrote: »

I use SkyHD via HDMI. I have my TV (Philips 32pf9541) set to Widescreen and my SkyHD set to 16:9.

Set your TV to 4:3 and when a widescreen picture is broadcast the box will send a signal to the TV to change to 16:9, then the TV will go back to 4:3 when a standard picture is broadcast. I've never known it to work the other way around.

afatbollix · 19-09-2008 11:47am

setanta arced it for the first half and then i think they zoomed in for the second half...

RTE picture format of last nights match

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