TV3 In Widescreen?

Mossy Monk

is it my imagination or were TV3 supposed to go widescreen in May. i remember them making a song and dance about them being the first in the ROI but RTÉ beat them to the punch. it has obviously been delayed, any reasons why?

celticfc

IIRC I don't remember May being mentioned, however they did say "the middle of 2005," also Medialive (Generally a very reliable source) did mention July.

From Medialive:

RTE / TV3 To Go Widescreen (20/1/05)

RTE, in line with industry standards, is moving to widescreen transmission for commercial breaks from 9th May 2005. This is part of an oganisational move towards total widescreen transmission.

In order to assist a timely transition, all commercial copy should be provided in 16:9 Full Height Anamorphic format from February 14th 2005. This is to facilitate the Commercial Library who will need to operate two parallel systems during this transition period.

Existing copy not supplied in 16:9 should be reformatted and delivered to the Commercial Library.

TV3 have also announced a move to widescreen which is expected to be effective from July 2005.

Ulsterman 1690

I have a widescreen telly and have just moved into a house with an RTE aerial (albeit with pretty ropey reception)

I usually set leave the TV set to 16:9 because Im less bothered by streatched pictures than black bars (or worst of all missing bits) but when Im watching RTE the thing keeps switching back to 4:3 (particularly during adbreaks)

Worst of all is that sometimes when watching in 16:9 I get black bars at the top and bottom of the screen anyway

Any idea whats happening ?

Round Cable

I assume it's still on the way, TV3 may still be first Irish channel to go widescreen across all digital platforms. :rolleyes:

formatman

wide screen tvs are a bit of a markeing gimmick as you only get the full screen widescreen when watching a anamorphic dvd with the correct aspect ratio

you will always have black bars with widescreen tv broadcasts

Round Cable

formatman wrote:

wide screen tvs are a bit of a markeing gimmick as you only get the full screen widescreen when watching a anamorphic dvd with the correct aspect ratio

you will always have black bars with widescreen tv broadcasts

With digital TV the channels are broadcast in anamorphic widescreen.

Mossy Monk

Ulsterman 1690 wrote:

when Im watching RTE the thing keeps switching back to 4:3 (particularly during adbreaks)

Worst of all is that sometimes when watching in 16:9 I get black bars at the top and bottom of the screen anyway

Any idea whats happening ?

on analogue my widescreen tv jumps to 14:9 mode alot on RTÉ especially during ad breaks. its a pain in the arse

the reason why there is black bars on the top and bottom of the screen is because its an analogue feed (14:9 on widescreen made programmes) but no black bars on Digital dou to the 16:9 feed

Ulsterman 1690

With digital TV the channels are broadcast in anamorphic widescreen.

Yup I use digital satellite for UK channels and the only time I get black bars is when the broadcasters use the wrong settings

It seems to be pretty pointless for broadcasters to transmit widescreen on their analouge services since hardly anyone seems to have the equipment to recieve it properly

SRB

Yup I use digital satellite for UK channels and the only time I get black bars is when the broadcasters use the wrong settings

No, that will happen if they are transmitting a 4:3 picture in a 16:9 frame. That usually happens with sport programming which can be 16:9 studio based, but 4:3 coverage.

It seems to be pretty pointless for broadcasters to transmit widescreen on their analouge services since hardly anyone seems to have the equipment to recieve it properly

Eh, they don't transmit 16:9 on analogue. What you usually get on analogue is 14:9.

Elmo

Ok someone explain what was happening with my widescreen TV.

When watch RTE ONE it had to Black bars down either side but was not in the normal screen mode, the TV called it movie mode.

And then when it went to adds it took up the full screen.

Can I not just set the TV so that it has one aspect regardless of whats being broadcast?

Also I have noticed that text is often cut of during credits (in particular lost) I am watching it on a normal screen TV.

Telefís

Yikes - don't know what's happening there, though regarding setting the aspect ratio for all stations, on a lot of widescreen sets you can't do this.
What you can do on quite a few though is go through each individual channel and set each station's ratio seperately.

My new set I got recently in place of a crappy Bush one believe it or not doesn't do this, whereas the old one did! :mad:

Just regarding a point made earlier, sorry to be nit-picky but it's kind of confusing to say that RTÉ broadcasts 14:9 on analogue - this is being said everywhere, even though it's not strictly true.

RTÉ broadcasts 4:3 on analogue, but sends out a 14:9 image via this format. If the black bars were even larger so as to show a 16:9 aspect ratio, you wouldn't say it was a widescreen broadcast, rather it is a 4:3 signal displaying a 16:9 aspect ratio.

If RTÉ were broadcasting in 14:9, the image wouyld be lightly compressed on a 4:3 screen, and you'd have tostretch it out again using the 14:9 mode on your telly (if you have one)
What does annoy me is that my telly doesn't have a 14:9 Zoom Mode where you could zoom in just a little to get rid of the bars and have a slightly larger image to boot.

Do many sets have this, especially as it's now a standard broadcasting practice acrosss Europe?

SRB

If the black bars were even larger so as to show a 16:9 aspect ratio, you wouldn't say it was a widescreen broadcast

Indeed, you would say it was "deep letterbox on analogue".

Telefís

I'll remember that



*whispers* (no I won't)