[opendtv] Re: Learning From the Veterans - local news in HD

  • From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:34:51 -0500

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

>> To clarify here, use wide screen anamorphic even when transmitting
>> 4:3 content.
>>
>> The result is, on wide screen monitors, you get a properly pillarboxed
>> 4:3 image always, you get a full screen display when content is 16:9,
>> and you get letterboxed display when content is wider than 16:9. Never
>> any distortion.
>
> This would have been a step backwards. The new sets have sufficient
> smarts to accommodate all formats and with the header and descriptor
> data could automatically provide the best accommodation of SD content.
> This approach would have further reduced the resolution available to
> new 16:9 sets when a broadcaster was delivering legacy 4:3 content,
> which STILL is most of the time.

How so? The "best accommodation" for 4:3 content to 16:9 sets is to fill the 
vertical dimension and leave black bars on the left and right. That's how 4:3 
content looks when it's transmitted as anamorphic wide screen, e.g. on the 720p 
or 1080i main channels of most TV stations. The 16:9 set does not lose any 
resolution this way. I'd love it if the SD channels did the same thing, using 
704 X 480.

The negative effect would be to 4:3 sets, as Mark descibed, when 4:3 content is 
transmitted to them. Because THEY would get the postage stamp format, which 
does degrade resolution. Then again, if we assume that the majority of these 
4:3 sets are analog CRTs, perhaps the degradation would not be so obvious.

On the common sides technique for 4:3 and 16:9 content, perhaps that rule 
should not be assumed to apply across the board. It makes sense for comedy or 
even most movie productions, but it might not be required in sports, news, or 
documentaries. It seems to me that if you're shooting a football game, for 
example, the ball would be more or less center screen, and the 16:9 viewers 
would benefit from the increased horizontal view.

Bert
 
 
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