[opendtv] Re: 4:3 transmissions of syndicated programming
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2008 06:28:38 -0500
At 2:01 PM -0500 3/3/08, John Shutt wrote:
Bert,
I see your point there, and that is a decision made by the
syndicator, not the broadcaster. However, it will either be a 4:3
SD letterbox, or a 4:3 full screen. The infrastructure just isn't
there at most stations for mixing 4:3 and 16:9 SD programming, even
though the equipment is available.
The biggest drawback is that there is no standard way of
automatically signaling video as 4:3 or 16:9. If there were, then
it would be much easier to store anamorphic 16:9 alongside 4:3
within a video server, and have a downstream format converter either
pillarbox the 4:3, or alternately letterbox the 16:9 automatically
on a clip by clip basis.
I see tons of letterboxed SD programming on PBS and on the cable
networks. As such, I have not heard of any viewer objection to
letterboxing per se.
My own personal preference is for a 14:9 SD letterbox of 16:9
material. Makes a good compromise between maintaining staging for
16:9 and minimizing wasted screen area on 4:3 TVs.
John is on the right track here.
Many stations do not have the ability to play back HD content today
and probably won't by next February. The syndicators do not want to
offer 480 line letterbox as they have many other global markets that
need the full 4;3 frame filled. Thye MAY be delivering some show in
14:9 to the European market, but this is not useful for the use
because of the line count and difference in frame rate.
In short, 4:3 SD i going to be around for quite a few years until
stations add an HD playback capability, or the syndicators figure out
how to download programming directly to station servers.
Regards
Craig
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