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

  • From: Mark Schubin <tvmark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:29:39 -0400

On 4/27/2010 3:21 PM, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
I see a mixed bag here. If you use 4:3 as the default, there are two negative consequences. 
1. The 4:3 image on the analog TV will show too much sky, where ideally the 
image would zoom in closer to the action, for this kind of low res display,
If you look at something like the American Cinematographer Manual, you will see that common-sides aspect-ratio accommodation does NOT use a vertical center cut. You do not, therefore, get too much sky. 



and/or

2. The 16:9 image will not take advantage of the greater resolution the 16:9 HD 
monitors have.
You assume the same resolution in capture and display. Common 1080-line HDTV is 1920x1080. In the Paramount Pictures version of 4:3 capture, the digital masters would be 1920x1440. So how would there be a loss of resolution? 



  It will show less image than the analog 4:3 screen, even if that residue 
image is displayed in glorious HD. You'd be better able to make out the pores 
in the actors' faces, but not get a bigger perspective of the scene. Which is 
what you want in HDTV, isn't it? I'm thinking in terms of what you want in 
Cinemascope or Cinerama.
Then you should look at the Philips or Vizio 21:9 TVs. They deal with CinemaScope better than does 16:9. 

Whenever there is more than one aspect ratio, there is compromise.
Consider that since the 19th century movies have been shot on 4:3 frames for aspect ratios up to 1.85:1 (beyond 16:9) -- and sometimes beyond that. 



So to me, Kerns Powers was noy totally wrong in his decision, even if it might 
seem wrong to cinematographers. It was an engineer's decision, not an artist's. 
Not sure why he apologized.
He apologized because he realized he solved the wrong problem. He was tasked with coming up with a high-definition electronic production system for multiple aspect ratios. The problem he solved was minimal areal loss for multiple aspect ratios, not the same thing. As your original complaint shows, there is more to accommodating multiple aspect ratios than minimal areal loss.
The people who have accommodated multiple aspect ratios for around a century were (and are) cinematographers. For him not to have consulted them was wrong. Kerns was a gentleman, so when he realized his mistake he apologized. And he did it in an engineering paper presented at NAB so other engineers could realize why common sides made more sense. 



Second, we began the transition before Active Format Description (AFD)
was in place, and we have yet to make it mandatory. Where AFD is in
use and works, different aspect ratios are easily accommodated. Where
it isn't, pictures are butchered.

Honestly, I think that if broadcasters would start going to wide screen 
anamorphic exclusively, that would get us just about the same effect as AFD.

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I mentioned that perhaps 75% of U.S. TVs are 4:3. I use one of them, and the cable STB to which it is connected does not have an aspect-ratio option. I would rather not watch squeezed pictures. With AFD, I would not have to. 



  Certainly on 16:9 displays, which as you point out, are taking over. STBs 
used on 4:3 sets could give the user a choice of letterboxing or cropping.
You are welcome to come over and search through my menus. FYI, it IS a digital STB.
If you respond that I should get a new one, then I say that new one should be AFD compliant. Then it would not be me second guessing the creative team's intent, but the creative team providing me, on a frame-by-frame basis, exactly what they think works best on my screen shape. 

TTFN,
Mark



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