The local PBS station is clueless about aspect ratios

Cafe Society
1

Basically, I’m wondering if PBS stations outside of Austin do this:

  • For 4:3 programs, the show is displayed with the proper aspect ratio; for example:


..00000000000..
..00000000000..
..00000000000..
..00000000000..
..00000000000..
  • However, for 16:9 programs, the show is displayed in letterbox format inside a 4:3 box inside the larger 16:9 screen, with a bug at the bottom right end of the screen. Thus …


................
..000000000000..
..000000000000..
..000000000000..
..........klru..
  • On the DTV-2 channel (create), they letterbox 16:9 programs, and stretching them to the far left and right ends of the screen. Thus …


................
0000000000000000
0000000000000000
0000000000000000
........create..

Set the display to 4:3, and the stretched 16:9 display looks normal, but in a letterboxed version in a 4:3 window, like the KLRU example above.

It’s an incredible waste of screen space.

2

So this is something within the station’s control? (I’m clueless.) I was watching something on PBS recently where the credits were on the right side of the screen. At least half the letters were cut off. I thought maybe I needed to do something to my TV. (I said I was clueless.) I don’t know if it was a 4:3 program or a 16:9.

3

if it is a 16:9 and you watch 4:3 with a zoom setting it chops the sides. so this would be a viewer setting.

it fills the screen but things not in the safe center would be cut.

4

Thanks for the explanation. I’ve been hesitant to mess with the TV controls but next time it happens, I’ll try it. What’s the worst that could happen?

ETA: (Rhetorical question)

5

If you watch a 16x9 film which has been letterboxed in a 4x3 signal and then broadcast without zoom in 16x9 and you use your zoom function, the world will explode.

6

Pam, the “next time it happens” will be the next time you turn the TV on. You have it on a zoom setting. You shouldn’t default to a zoom setting. I’m guessing someone suggested it because you didn’t like the black bars on the left and right during 4:3 programming. And now you’re seeing that it affects the picture during other broadcasts.

7

That doesn’t explain my problem. I’m watching on an old gasp 4:3 TV. It has an actual tube, not digital.

PBS broadcasts standard programming in 16:9 I guess, because when I watch NOVA, if there is any writing on the screen, it typically runs off the edge. :frowning:

8

I don’t know. I think we went with the default settings. I don’t remember ever seeing black bars on the right and left but yeah, I would have wanted to get rid of them. I have no problem with letterbox, but bars on the sides would drive me nuts.

9

Oh sure. Make it my fault!

10

elmwood, it’s not that they’re clueless. They’re broadcasting a 4:3 signal. That means when they show something at another aspect ratio they have to add black bars to the top and bottom.

Irishman, that’s not how 16:9 works. It’s more likely you’ve got a television with a huge TV safety margin.

11

They’re broadcasting in 16:9 - promos for other shows and “I’m PBS” promos appear full-screen. Nova also airs in full 16:0. When other shows air, though, it’s letterboxed 16:9 in a 4:3 window.

12

At least you’re getting the full image - the PBS fashion around here seems to be to take 16:9 programming and lop it off to 4:3 for broadcast. When this reaches my digital 16:9 TV, I get a side-boxed 4:3 image, and even the station’s logo gets lopped off - instead of KQED or KTEH in the bottom right corner, sometimes it comes through as KQE or KTEI, even though there’s still lots of dead space to the right.

And then, at other times, someone monkeys with the buttons at the station and they send out a 16:9 image letterboxed to 4:3, resulting in a ridiculously tiny image.

13

Does anyone know the saturation level of digital-ready televisions? I really hate the idea of tossing a perfectly functional television into the landfill, but if someone can tell me that, say, 80% of the country has a flat screen I’ll sigh, donate to an ecological group, and bite the bullet.

When everyone was bragging up the advantages of HDTV I was kinda meh because as long as there isn’t active snow and I don’t have to dance around rabbit ears with tinfoil I really don’t care what the picture is, but it really pisses me off that I have to buy a new television because I can’t read half the subtitles.

14

WMFE in Orlando has similar problems.

They also broadcast their digital and analog radio stations a few seconds out of sync, so if you’re in a fringe area for the digital signal the audio skips all around. It’s maddening. Must be a PBS thing. :confused: