4:3 to Widescreen

I've bought the Our Friends in the North DVD, not unnaturally 4:3,
although with gaps top/bottom for some reason.

What process does the BBC (and others) use to display these old
programmes to fill a widescreen TV? Dad's Army for example always looks
fine to me, but presumably there's some chopping or stretching going on.

Also, can any TVs or DVDPs make a reasonable job of this? My Panasonic
TV/LG BR don't even try, with just simple zoom and aspect options.

Rob

In article om,
Rob wrote:
I've bought the Our Friends in the North DVD, not unnaturally 4:3,
although with gaps top/bottom for some reason.

What process does the BBC (and others) use to display these old
programmes to fill a widescreen TV? Dad's Army for example always looks
fine to me, but presumably there's some chopping or stretching going on.

Also, can any TVs or DVDPs make a reasonable job of this? My Panasonic
TV/LG BR don't even try, with just simple zoom and aspect options.

Nothing can make a reasonable job of changing one aspect ratio to another.
It inevitably means losing part of the frame as shot.

If you bought a sensible size widescreen set the picture size in true 4:3
with a band either side will still be satisfactory.

--
*Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Rob wrote:

I've bought the Our Friends in the North DVD, not unnaturally 4:3,
although with gaps top/bottom for some reason.

Presumably because it's actually 14:9. Used quite a lot as a
transitional format.

SteveT

I've bought the Our Friends in the North DVD, not unnaturally 4:3, although with gaps top/bottom for some reason.

What process does the BBC (and others) use to display these old programmes to fill a widescreen TV? Dad's Army for example always
looks fine to me, but presumably there's some chopping or stretching going on.

I should hope they don't, except perhaps when a short clip is shown within
a 16:9 programme.
I want this kind of material to be displayed in its native aspect ratio,
not to fill the screen.

People who have a contrary view can zoom
and/or stretch the picture any way that pleases them on their own TV.
The same goes for DVDs

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

On Sun, 06 Feb 2011 08:49:58 -0000, Rob wrote:

What process does the BBC (and others) use to display these old
programmes to fill a widescreen TV?...
My Panasonic TV/LG BR don't even try, with just simple zoom and
aspect options.

"Simple zoom" is all the BBC will use, as a rule. The options for
displaying a 4:3 picture within a 16:9 raster are basically 12P16 (4:3
picture shown in its entirety, with side panels, i.e. pillarbox), 14P16
(4:3 picture zoomed, so some content lost at top and/or bottom; smaller
side panels) or 16F16 (4:3 picture zoomed to fill the entire width, more
content lost):

ftp://ftp.axon.tv/WhitePapers/Applic...nversion.p df

Some 'minor' channels occasionally use horrible techniques like
cylindrical distortion, but never the BBC (AFAIK).

Richard.
http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/

? I've bought the Our Friends in the North DVD, not unnaturally 4:3,
although with gaps top/bottom for some reason.

Presumably because it's actually 14:9. Used quite a lot as a
transitional format.

But wouldn't that indicate it was 16:9 first ?

Norman Radox wrote:

But wouldn't that indicate it was 16:9 first ?

I don't know how they were originally filmed, but 14:9 transmissions
were commonplace - I remember them well.

SteveT

Steve Thackery wrote:
Norman Radox wrote:

But wouldn't that indicate it was 16:9 first ?

I don't know how they were originally filmed, but 14:9 transmissions
were commonplace - I remember them well.

Yes, they were on all four main channels from the early to mid 90s.

The Beeb conducted an experiment in the early 90s, by cropping all of one
Saturday night's programming to 14:9 letterbox to see what the public reaction
would be.


--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

www.paras.org.uk

?Presumably because it's actually 14:9. Used quite a lot as a
transitional format.

But wouldn't that indicate it was 16:9 first ?

Some programmes in the mid-late 1990s were actually broadcast in 14:9,
with 16:9 masters actually lost or destroyed since. Eg "This Life" series
2. "This Life" series 1 was broadcast as proper 16:9 letterbox on analogue
BBC2.

Agree with you about some broadcasts in 14:9 in the early 90's.

We did stuff like that when filmed on super 16 film, as widescreen wasn't
quite the norm then, things like Cracker, Cold Feet, Prime Suspect ring the
memory bell.

Surprised nobody at the tv companies has not suggested moving the image to
one side and displaying scrolling down or up small ads in the space by now.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article om,
Rob wrote:
I've bought the Our Friends in the North DVD, not unnaturally 4:3,
although with gaps top/bottom for some reason.

What process does the BBC (and others) use to display these old
programmes to fill a widescreen TV? Dad's Army for example always looks
fine to me, but presumably there's some chopping or stretching going on.

Also, can any TVs or DVDPs make a reasonable job of this? My Panasonic
TV/LG BR don't even try, with just simple zoom and aspect options.

Nothing can make a reasonable job of changing one aspect ratio to another.
It inevitably means losing part of the frame as shot.

If you bought a sensible size widescreen set the picture size in true 4:3
with a band either side will still be satisfactory.

--
*Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.