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Aspect ratio after the analog cutoff?

7 replies [Last post]
Mon, 03/17/2008 - 21:00
sahonen
User offline. Last seen 15 years 2 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 18 Aug 2005

So I'm curious, does anyone know what the general plan will be for aspect ratios after the analog cutoff? The need to keep shows "4:3 safe" annoys me because of the extra work on the production end as well as the fact that the widescreen feed looks bad with all that wasted space. Will the analog cutoff mean that we can finally produce true widescreen shows or will people still be watching center-cut 4:3 thanks to their converter boxes? I really hope that the converter boxes output a letterboxed picture instead of center cut. Actually I wish that downconverted SD feeds were letterboxes instead of center cut in the first place so we never had to put up with 4:3 safety to begin with.

- Stephan Ahonen
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Tue, 03/18/2008 - 07:57
#1
mtiffee
User offline. Last seen 14 years 47 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 19 Aug 2005
[quote="sahonen"][quote="EricG"]Screw those people who haven't bought a 16:9 TV yet![/quote] People already watch 16:9 DVDs on 4:3 sets through the miracle of letterboxing. They already letterbox Conan (so you don't miss his left hand in 4:3, heh), I don't see why everything else couldn't be letterboxed as well.[/quote] These movies and shows don't have scorebugs and other graphics that would appear much smaller letterboxed on a 4:3 set.
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Tue, 03/18/2008 - 05:11
#2
EricG
User offline. Last seen 2 years 3 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 23 Nov 2005
[quote="sahonen"]They already letterbox Conan (so you don't miss his left hand in 4:3, heh)[/quote] Woosh!
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Tue, 03/18/2008 - 00:04
#3
Mike Cumbo
User offline. Last seen 3 years 23 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 18 Aug 2005
Eric, PLEASE put that cup of coffee down, NOW!!! sahonen, 4x3 will still be with us unless you are doing an HD only show, like HDNet. As mentioned before, the cutoff only deals with transmitters not content.
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Tue, 03/18/2008 - 00:03
#4
sahonen
User offline. Last seen 15 years 2 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 18 Aug 2005
[quote="EricG"]Screw those people who haven't bought a 16:9 TV yet![/quote] People already watch 16:9 DVDs on 4:3 sets through the miracle of letterboxing. They already letterbox Conan (so you don't miss his left hand in 4:3, heh), I don't see why everything else couldn't be letterboxed as well.
- Stephan Ahonen
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Mon, 03/17/2008 - 23:54
#5
EricG
User offline. Last seen 2 years 3 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 23 Nov 2005
No, we won't! In fact, since there's no more analog shows, the TV industry has unilaterally decided that in a completely unrelated and bizarre turn of events, we're going to say "Screw those people who haven't bought a 16:9 TV yet! If they can't see the ball/puck/graphic/left hand of Conan O'Brien when it's out of 4:3, too bad! Go out and buy a $1000+ TV, you cheap bastards!" I, for one, welcome our new mandatory-16:9 overlords.
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Mon, 03/17/2008 - 23:09
#6
sahonen
User offline. Last seen 15 years 2 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 18 Aug 2005
I'm aware of that, what I'm asking is for the shows that do get produced in widescreen, will we still have to keep them 4:3 safe.
- Stephan Ahonen
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Mon, 03/17/2008 - 22:23
#7
RPalermo
User offline. Last seen 1 year 38 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 18 Aug 2005
The "analog cutoff" has absolutely nothing to do with aspect ratio, or format. All the "analog cutoff" means is that broadcasting stations must transmit their over-the-air signals in digital. The shows can still be 4x3 or 16x9, SD or HD.
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