What's with HD channels letterboxing in 4:3?

[joeyjojojnr]

This is more of a curiosity question and likely not specific to Dish:

Why do some HD channels that are clearly broadcasting in full 16:9 (as you can tell from their station bug in the lower right of the screen) show 16:9 content but in the space of the 4:3 aspect ratio letterboxed?

A couple of examples:

There's a movie on Retro right now being broadcast that way.

I've seen The Office broadcast that way.

Is there a technical reason for that? Are these perhaps old letterboxed versions of films that they used to broadcast on 4:3 and just don't zoom (or pay to upgrade their rights to broadcast the higher resolution 16:9 version)? Maybe some sort of licensing issue?

[DodgerKing]

Keep them in their natural aspect ratio

Much better than stretching and distorting images

[TNGTony]

Dodger, why couldn't they stretch it vertically AND horizontally to fill the screen and still maintain the original overall shape? That is the question. I understand it wouldn't be in HD, but it would fill the screen without having to use the TV's zoom feature.

IMHO it's lazy broadcasting.

There are a couple of HD channels that take 4x3 programs pillarboxed in HD shown in SD window-boxed so you end up with a postage stamp image on the TV!


www.dishuser.org/aspect.php

[teachsac]

There seems to be some misconceptions starting with the OP. Letterboxing and 4:3 are different. Letterboxing is fitting a 16:9 picture into a 4:3 frame with black bars on the top and bottom. When moving letterbox to 16:9 there are black bars all around. That's what you see when watching Foxmovies on a 16:9 TV and many DVDs.

My take on the OP is why are 4:3 shows being shown on HD (16:9) broadcasts, i.e. movies. Many movies simply haven't gotten the updated treatment since broadcast has been moving from 4:3 to 16:9, particularly older ones. Remember most movies were "formatted to fit your TV screen". Most movies shot prior to 58 are also 4:3 in their OAR.

S~

[TNGTony]

No, he is talking about a 16x9 SD movie shown on an HD channel window-boxed (bars all around). Happens quite a bit with older movies that haven't been remastered yet. You see it quite often on Starz Cinema HD and Encore HD.

[DodgerKing]

Dodger, why couldn't they stretch it vertically AND horizontally to fill the screen and still maintain the original overall shape? That is the question. I understand it wouldn't be in HD, but it would fill the screen without having to use the TV's zoom feature.

IMHO it's lazy broadcasting.

There are a couple of HD channels that take 4x3 programs pillarboxed in HD shown in SD window-boxed so you end up with a postage stamp image on the TV!


www.dishuser.org/aspect.php

Ahhh... I see. So you get a black bar on all four sides?

It would seem like zoom would be better, but remember when you zoom you do lose PQ and the image does become more pixelated

[TNGTony]

For the record:

Pillarbox



Letterbox


Window Box



The OP's question is WHY does the HD channel show a 16x9 movie window boxed? The answer is that it is really a letterboxed 4x3 image shown on an HD channel in pillarbox format.

I do not know the technical reason WHY the HD channels do not "zoom" the image on their end to fill the screen other than shear laziness. I am probably wrong and there is a long involved technical reason, but I do not know it.

[teachsac]

I've seen a few, but not that many. Still goes back to what I said about needing to go back to the master and reformatting, whether it's 4:3 or letterboxed. An example I am looking at is "How to Steal a Million" right now. Been foramatted for 4:3 keeping the original 2.35 aspect ratio. Great on an SD set, but it's a 480 transfer. Stretching and zooming looks hideous.

S~

[DodgerKing]

For the record:

Pillarbox



Letterbox


Window Box



The OP's question is WHY does the HD channel show a 16x9 movie window boxed? The answer is that it is really a letterboxed 4x3 image shown on an HD channel in pillarbox format.

I do not know the technical reason WHY the HD channels do not "zoom" the image on their end to fill the screen other than shear laziness. I am probably wrong and there is a long involved technical reason, but I do not know it.

My guess is that the PQ becomes much worse

[joeyjojojnr]

I've seen a few, but not that many. Still goes back to what I said about needing to go back to the master and reformatting, whether it's 4:3 or letterboxed. An example I am looking at is "How to Steal a Million" right now. Been foramatted for 4:3 keeping the original 2.4 aspect ratio. Great on an SD set, but it's a 480 transfer. Stretching and zooming looks hideous.

S~

Ah, yes. Sorry for the confusion. Indeed, I meant 'windowboxed' and that movie is exactly what triggered the question.

I suppose that makes sense...the source film/tape is 4:3 letterboxed.

You'd think there'd be a way to decently upscale to allow a zoomed image. My $40 DVD player does a decent job at that.

Oh well. Until then, I'll just have to use the ZOOM button.