SD Locals Pan and Scanned ??

[kstuart]

Hello,

On Network programming, which is shown in Widescreen HD, is the SD version now sometimes/usually/always pan and scanned, when shown in Full Screen ?

 

[Mr.Pinkeye]

Framed

From what I can see, it looks like most shows taped in widescreen for tv are not pan & scan for full screen. Instead, what happens is when they tape the show, the shots are set up so that all the important stuff happens within the traditional 4:3 view.

They shoot the show as though it were a fullscreen shot, and just chop off the sides when showing the sd version. In other words, they are not taking full advantage of the wider aspect ratio, since they stick everything smack dab in the middle. On regular shows this usually means that the sides are either unoccupied of filled with the back of someone's head.


Football is a great example of the framing problem. Since they have it set up for a sd shot, to fit all the main players on the left and right of the screen in the shot, they cannot zoom in as much and you end up with the top of the screen filled with the crowd. If they framed it for widescreen, they would be able to get closer to the action.

Despite the fact that sports is one of the things that pushes HD sets, this will be the last thing to go to a letterbox format. SD viewers, imo, would not stand for it, even as they begin to accept scripted programs that are letterboxed.

 

[AdamGott]

In my experience it seems that most stuff is just windowboxed as described previously.

One solution (which some shows seem to be using now) is to show the 4:3 stuff letterboxed. I wish that they would do this with sports too because they obviously frame the sports with usually extranneous stuff outside the 4:3 box.

 

[Julien]

In general the way it works is most shows shot on film are shown open matte for SD. 35mm film has an aspect ratio of 1.37 which is close to SD's 1.33. The view finder has marking lines (soft matte) on the top and bottom for the 1.78 frame so the director can see where the main action should be framed.

For video shots HD cameras are used so the HD is the full frame shot. The camera view finder has vertical lines on the left and right to mark the 1.33 SD picture. This is why sports are not framed to take full advantage of HD yet. Like football the shot still puts the line of scrimmage in the middle to accommodate the SD shot.

 

[trumpit]

The first day the Letterman show was broadcast in HD on CBS, Dave said "And now we have a treat just for our new HD viewers". Regis Philbin walked into the left side of the 16:9 frame and Dave shook hands with him. In SD 4:3 all you could see was Dave's arm reaching past the left edge of the picture. Nice trick, Dave!

 

[Mr.Pinkeye]

The first day the Letterman show was broadcast in HD on CBS, Dave said "And now we have a treat just for our new HD viewers". Regis Philbin walked into the left side of the 16:9 frame and Dave shook hands with him. In SD 4:3 all you could see was Dave's arm reaching past the left edge of the picture. Nice trick, Dave!

I believe Conan did a similar gag where he had someone shooting basketballs into a hoop. The shooter was on the far left side of the screen and the basket was on the far right.

 

[kb7oeb]

The first day the Letterman show was broadcast in HD on CBS, Dave said "And now we have a treat just for our new HD viewers". Regis Philbin walked into the left side of the 16:9 frame and Dave shook hands with him. In SD 4:3 all you could see was Dave's arm reaching past the left edge of the picture. Nice trick, Dave!

I remember that, my local station dropped to SD during that bit and I couldn't see it, I was very annoyed.

 

[Kaydigi]

I remember that, my local station dropped to SD during that bit and I couldn't see it, I was very annoyed.

:haha