Why is ESPN now letter-boxed all the time?!

but the post above had nothing to do with ESPN. The person was blacked out on TBS because it was on his local RSN...and Dish did what they do best and give him the game in glorious SD with no HD available to him

Ahh... I see. I guess I've been lucky so far. All my Marlins and Rays games have been HD.... so far. Including the one I'm watching now! :D
 
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I believe that that would not be allowed. The providers don't allow carriers alterations to the programming unless it is an add on to the contract. To do that they would then allow them to advertise other shows (that may be competing with them) on the system over top or around the sides of the shows. This is something that I'm not understanding as to why the banner at the start of tuning to Epix is allowed. Then there may be an agreement in place.

I just thought since the old SD feed was the same as the HD, just with the extra stuff on the sides cut-off to 4x3 size, that they could just continue that way. I've seen the same thing on some of the news channels too, when watching on our 4x3 kitchen TV. A 16x9 image with black bars on top & bottom is mighty hard to watch on a 13" kitchen TV! :eek:
 
On a side note, the Cardinals and Cubs game was on FSMW in SD while being on WGN in HD at the same time yesterday. It confuses me as to what the difference is.

couldnt be yesterday (Saturday)...game was Big Fox GOTW

The rule with WGN is (and it may have changed) that they are blacked out within 50 miles of the teams stadium if they are at home. I know WGN use to black out here in Minneapolis when the Sox played the Twins here. That may have been dropped in recent years

TBS's rule is they are blacked out on the teams area forcing you to watch it on the local RSN. I know Dish doesnt have MLB Net but its the same way on that. Blacked out on the national station...watch it on local
 
Oh, to have a "16x9" TV-2 option on the 722k so that people with 16x9 TV's connected as TV-2 would be able to actually watch 16x9 programs in 16x9!!! No bars. No letterbox. No farting around with the TV's aspect ratio setting. But I know that's too much to ask. So I'll just shut up and keep dreaming...
 
This seems to be a trend that's been going on for awhile. FOX was the 1st channels to present sports in widescreen HD only (meaning letterboxed for SD viewers) and it seems now ESPN is doing the same thing as well. In fact, I was boxing on HBO last night (in HD) and I noticed that they didn't put the graphics in the 4:3 safe area like they usually do which would indicate that HBO SD viewers were watching boxing in letterbox as well. I'd say give it 2-5 years and everything (and I mean everything) will be in letterbox for SD viewers.
 
They could take the HD feed and crop off both SIDES leaving the top and bottom alone and have the exact same SD picture as always. Simple. :rolleyes:

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Did did that with our local PBS station not too long ago... after many issues, they switched back to putting the whole 16:9 picture in the 4:3 image.
 
Did did that with our local PBS station not too long ago... after many issues, they switched back to putting the whole 16:9 picture in the 4:3 image.


HUH? That has to be physically impossible. They must have cropped and/or zoomed the 16:9 image to "fill" a 4:3 display. Otherwise you WILL get letter-boxing.
 
I'll piggy back on this thread since it's off topic anyway....seriously Dish, I know every Cardinal game can't be on HD (still not sure why) but less than 1/2 the games are HD. That just sux
 
They could take the HD feed and crop off both SIDES leaving the top and bottom alone and have the exact same SD picture as always. Simple. :rolleyes:

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I hate it when they crop off the picture...leave it the way it is intended...it's all going 16:9...upgrade your TV and use the format button to fit your screen
 
I'll piggy back on this thread since it's off topic anyway....seriously Dish, I know every Cardinal game can't be on HD (still not sure why) but less than 1/2 the games are HD. That just sux

I haven't seen anyone mention this yet, but I picked it up from another thread. I'm a Cards fan as well and you need to start looking at the 440s-450s. A LOT of these games, including Sunday's Cards-Cubs game, were in HD on these alternate sports channels. Sure, I'm seeing SportsSouth (or Fox Sports South, not sure) commercials, but the game is in HD. This really applies to all baseball fans on DISH. If you don't see the game in HD, check the alternate sports channels. They are often available in HD and not blacked out in your area.
 
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I'll piggy back on this thread since it's off topic anyway....seriously Dish, I know every Cardinal game can't be on HD (still not sure why) but less than 1/2 the games are HD. That just sux

It does stink - but if it's not on the main channel (418), be sure to check the HDALT channels, just below the normal station in the guide. The past several games I have found the HD feed down in those channels. It often comes from Fox Sports South or Tennessee, but it's always been open for me in the St. Louis market.
 
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