How are high def. programs displayed on a widescreen TV?? (1 Viewer)

[JasonRH]

Are all HD programs displayed with bars on top/bottom and both sides?

 

[GlennH]

High-Definition TV is in 16:9 (1.78:1). A widescreen set is the same ratio. So there are no black bars on a HD TV program (sports or whatever).
Now, film-based sources like movies may be in a wider aspect ratio such as 2.35:1, in which case there will be black bars top and bottom when broadcast correctly in HD. Or if an older 4:3 (1.33:1) movie was broadcast in HD it would correctly have side black bars. All this is just like with DVD. Except HBO-HD crops the wider movies to fit the 16:9 screen so there are no black bars. Just about as bad as current pan-n-scan hacking of movies for presentation on 4:3 TVs.

 

[Todd Hochard]

Native HD (1.78x1) programs fill the screen.
Where on earth did you get the idea that HD might be windowboxed?
Todd

 

[JasonRH]

From another forum. I thought it sounded strange so I thought I'd ask here. Thanks a lot, guys.

 

[george king]

It is true that NATIVE HD is 16:9, and will fill your screen. However, there have been reports on other forums that some stations simply upconvert NTSC material, and that on some TVs this results in a window boxed presentation. It has been awhile since I read this, and I do not recall where, but I do remember reading this.

 

[JasonRH]

George,
That's exactly what I read. It seems reasonable enough to me that not all content has to be enhanced for widescreen tvs to still be HD but what do I know??

 

[Jesse Leonard]

Yes, some shows are shown in 1080i but is 4:3. So you have bars on the sides of the pictures.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Upconverted 4/3 shows on my one local ota station and on HBOHD are presented with black bars on the sides only. If a commercial that would be letterboxed on a 4/3 set comes on, it's got bars top and bottom also.
HBO-HD is no longer mutilating all 2:35 movies to eliminate black bars, by the way. I've seen several 2:35 movies on HBO-HD with black bars on my widescreen set.
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Steve S.
I prefer not to push the subwoofers until they're properly run in.