TNT HD - Why are they stretching the non-wide programming? (1 Viewer)

... Or, am I the only one seeing this?

We got a Sony Bravia 32" two months ago, but only last month, upon moving, got cable service with HD through Cox Cable.

At first the box only had the local HD channels turned on and we thought that we had to pay more to turn on ESPN, TNT, Discovery, and the 2 InHD channels, HBO, Starz, plus a couple HD music channels. It turned out that all we needed to do was call for them to turn the extra channels which were included anyway. It seems weird, but that's how it was.

Because of that, I only just noticed that TNT HD is the only channel that stretches out it's non 16x9 material to the width of the screen. For commercials during HD programming, like "The Closer", or the 16X9 "L&O" re-runs, I really could care less. But for programming like older "L&O" episodes or "Charmed" which was never 16x9, it's irritating as hell and looks like crap. Why do they do this? No other channel does this. Does this bother anyone else?

Just wondering.

It bothers me, too; but TNT is a badly run channel and there's nothing we can do. I try not to watch their non-OAR (stretched or cropped) programming.

Yeah, it's pretty bad. And it's not just series, either. It's movies, too. Sometimes they'll get a 4:3 transfer of a movie and stretch it to 16:9, or they'll stretch 2.35:1 to 1.78:1.

Yikes... haven't seen that yet.

At least I'm not the only one.

I'm considering getting rid of my HD lineup pkg. (I pay extra)
There was a thread here somewhere back from when it was added to D.*
I think I called it an 'offense' and slap in the face as regards promises on improving and increasing HD content.

Can't stand them, try never to watch TNT and they can be one of the worst advertising bug abusers. During daylight hours the few times I tuned to check out the programming, I also found on occasion the compression or bitrate on TNTH was so bad that the TNT SD channel had better PQ!

I don't know which is more evil...stretching 4x3 to 16x9, or doing what Fox does and zooms (cropping top and bottom)?

With the Simpsons, I prefer watching the regular channel (with black bars on the sides) than their crappy HD 'zoomed' feed. It's horrible!

I've never had this happen with my local Fox affiliate. New and rerun/syndicated episodes of 4X3 content are always shown with black bars on the sides. I wonder if it is different from affiliate to affiliate.

My Fox affiliate shows The Simpsons (and all the other Sunday night cartoons, for that matter) in 4x3 with the "FOX" logo in blue on the right side of the screen.

Must be...they do the same thing with Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond.

When I first got TNT in HD, I was psyched. They were showing Angel reruns (don't know if they still are) and I was looking forward to seeing the widescreen seasons in HD. Unfortunately, they showed 3x4 cropped versions... stretched! I don't think I've watched the channel much since.

They show Angel in the mornings. This morning I checked it out - a final season episode (the one where Connor returns for one episode) which was definitely 16x9 - but shown 3x4 s t r e t c h e d .

Looks like TNT HD is good for one show only - The Closer. And there's only one left this season...

There is asbolutely no excuse for this. How did they even end up with 3x4 versions?

Wow, I didn't think it could get much worse than how they were showing it on their standard-def channel -- I was wrong! Wow.

I'm kinda envious of those who get Universal-HD on their cable system ("Firefly" in HD starting in September); I sure hope they're more competent at this than TNT.

Universal-HD is excellent; always OAR, with uncut, commercial-free movies and all HD all the time.

Love that channel. Too bad it's only Universal/NBC properties they can show.

Explain Knight Rider in 16x9 then.

My local NBC affiliate (WDIV in Detroit) ran promos about running their newscast in widescreen on their digital channel. I thought that was cool until I actually saw it. they are simply squeezing the 4:3 signal to something not quite as wide as 16:9. It is very hard to watch, so I normally switch to the analog channel or a different newscast.

Regards,

Well, "Firefly" is Fox, but I'm assuming they have some kind of deal what with "Serenity" being Universal, and I assume they'll be showing that in HD at some point. It's already been shown in HD on Cinemax, and starts on HBO next week.

KXLY in Spokane, WA does the same thing for all their non-network, non-HD programming. It's absolutely dreadful.

TNT and the local affiliates probably do this for the same reason basic cable channels and local broadcasters resisted showing widescreen material letterboxed for so long - they get flooded with calls from people who have no idea what an aspect ratio is complaining that there's something wrong with the signal - or in TNT's case threatening to drop the HD service because "why should I pay for this crap and that big ol' HDTV the guy at SuckerCity sold me if it ain't gonna fill up my whole screen?"

What? You didn't think this was going to be a problem when HD went mainstream?

At a certain point stretching the picture for people who literally can't see the difference becomes the path of least resistance and I honestly don't blame people for taking it. Arguing with the ignorant all day can wear you out.

Regards,

Joe

Well, there are exceptions, I suppose.