How do letterboxed shows look on a WS set?... (1 Viewer)

[todd s]

I am looking to upgrade to a WS set. And was wondering how letterboxed shows such as E.R & Enterprise look on them? Do they still have the bars or do they fill the screen like a 16x9 movie??
Thanks!

 

[John_Berger]

They are shown in ~1.76:1 AR and therefore fill the screen.
http://www.widescreen.org/widescreen_tv_qa.shtml

 

[Jodee]

You just need to make sure you set up your widescreen TV to crop the top & bottom in order to get rid of the black bars and make sure it fills the screen.

Most widescreen TVs have several different "modes": such as Full which you use to watch anamorphic DVDs, or "normal" which is for 4:3 material (with gray bars on the sides). And then there is usually a few different "TheaterWide" type presentations which allow you to either stretch the picture to fill up the widescreen, or simply crop the top & bottom of the picture.

The top & bottom crop is ideal for letterboxed TV shows, non-anamorphic DVDs, or if you want to "matte" an open-matte DVD to try and replicate the OAR.

 

[Jodee]

Disregard double post.

 

[John Berggren]

I was dissapointed to find that HD NBC was still broadcasting ER in a square frame. At least with CBS, their HD programs go 16x9 native.

Perhaps it's my local affiliate though, I don't know yet.

 

[Richard Travale]

I was dissapointed to find that HD NBC was still broadcasting ER in a square frame

Really? That's crazy since they air it in widescreen on regular cable. I wonder why NBC would air it in 4:3 on their Hi-Def network?

 

[John Berggren]

On my HD NBC it appears in widescreen within a 4:3 frame, so in order to fill the 16x9 frame, I have to use one of my wide modes, which is nowhere near as pretty as native 16x9.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I think it's your local affiliate. I'm pretty sure that the local Time Warner hi-def cable broadcast of ER on WNBC is in true 16:9. (But it's been a while since I checked.)

M.

 

[Ken Chan]

The West Wing and ER were NOT in HD last season. Just widescreen, in upscaled standard def. (The difference is quite obvious. The only two shows on NBC that were HD were The Tonight Show and Crossing Jordan. Confusingly, they are shown 4:3 on the corresponding analog NTSC channel.) So without some sort of zoom, they were tunnel-boxed.

My local UPN affiliate is standard def digital (with really bad color levels), so Enterprise was even worse.

//Ken