the newest digital channel in philly shows all programming cropped (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

well one of the 2 new digital channels philly WB 17 is showing all programming in 14x9 ratio. this crops off the top and bottom and leaves small, thin bars on the sides.
in this ...
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0&pagenumber=1
thread over at the avs forum the programming engineer has stated that he believes that this is the best way to show 4x3 programming as more people would prefer this to the larger black bars on the sides.
here are contact info for the channel...
For those that may be interested:
E-Mail:
[email protected]
or
Philadelphia's WB17
5001 Wynnefield Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19131
215.878.1700
CENTRAL CONTACTS
Administration and Programming:
Leslie Glenn - VP & General Manager
Human Resources and Community Affairs:
Rachael Amara - Director of Human Resources
and Community Affairs
Creative Services/Promotion:
Wendy Kaiser - Creative Services Director
News:
Chuck Carter - News Director
Sales:
Patrick Loftus - General Sales Manager
Engineering:
Gunnar Rieger - Director of Engineering
Public Relations/Publicity/Events/Website:
Jesse Cute - Public Relations Manager
my concern is that since this cropping on tv has already begun with HBO-HD we will start to get more channels going along with this idea.
help me stop this channel before it's too late.
if you watch in the philly area you know what i am taLKING about on this.
Gunnar Rieger - Director of Engineering is the person posting in the other forum and is saying he believs people will prefer this ratio to the lagerger black bars.
i urge anyone who has time to write a nice letter that is not insulting in anyway to the man and the station insisting on origional or if you wwill natural aspect ratio on this channel.
thanks for listening

 

[TonyD]

well in case anyone cares. i just got a note from gunnar this afternnon.

Tony,
No problem, it's all a work in progress. You've got an investment in your equipment, and we're trying to give you the best product we can under the circumstances.

We're trying the 4:3 format as of this morning to see what kind of response we get. Let me know what you think.

-Gunnar

there is still hope.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Taking 4:3 SD and upconverting it with zoom and crop is idiotic.

If the original source is SDTV, just broadcast it in 480p and let the users decide how to control their image. Then switch to 1080i/720p when you have real HD programming.

It's damned simple. But the truth is, overall HD is never going to help OAR.

 

[TonyD]

Taking 4:3 SD and upconverting it with zoom and crop is idiotic.
If the original source is SDTV, just broadcast it in 480p and let the users decide how to control their image. Then switch to 1080i/720p when you have real HD programming.

i completely agree but if you had a chance to glance that thread i lnked, especially on the last 2 pages you'll find people saying they prefer the 14x9 cropped up image.

 

[TonyD]

well channel 17 has now gone to regular 4x3 framing for all non hd programming.
in case anyone cares.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Sweet for 17 to listen
I guess they realized that people who want to chop&crop have a button on their remote to do it themselves

 

[Bill Slack]

Actually, most of us don't. The most common box, I would guess, is the E86 and it doesn't output 480p (it upconverts to 1080i) and most TVs have no aspect ratio control in HD mode.

So, I much prefer 4x3 window-boxed, myself.