[mythtv-users] Thanks!

Nick knowledgejunkie at gmail.com
Fri Feb 17 23:53:58 UTC 2006


On 17/02/06, Matthew Geier <matthew at sleeper.apana.org.au> wrote:
> Nick wrote:
> > On 16/02/06, Phill Edwards <philledwards at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >>>If you've ever seen a HDTV transcoded to MPEG-4 compared to an SDTV
> >>>recording, you'd know.  The quality of the source material results in a
> >>>much higher quality end result, plus, normally it is widescreen which
> >>>can also make a difference for people who enjoy 16:9 screens
> >>
> >>Fair enough.
> >>
> >>BTW - SDTV is also 16:9. Well, here in Australia it is anyway.
> >
> >
> > Same here in the UK. Clean MPEG2 widescreen goodness (alas no HD yet)
>
>   Do the UK broadcasters do stupid things like ours ?. Show P&S 4:3 cut
> movies 'pillarboxed' 'cause they can't be bothered getting a WS source
> (presumably they had the P&S 4:3 in their own archives), or the best
> one, showing TV adds that were shot in 16:9, 4:3 letterboxed, then 16:9
> pillarboxed. You get the advert shown with a black border all the way
> around... :-)

The BBC when showing 4:3 movies pillarbox them and send the signal out
as 16:9 which is very annoying. Channel Five, who enjoy showing movies
every night, appear to have amassed the largest collection of 4:3
transfer known to man, even of newer films, for which there is no
excuse. The other night, ITV broadcast the second half of The Larry
Sanders Show in 16:9 having forgotton to set the AR back to 4:3 after
the ad-break (I just used ProjectX to write the stream as 4:3
afterwards as I'm recording the show.)

The double pillarboxing happens occasionally, typically when a channel
broadcasting in widescreen is showing a show that was recorded in 4:3,
but which contains 16:9 material. Some cable channels frustratingly
show US shows in 4:3 P&S when I know they were shot in WS - after
having a WS TV for 5 years, it's annoying when the broadcasters still
insist on  using 4:3 when the content is available in WS.

The big gripe I have with UK broadcasters is putting their onscreen
logos top left, typically with no transparency at all. This is one
area where US broadcasters seem to have it more thought out placing
the logo bottom right and with transparency. It's not as if I can't
tell from the adverts they insist on showing during the closing
credits and then again in the breaks that follow  who they are ... Now
they're advertising shows (ITV channels) coming up next in the last
few minutes of a broadcast, which completely ruins the atmosphere of a
show. The DVB EPG has now/next built in as a feature.

Larry Sanders accurately sums up these channels' worst fears - "No flipping" ...

Nick


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list