[mythtv-users] OT: Aspect ratio broadcast rant

[Ian Evans]

On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 4:27 PM, Hika van den Hoven <hikavdh at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hoi Ian,
>
> Wednesday, February 17, 2016, 9:50:37 PM, you wrote:
>
> > I really wish some local stations wouldn't stretch 4:3 retro channels
> into
> > 16:9.
>
> > I know we can change the ratio with Myth when we watch, but that's like
> > dealing with
> > a car maker's faulty airbags by tying pillows to the steering wheel. We
> > shouldn't have
> > to do it.
>
> > Jimmy Stewart is tall and lanky not short and wide.
>
> Very probable it's your TV doing some wrong scaling or getting the
> wrong info as he sees it.
>

Actually. no it's not. Both the TV and Myth are set to accept the signal as
is.

Plus I've confirmed with the station that they've stretched the signal to
16:9 despite the fact the retro network is 4:3. There was a discussion
about this in the avsforum a while back. Seems some viewers complain when
their widescreen TVs have old pillarboxed content on them and the stations
stretch them. so that every darn pixel of the uneducated viewers' TVs is
used. So now a channel that has begun broadcasting classic variety series
and specials is turning Judy and Merv and Bing into squat, stubby,
extrawide people.

Yes, I can switch it back to 4:3 upon playback but that's an extra step to
explain to the mother-in-law. If it's something I'm keeping, I just use
ReStream in Windows to switch the aspect ratio flag in the mpeg2 file. But
as I said, I should have to do that. The station should be broadcasting the
signal that the station gives it.
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