4:3 x 16:9 in HD

[sidnee]

Whenever I switch to an HD channel showing a 4:3 picture, the picture shows as 4:3, i.e. black bars at each side.
This applies to all 16 HD channels on Virgin,esp Film4 and ch5.

Is this my fault, Virgin's fault or a blip that we have to put up with?

[BenMcr]

It's a blip we have to put with

HD wasn't designed for 4:3 pictures - it's a widescreen format

So any HD channel always shows a Widescreen picture. The simulcast channels that show 4:3 programmes insert black bars down the left and right to keep the broadcast picture the same size

The opposite to what normally happens to fit a film into a 16:9 frame

You'll find that it doesn't happen on 'pure' HD channels such as BBC HD - because they don't show 4:3 programmes

[Jameseh]

I wouldn't call it a fault at all. 4:3 pictures should be viewed at 4:3 and not the horrific stretched mess they usually are.

[Stephen]

Any HD channel showing 4:3 will be showing an upscaled SD programme and will always display in its native res. It willnever stretch it.

[sidnee]

My Sony TV, like the crt model before it has a function called 'smartscreen'.
This displays 4:3 as4:3, but stretches 10% of the picture edges out to fill the screen. So the bulk of the pic is correctly represented with only the side edges elongated. This makes for a perfectly acceptable picture.
Unfortunately this doesn't work with an HDMI input, only with SCART or freeview.
It shouldn't be beyond the capabilities of TV designers to incorporate this feature into the HD/4:3 fiasco!

[BenMcr]

When your TV stretches a 4:3 SD broadcast it can do so because it's the TV itself that's adding the black bars. The picture broadcast is smaller than the TV display

On HD, the black bars are part of the TV broadcast, so neither the TV or the HD box can stretch it - because quite rightly they would see it as losing picture.

The only way to stop this 'fiasco' is to stop showing 4:3 programmes on 'HD' channels in the first place.

In the meantime, you can solve it yourself by making use you've got your HD box set to 720 or 1080 Wide, then everytime you see it happening, just swap to the SD version of the channel and the HD will be able to stretch the picture to fit the 16:9 frame

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by sidnee

My Sony TV, like the crt model before it has a function called 'smartscreen'.
This displays 4:3 as4:3, but stretches 10% of the picture edges out to fill the screen. So the bulk of the pic is correctly represented with only the side edges elongated. This makes for a perfectly acceptable picture.
Unfortunately this doesn't work with an HDMI input, only with SCART or freeview.
It shouldn't be beyond the capabilities of TV designers to incorporate this feature into the HD/4:3 fiasco!

It's not a fiasco though. The programmes were filmed in the 4:3 ratio and that's the way they are meant to be viewed.