HDTV February 2009

[Mr. Joshua]

Okay I have a question about all TV going full HD in February 2009. Does this mean the end of 4:3 aspect ratio for all TV shows? Does this mean all TV shows will broadcast in 1080i? I don't think TV shows can do 1080p or can they?

I really want to see all shows in original aspect ratio and I really hate black bars on the sides. Widescreen bars are the bomb.....

[crackinhedz]

..I think you have it confused. TV broadcast is going all 'digital' in '09, not all 'HD'.

unless ive missed something?

[devils3023]

Feb 09 will be the end of all analog broadcast only. Just means that everything must be digital, but that doesn't mean HD.

[Leopold BUTTERS]

i can't wait until all tv shows go to a 16:9 format. I hate side bars.OH but the worst is a show that is in a 4:3 format but is in a widescreen format within the 4:3 so you get black bars all the way around! I hate that SO much! It's going to be a while though, but it will be awesome. and yes HD brodcasts can only do 1080i.

[BorrowedTime]

@ Leopold Butters

The mandate to go to all Digital Broadcasts is in the US only. I haven't heard or read anything indicating that the CRTC is going to be following this move, being a Canadian bureaucratic government agency I can see them dragging their heels on any similar movement here in Canada. The Feb. '09 DTV mandate doesn't affect us, as far as I can tell. Unless another more knowledgeable Canadian among us can correct me.

[Simplayer]

There's supposed to be a switch over for us in 2011 or so I believe.

In regards to affecting us; if you get OTA broadcasts from the States and don't have a ATSC tuner, you will be affected.

[Leopold BUTTERS]

Hmm not for another 3 years? That sucks. once it goes digital doesn't that mean the only way to get a signal is via HDMI? I do not really understand how it is going to work. All signals recieved by satalite will be Digital which means you need an HDMI cord going to your TV from your reciever? and what about cable?

[richteer]

Originally Posted by Leopold BUTTERS

Hmm not for another 3 years? That sucks. once it goes digital doesn't that mean the only way to get a signal is via HDMI? I do not really understand how it is going to work. All signals recieved by satalite will be Digital which means you need an HDMI cord going to your TV from your reciever? and what about cable?

No, it just means that after August 2011 you'll need a digital cable/sat box. The digital boxes have a choice of outputs, including HDMI. Check out Shaw's web site for more info.

[Leopold BUTTERS]

Originally Posted by richteer

No, it just means that after August 2011 you'll need a digital cable/sat box. The digital boxes have a choice of outputs, including HDMI. Check out Shaw's web site for more info.

ohhh okay. so you can still use analog cords as long as you have the digital box for cable or sat. hmm do you know if this also forces all tv shows to start filming in 16:9?

[Doobiewah]

Originally Posted by Leopold BUTTERS

ohhh okay. so you can still use analog cords as long as you have the digital box for cable or sat. hmm do you know if this also forces all tv shows to start filming in 16:9?

No.

[Leopold BUTTERS]

well that is a shame. I wonder how long until there is a move to that

[jibucha]

Some Thoughts

February 17, 2009 l Everything goes Digital, with Analog going away entirely nationwide, with the exceptions of some limited areas with exclusions, which will be quite limited. As already indicated by others, Digital Transmission does not mean High Definition, but even Standard Definition is quite remarkable when received Digital, so I doubt anyone will be disappointed with Standard Definition mixed in with High Definition. Certainly Blu-ray will have a considerable impact on this perspective, which I entirely understand, as I see 1080p coming to broadcast much quicker that broadcasters and others in the industry conclude.

It should be understood that 1080/24p, which is the quality of Blu-ray, is in the ATSC Standards; broadcasters have this capability available currently, although there are other factors to consider before this will occur.

Additionally, since last fall, several television shows are being captured Digitally in 1080p, which is quite noticeable already, when presented in 1080i or 720p.

1080i & 720p l Programming, at the option of the broadcaster, will be at whatever resolution they choose to use. Generally, TV Shows will be either 1080i or 720p, but anything goes at the option of the broadcasters, so 480i/p will be around as well, providing significantly lower picture quality, especially when a broadcaster employs the option of multicasting of multiple programs.

4:3 Aspect Ratios l Already, for some years now, all Prime Time Programming is High Definition, being 16:9. This already is the standard, as the National Networks are requiring this level of quality for when acquiring new series for broadcast.

Only Charmed has gone from 4:3, to 16:9, and then back to 4:3 after a few seasons, which I found quite concerning at the time, as it simply did not make any sense, other than the obvious business and financial of Hollywood; still confusing though when residuals are considered in a 16:9 World.

So; all new TV Shows are 16:9 already; only broadcast of older shows will be 4:3, and this will always be so as that is their original aspect ratio and should not be changed for any reason.

Black Bars l It needs to be understood that for the rest of time, that multiple aspect ratios will exist, representing the original aspect ratios of movies and TV Shows as they were originally filmed and shown. There are a few exceptions in this regard, as some TV Shows originally broadcast in 4:3 were filmed in 16:9 and recently released in 16:9 on DVD; I believe that Babylon 5 is one such TV Show, as well as Nash Bridges when it becomes available.

Regardless, if black bars are disturbing and unacceptable, your television is where you need to address this concern; not the content itself. You can override the proper presentation by fitting the image vertically or horizontally as you desire using the zoom control especially; just keep in mind that the video quality will suffer considerably whenever you change the aspect ratio in this manner, as well as an unnatural geometry of everything.

Please keep in mind that Hollywood, for the benefit of all in the industry and all of us as viewers, successfully fought to finally present programming on television as originally intended during production and theatrical presentation. This represents a remarkable advancement for the benefit of all presentation whether Broadcast Television or Optical Discs, especially DVD & Blu-ray.

As already mentioned; if you really do not wish to watch with Black Bars, simply use the stretch, zoom, or any other aspect ratio control option available on your television, to change to accommodate your desire to eliminate the bars. So; the emphasis should be on your purchase of a Television that allows complete control in this regard to allow you to change as you wish at anytime, rather than any concern of the presentation itself.

A last thought in this regard; seeing any programming, whether a Theatrical Presentation or Television Show, in it’s original aspect ratio, is of paramount importance. Seeing a presentation as originally composed visually, is without any consideration as I see it, agreeing entirely with Hollywood Producers, that their original vision is not corrupted, often entirely changing their original work terribly.

I highly recommend consideration of some self discipline, in getting used to original aspect ratios, never changing them for any reason; doing so, with time, will adjust itself for the benefit of enjoying the movie or television programming and the issue will go away, unless you continue to focus exclusively on the black bars rather than the image itself.

Impact of Blu-ray on Broadcast Television l It is my perspective that Blu-ray will push higher quality broadcasts, as direct comparison will be commonplace, as more begin using this remarkable format for optical discs, providing high quality reference quality. While most digital transfers currently are either 2K or 4K; just the other day, the release of A Star Is Born was announced, and is currently being transferred at 6K, representing a six month transfer project, which is a first to my knowledge; I intend to acquire it simply to see what a 6K transfer quality is like. This is just the beginning, 8K Digital Transfers are coming, which will be extremely high quality, leading the way someday to complete abandonment of current high quality.

Postage Stamp Presentation l This is the broadcast of a program that originally is 16:9, that is encoded in 4:3 for presentation in older 4:3 televisions for widescreen, then broadcast in 16:9 without re-encoding for 16:9 HDTV's, resulting in an extremely annoying presentation in broadcast of having black bars entirely surrounding a 16:9 image in the middle of the 16:9 display; extremely annoying and irresponsible.

It is my perception, that this is the result of either technical incompetence by the content provider when providing content for broadcast license, or the irresponsible behavior of the broadcaster to save on it’s content costs, buy using previously licensed content to save on paying for current content quality; either way, this is entirely irresponsible and annoying to anyone watching on High Quality High Definition Displays today; what are they thinking?

I do hope that this information is helpful.

[Joe Cain]

The FCC's info on the digital broadcast transition can be found here.

Todays is the date after which all TVs sold without ATSC (digital) tuners must be clearly marked as such at point-of-sale.

[mjm_hbk]

Do you have to buy that converter box?

I am using a cable box on our main television, but in our back room we have an older projection TV (the big clunky one) that is just hooked up with coax from the wall. Will this tv still work?

[zxvfrr41]

Originally Posted by mjm_hbk

Do you have to buy that converter box?

I am using a cable box on our main television, but in our back room we have an older projection TV (the big clunky one) that is just hooked up with coax from the wall. Will this tv still work?

Yes.

The vast majority of tv's will work. Think of tv's using rabbit ear antennas and you'll get an idea of what tv's won't work.

[richteer]

Originally Posted by mjm_hbk

Do you have to buy that converter box?

I am using a cable box on our main television, but in our back room we have an older projection TV (the big clunky one) that is just hooked up with coax from the wall. Will this tv still work?

Not without a digital tuner of some sort.

[JasonR]

Originally Posted by richteer

Not without a digital tuner of some sort.

False

http://www.getreadyfordigitaltv.com/home.htm

I am a cable TV customer?

If you are a cable customer, you may have to do little or nothing to enjoy your favorite programming after the switch to digital TV (DTV). Your cable provider will take care of the transition for you!
That's because your cable company already has technology in place to handle DTV. It does this by capturing these digital signals and sending them to your home through the same cable connection that delivers popular national channels like ESPN, CNN, HBO and hundreds of others. As long as your TV sets are connected to cable, they'll display local DTV stations, along with the many other stations cable has to offer.
And, if you've signed up for Digital Cable, you're already enjoying all the benefits of digital TV, including more channel choices, and better quality picture and sound. And even better, if you have a high-definition TV (HDTV), you can ask to be connected to Digital Cable with HDTV. You'll get lots of national and local channels in crystal-clear, high-definition resolution.
Of course any secondary analog television sets you have that are not connected to cable will not receive the new DTV signal. You can call your cable company to connect those televisions to cable, or see "What to do if... I have an analog TV connected to an antenna," below.

[ajc68]

Originally Posted by mjm_hbk

Do you have to buy that converter box?

I am using a cable box on our main television, but in our back room we have an older projection TV (the big clunky one) that is just hooked up with coax from the wall. Will this tv still work?

If you have your cable plugged directly into your TV, you may be ok for now. Most cable companies are going to continue to provide an analog signal for up to three years. Verizon FIOS will be going digital right away, so you'll need to get a cable box or adapter from them.

[wallendo]

Originally Posted by mjm_hbk

Do you have to buy that converter box?

I am using a cable box on our main television, but in our back room we have an older projection TV (the big clunky one) that is just hooked up with coax from the wall. Will this tv still work?

It will still work as long as your cable company supplies an analog signal. The digital mandate does not apply to cable companies. Eventually, cable companies will go all digital (analog signals eat up a lot of the spectrum) and you will need to get a cable box. I suspect that cable boxes (and satellite boxes) will support composite output for a long time.

Sorry, apparently three people answered this question while I was composing my response.

[Chevypower]

What shows other than The Apprentice are still filmed with 4:3 cameras?
There can't be too many.