F1 races on SpeedHD not in 16:9 (but they are in D* and cable) WHY?

[BuddyBoy]

How could the OP be getting 4x3 F1 on SpeedHD? Only way I can think of is by pressing the format button ("*") until it was on "Gray Bar", where the receiver would be painting gray bars over the active 16x9 picture. All the other settings (normal, partial zoom, zoom IIRC) should fill the screen.

I'm pretty sure I have some F1 on my DVR, I'll post some captures this evening if they're still on the hard drive.

 

[BuddyBoy]

Searched for this topic in this and the Speed boards, didn't find anything. It seems while Direct and cable SpeedHD subscribers get Formula One races in 16:9 (the feed from Europe is not true HD but certainly better than 4:3) Dish reformats it and broadcasts it in 4:3 on both Speed and SpeedHD. Can anyone explain why this is?

The obvious explanation: Viewer error.

Monaco GP as seen on Dish/SpeedHD:

Sure looks like 16x9 to me.

 

[DishSubLA]

Well, much of Europe has had widescreen TV for years, but NOT HD. So, while one can view a program originating in Europe in the 16x9 format, it is NOT necessarily HD. I think this is probably the root of the matter. It might actually look better at 4X3 since it could be in SD. Just because content is shot in widescreen doesn't mean that it is HD. For once, the US is actually ahead of many other countries when it comes to HD implementation: on satellite for years, but still ahead regarding OTA implementation.

 

[DodgerKing]

The obvious explanation: Viewer error.

Monaco GP as seen on Dish/SpeedHD:

Sure looks like 16x9 to me.

It sure looks like stretch-o-vision to me. Look at the edges of the picture and notice that the buildings are stretched and blurry. This is a stretched 4:3 image, and obviously so.

Perhaps your box is set to stretch or you are watching the SD channel on stretch (that is not the Speed HD logo either)?

 

[EvilEuro]

I believe that the world feed that Speed HD uses for their HD broadcasts is an upconverted 576i feed that is widescreen, but not HD. At least that's what I've always been lead to believe.

Widescreen, yes.

HD resolution? No.

Better than a standard 4x3 broadcast? Definitely.

 

[ripnbigc]

Look at the quality of the picture. I watched several seasons of F1 on Speed SD, and the picture was always lousy. That picture is very sharp. I've watched several F1 races on Speed HD, and while they are not HD, it is wide screen, and not stretched.

 

[scottcorinna]

It sure looks like stretch-o-vision to me. Look at the edges of the picture and notice that the buildings are stretched and blurry. This is a stretched 4:3 image, and obviously so.

Perhaps your box is set to stretch or you are watching the SD channel on stretch (that is not the Speed HD logo either)?

That's called a wide angled lens. Notice the graphics that are built for 4x3 viewing. If it was stretch-o-vision the graphics would be stretched to the edge of the frame.

 

[kvnfl]

I had a similar problem with one of my channels. make sure that the DVR is recording the SPEED HD channel and NOT the SPEED channel. I think sometimes it gets confused and picks the SD version of the channel when it starts recording. Check you DVR recording schedule and make sure that it's picking SPEED HD.

Hope this helps.

Is that really you Zorro. I miss JPM in F1. You are on to something. My DVR recorded a bunch of events in SD rather than HD even though "HD Preference" was selected in the Timer. As a work around I painstakingly repeated all Timers in my guide on the HD channel. Lined them up, HD on top of SD in the Priotiy list. Then deleted all the SD Timers. And just to make sure the DVR made no mistake, went in to Channel Locks and Blocked all SD channels with HD mirrors, plus Blocked all duplicate HD channels (9xxx, 5xxx,...).

 

[DodgerKing]

That's called a wide angled lens. Notice the graphics that are built for 4x3 viewing. If it was stretch-o-vision the graphics would be stretched to the edge of the frame.

Not when they use "smart stretch" in which only the edges are stretched.

 

[BuddyBoy]

It sure looks like stretch-o-vision to me. Look at the edges of the picture and notice that the buildings are stretched and blurry. This is a stretched 4:3 image, and obviously so.

Perhaps your box is set to stretch or you are watching the SD channel on stretch (that is not the Speed HD logo either)?

You're WRONG. Anyone who has seen F1 on SpeedHD knows that it is not stretched. Since you don't know this, you obviously haven't seen it, and should consider shutting the hell up about topics you know nothing about. When I captured the transport stream off my receiver, it wouldn't have been 720p IF I WASN'T VIEWING SPEEDHD.

The F1 world feed, which is what SpeedHD shows, is upconverted widescreen 576i. There is no stretching. The on-screen graphics are intentionally positioned inside a 4x3 box centered in the 16x9 picture, so that when they clip the edges off for 4x3 display, all of the graphics remain viewable.

 

[DodgerKing]

You're WRONG. Anyone who has seen F1 on SpeedHD knows that it is not stretched. Since you don't know this, you obviously haven't seen it, and should consider shutting the hell up about topics you know nothing about. When I captured the transport stream off my receiver, it wouldn't have been 720p IF I WASN'T VIEWING SPEEDHD.

The F1 world feed, which is what SpeedHD shows, is upconverted widescreen 576i. There is no stretching. The on-screen graphics are intentionally positioned inside a 4x3 box centered in the 16x9 picture, so that when they clip the edges off for 4x3 display, all of the graphics remain viewable.

Relax dude.

That picture you posted is obviously stretched, be it from a wide angle lens in that particular shot, the particular programming, or the way you have your receiver or TV set. It is obvious the image is distorted.

Instead of telling me to shut the hell up, why don't you try posting a better image which is in true 16:9, with no distortions and with the Speed HD logo?

 

[BuddyBoy]

That picture you posted is obviously stretched, be it from a wide angle lens in that particular shot, the particular programming, or the way you have your receiver or TV set. It is obvious the image is distorted.

What part of "captured the transport stream off my receiver" do you not understand??? No setting on my TV or receiver would change the transport stream received from Dish. Did you think my TV had a magic connection back up to the satellite, and back to Dish's uplink so pressing a button on my remote changed the digital data being sent from Dish?

Instead of telling me to shut the hell up, why don't you try posting a better image which is in true 16:9, with no distortions and with the Speed HD logo?

I chose that frame for its aesthetics, not because I thought it would be necessary to demonstrate to some uninformed dumb*ss that the widescreen F1 on Dish was not stretch-o-vision.

Note that left side tires on Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, which are near the right edge of the frame, are the same width as the right side tires. No stretching at the edge of the screen.

Note that white circles on street sign on the right edge are circles, not ovals. Also, the mirror on the pole is circular too, not ovoid. No stretching.

Note that width of character glyphs in the ticker are constant from the edge of the frame to the center. No stretching. Are you starting to get it?

Finally, I don't know why you think SpeedHD programming has a SpeedHD logo. Here is a show that is actually produced in HD, and it doesn't have a SpeedHD logo. And again, I am capturing the transport stream - no setting on the TV or receiver affects the transport stream. This is a pure digital capture of the compressed H.264 video as sent by Dish. It's not decompressed and rendered until I play it on my PC for frame capture.

 

[kvnfl]

Buddy Boy, the corner you captured in you original post has looked distorted for as long as I can remember, even in SD 4:3. If you had to watch an entire weekend of Monaco from just that camera you would either be hypnotized or go insane. It is an optical illusion. As for the captures above, the first looks way out of proportion, unless you know the proportions of this years cars that makes them look more like vacuum cleaners than proper race cars.

 

[DodgerKing]

Why are you getting so defensive?

Your original picture had a simple distorted image in which you simply stated that it had to be viewer error and it looked 16:9 to you. I simply pointed out that it was a distorted image therefor it was not obvious it was 16:9. No where in that post did you mention screen capture or anything else. You just relied on one distorted image to make a point. Instead of getting defensive, perhaps you should have been more clear in your first post and posted a better image (such as you did this time).

 

[BuddyBoy]

Buddy Boy, the corner you captured in you original post has looked distorted for as long as I can remember, even in SD 4:3. If you had to watch an entire weekend of Monaco from just that camera you would either be hypnotized or go insane. It is an optical illusion. As for the captures above, the first looks way out of proportion, unless you know the proportions of this years cars that makes them look more like vacuum cleaners than proper race cars.

Apparently you don't understand what stretch-o-vision is. Stretch-o-vision is a non-linear stretch. A linear stretch only in the horizontal direction would not be stretch-o-vision. Those three images I posted do not show any non-linear stretching at all. If the cars look out of proportion, that is not stretch-o-vision unless one side of the car has different proportions than the other - right tire wider than left tire for example.

 

[BuddyBoy]

Why are you getting so defensive?

I'm not getting defensive, I'm irritated that someone who has never seen the channel repeatedly posts misinformation, causing me to have to spend a bunch of time proving you are wrong in order to put a stop to the spread of your misinformation. You people who don't know what you're writing about and post misinformation - you're helping no one, and just making an annoyance of yourself. I don't know what motivates you to post when you have nothing to contribute - you clearly have never watched F1 on SpeedHD. Why are you even posting in this thread?

 

[DodgerKing]

I'm not getting defensive, I'm irritated that someone who has never seen the channel repeatedly posts misinformation, causing me to have to spend a bunch of time proving you are wrong in order to put a stop to the spread of your misinformation. You people who don't know what you're writing about and post misinformation - you're helping no one, and just making an annoyance of yourself. I don't know what motivates you to post when you have nothing to contribute - you clearly have never watched F1 on SpeedHD. Why are you even posting in this thread?

This sound pretty defensive to me.

First, I have seen the channel.

Second, there was nothing to prove wrong. I was simply pointing out that the image you posted was not obviously 16:9 as the edges were distorted.

 

[scottcorinna]

Response from SPEED TV

Here's the response I received from SPEED TVs Programming Dept. concerning 16x9.

"The world feed is provided to SPEED in standard definition 16x9 format.
Our engineers upconvert the signal to "near HD" for telecast."

Now, near HD quality is debatable but 16x9 isn't.

 

[kvnfl]

Apparently you don't understand what stretch-o-vision is. Stretch-o-vision is a non-linear stretch. A linear stretch only in the horizontal direction would not be stretch-o-vision. Those three images I posted do not show any non-linear stretching at all. If the cars look out of proportion, that is not stretch-o-vision unless one side of the car has different proportions than the other - right tire wider than left tire for example.

Psst, I was agreeing with you. The cars just look funny this year and that turn, Casino, has always provided an optical illusion that tricks your brain to see it as distorted, even though it is not.

 

[gbjbany]

Thanks for the responses! One question: can you folks that get F1 in 16:9 (which seems like everyone but me and maybe two other chaps) please tell me if the program description says 'HD' at the end? I know it's not really HD but many shows that are not really HD but appear on HD channels are stretched or cropped or whatever and the description still says 'HD'? Reason I ask is that I get the 'HD' in the description on Speed's NASCAR, ALMS and other series but not for F1 practice or qualy or races. Thanks again.

I am pretty sure the answer to your question is Yes, the dvr entry has an HD on it.

So i suspect somehow you are recording the sd version of the channel as someone else suggested, I did have this for a while too, until i re-entered the event into the timers.