Wrong aspect ratio on some channels

[nightwingken]

This is not a Dish problem. The receiver can only show you what it is getting.
I donl;t understand what it is you want? Do you want full screen or letterbox or what?.
With all do respect it looks like you are being a bit high maintenence. Please keep in mind that with the new technology, nothing will be perfect. Perfect is an unreasonable expectation.
I would imagine that as technology in equipment at the broadcast site, the satellite equipment and tv's will advance along far enough to eliminate any annoyances however small. Until then some people will be unhappy.
In my experience there are shows on local chs that are in full blown up screen, while others are shown as they are shot and the screen is not full. It is what it is.
In conclusion, I do not see how it is you are "screwed".

I want to be able to see the shows as they are created. if it is in widescreen, then i want to see it in either widescreen/letterbox.

if Superboy throws some one through a wall, i want to see it.

blowing up and distorting a picture is wrong. The folks at NBC New York were not thrilled that their affliliate was showing their product in a way it was not meant to be seen. I am not High maintenence, believe me, but you can actually see them toggle the switch when they want to broadcast a Lottery number they go back to the correct aspect ratio/widescreen so it can be seen...then they blip it right back.

 

[probinson]

Nicely done!
Probably gets every bit as good a recpetion as the 8 bay antenna that retails for probably thrice what you spent.

Yep.

You should have seen my wife's face when I was building it! Who would think a bunch of tinfoil covered pieces of cardboard would actually work? She changed her tune once I hooked it up and she saw that she could watch all of her favorite shows in HD...

My original plan was to build the antenna to see if it would work at all in my attic, since I have a slate roof, and then buy a similar antenna. But it ended up working so well, that I decided I didn't need to spend the $90! I just propped it up in front of the attic window, and now I can get everything OTA in HD.

 

[probinson]

I want to be able to see the shows as they are created. if it is in widescreen, then i want to see it in either widescreen/letterbox.

if Superboy throws some one through a wall, i want to see it.

blowing up and distorting a picture is wrong. The folks at NBC New York were not thrilled that their affliliate was showing their product in a way it was not meant to be seen. I am not High maintenence, believe me, but you can actually see them toggle the switch when they want to broadcast a Lottery number they go back to the correct aspect ratio/widescreen so it can be seen...then they blip it right back.

WFMJ still lacks the ability to overlay the HD feed, so when they show weather alerts, school closings, or lottery numbers, they have to kill the HD feed. They're the only Youngstown channel that can't overlay the HD feed.

Unfortunately, I think most of the major networks have made the decision to center-cut their broadcasts, and I don't think there's much you can do about it. It irritates me too, because the stupid network bug that I loathe is now in the 4:3 safe area of my 16:9 screen. What REALLY annoys me is when they letterbox the picture AND put the bug in the 4:3 safe area...

But anyway, I'm not sure there's anything you can really do about it, since they've decided to go with center-cutting vs. letterboxing.

 

[MrDogDad]

For every viewer who complains about the picture being center-cut, two or more will complain about letterboxing. Most people still have 4:3 screens and are used to their screen being filled.

 

[nightwingken]

probinson & MrDogDad, thank you both for replying

i am stunned that none of the folks seem to know what i going on (at the station and DN)

just to throw this question out there, but when the HD conversion happens, do you think this prob with disapear?

 

[MrDogDad]

probinson & MrDogDad, thank you both for replying

i am stunned that none of the folks seem to know what i going on (at the station and DN)

just to throw this question out there, but when the HD conversion happens, do you think this prob with disapear?

Actually, I think it will get worse. When there is no more analog, the HD programs will be fed to cable companies and satellite operators in 16:9. They will probably center cut the image to fit their SD feeds. People with OTA converter boxes will be able to select which format they want, but if you have an SD feed from satellite or cable you can only watch what they send.

 

[glen242]

probinson & MrDogDad, thank you both for replying

i am stunned that none of the folks seem to know what i going on (at the station and DN)

just to throw this question out there, but when the HD conversion happens, do you think this prob with disapear?

There is NO HD conversion planned. Only analog to digital. HD is NOT the same as digital!!

 

[probinson]

Actually, I think it will get worse. When there is no more analog, the HD programs will be fed to cable companies and satellite operators in 16:9. They will probably center cut the image to fit their SD feeds. People with OTA converter boxes will be able to select which format they want, but if you have an SD feed from satellite or cable you can only watch what they send.

Yep. Obviously, the networks are planning on having everything center cut for the foreseeable future. That's why they've moved the bug into the 4:3 area.

I think it's going to get much worse, with everyone center-cutting. Probably the only way around it is to get a 16:9 TV and subscribe to HD service.

 

[whatchel1]

Nets are telling stations to do it

The Automatic Format Decscriptor is something that the national nets are telling there affiliates to do. NBC send out papers to tell the stations that it should be done and all the providers that want it done. So things won't change with this after the OTA digital conversion.

 

[KKlare]

Aspect ratio is a problem that will always be with us, I guess. Movies at 1.85 fit rather well on 16:9=1.78 but what do you do with movies at 2.35 even with a 16:9 set, they will be cropped or letterboxed. Then again you can go back to some early movies with 1:1 and they look really wrong on a 16:9 screen, just not as bad for the more customary 4:3 ones.

It is a pity that those with 4:3 sets typically have no control at all to adjust the presentation. I know I got a annoyed with our PBS station sending a postage stamp (black wings H and V) on the HD subchannel. Bad enough that I have to zoom and get a degraded image but the storage of MPEG-2 makes it take the same space (MB) whether it is full or postage. I see some old films inside a program showing recorded today being blown up 4:3 and then cropped top and bottom to "fit" 16:9, losing their captions--so it looks like nobody can win.

-Ken

 

[nightwingken]

There is NO HD conversion planned. Only analog to digital. HD is NOT the same as digital!!

thanks for catching that one, sometimes this all gets so confusing.

 

[nightwingken]

thanks for all the excellent responses

I never knew you could have your reciever "add" stations if you have an anntenna.
Is there something you have to do, and it will show up in your guide?

and here is another, since i am getting the stations off of cable, can i hook the cable up to my dish reciever and get it to pop those channels in the guide?

 

[KKlare]

No to cable channels in guide except what is over the air (LIL local into local) or on Dish (basic and premiums) but with different numbers.
Cable has analog and QAM but Dish accepts only ATSC only on the antenna input, Dish HD assumed.
-Ken