Picture Morphing on W/S - What is a true, 'as broadcast', mode?

A

Andy Davis

Guest
Hi, newbie here, but I have spent many,many hours reading threads here........Thanks to all :thumbsup:

Please could I get some help with picture morphing on widescreen tv's. I have just come back from currys, and have tested every siingle w/s there with the screen modes.....and I really don't know where I am at....I mean, I don't know which TV gave the truest picture from the original signal :mad: ........I had the run of the place really, and after getting rid of the sales staff, I had every single telly tuned into bbc n24, and I tried to get an original signal broadcast........but they squezzed the faces, stretched them, lopped bits off them and so on.....get my drift.... I couldn't, in the end find a telly that showed the whole picture, because none of them told you it was a true representation etc....if thats the right phrase. some said 16:9....& were stretched, some squezzed, some lopped. on 4:£ mode , the same.........I am pulling my hair out as all i want to know is which TV's do actually show the original picture......Its a very basic question and I feel really thick for having to ask :suicide: .....I am a ws virgin and have been very happy with my sky letterbox mode on my not-ws telly......nothing morphed etc....just a smaller pic, why not w/s???? argghh ......thanks :)
 
I believe that the BBC channels transmit in 14:9, so to fill the (wide)screen you will either stretch or lop off the original picture. The alternative is to have the black bars at the side.

Hope that clarifies things....
 
The signal distribution around Currys was almost certainly RF (aerial socket), so no true widescreen signal was being supplied to the sets, hence your confusion.
With the signal applied to the scart sockets all would become clear, Wide for w/s, 4:3 for 'traditional' shape.
This means that no true w/s is available via analogue TV and you must have either Sky or Freeview to get it.
 
Thankyou for the replies...... :smashin: Although it was a new currys superstore I visited ( mertyr ) , the feeds were all coaxial. I think its a bit unhelpful of currys to demonstrate tvs like that!!!



......are there any TV's that have preferable screen size options?..........I expect there is a previous thread overing this?....I'll have a look
 
BBC News 24 is broadcast in 16x9, widescreen. It's only available on digital platforms.

However, it's quite feasible that Curry$ had their $ky (or Freeview) box set to 4x3 output - who knows?

Anyhow: Most modern TV as broadcast on the digital platforms is true widescreen. For this, I'd say you want a widescreen TV and a digital receiver set to 16x9.
 
Thks Nigel........I realised when I read you reply that It was NOT N24, but the BBC 1 6'o clock news, as I had to change through the other channels to get the tv's off curry$ promotional feed. I think you have assured me that a widescreen will show the original pic ( 50hz of course ) so long as the sky output is correct and the scart or composit connected and 16:9 is selected on the TV??............
Now all I have to do is choose one LOL.
 
Andy,

You've hit upon one of the reasons that some people don't like widescreen.

A common remark is "Widescreen makes everyone short and fat".

Well, it shouldn't!

As you've seen, getting a proper demo from a knowledgeable sales person is not straightforward.

The shape of the picture does take a little getting used to after watching a nearly square display all your life.

But watch a genuine widescreen broadcast on a properly adjusted widescreen TV for a few hours and you'll never look back!

Good luck. :smashin:
 
I would echo the above. I watched a widescreen TV and everyone looked fat and flat! No such problem with my TV(Sony HQ100) & freeview-when it's all setup up correctly the picture looks fine,in fact when i now go around to my mums house everyone looks thin and stretched!! lol..............
 
I can imagine there are many, many people who only get to see TV's in superstores, and I imagine some of them get put off widescreens by the way the stores demonstrate them.....I do know there are good stores too, which demonstrate the sets well, but there are none within 60 miles of me :( .

Without a forum like this, I might well have stayed with 4:3 & letterbox!!!, thanks again for the re-assurance.

I'm looking forward to seeing normal sized peeps a bit bigger than before :D
 
I get find that some programmes force the black bars on the side of the screen even when everything is set to 16:9 on freeview, for example CBeebies or some local news programmes. What I cannot figure out is, is this a fault on my 32ZP48 or is it normal
 
Londondecca: (Deram?) Some broadcasters do do this - pillarbox a 4x3 image into a 16x9 signal.
 
LV426 said:
Londondecca: (Deram?) Some broadcasters do do this - pillarbox a 4x3 image into a 16x9 signal.

Thanks. As long as it is normal. Interestingly when I switch to analogue I get a full screen.


Steven
 
Indeed. The analog broadcast is usually a centre cutout of the digital one.
 
I returned to another superstore, armed with my newly aquired knowledge!!!.....and managed to find that the Sky demonstration TV within the store was shown via a scart, though this was to an LG Plasma 32". 3 of the 20 or so display plasmas were connected to a dvd player via a scart but ariel feed for tv channels. All the CRT w/screens were ariel only..............Even though the store was deserted tthe sales staff wouldn't even consider hooking up a 32" crt to the sky feed......grrrr......they couldn't understand why the existing morphed pic was no good, and I had to explain to them what benefits a scart connection has ( with my limited knowledge LOL ) ..........I completely lost them with the RGB enabled scart socket. Why do they employ people without giving them any training on what they are selling.......they certainly train them to sell though, with pester power and sentances like 'thats a nice set'.....moan over.

The really good bit is I got to see a true widescreen broadcast on the sky demo plasma, the first time I've seen a true widescreen pic out of the cinema......You're all right, excellent true reproduction, and comparing them with all teh other morphed sets was amazing.

Thanks again for the help :)

Andy
 

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