Sky's lack of Widescreen

J

JueUK

Guest
Just got Sky Installed, being a bit of a movie fan, I got all the movie channels.

It annoys me that out the the 13 !!! Sky Movie channels only one of them is broadcast in Widescreen. And that doesn't start untill 6.00pm

Come on SKY are you stupid or something ? 90% of people who buy Sky now have widescreen TV's ?

Is it that a large percentage of widescreen buying public are totally unaware of the differences between SMART modes and real widescreen ???????????

Obviously not enough people complain about this otherwise Sky would do something about it.

At least give us 50/50. Cos lets face it 50% of TV's in our homes are now widescreen !!!!

The BBC have cottened on, most of their stuff is widescreen.

The thing that annoys me is that all the films they show where originally filmed in widescreen ! So leave them as they should be !

Cheers
 
$ky = overpriced garbage. I won't be subscribing at least until they

1: Use 16x9 format for all material available in this format (which includes most modern TV shows).

2: Show all movies in their OAR (acceptable to repeat them in a different format, but the emphasis should be on OAR presentation).

3: Cease voice-overs (or worse, video-overs) during the end titles of programmes and movies. If I WANT to know what's on next, I'll check the EPG!

4: Place commercial breaks in US TV shows, at the points in those shows which were DESIGNED for commercial breaks, and not elsewhere.

5: CEASE OVERLAYING THEIR PROGRAMMES WITH A LOGO

Unfortunately, I appear to be in a minority.
 
Originally posted by nigel
$ky = overpriced garbage. I won't be subscribing at least until they

1: Use 16x9 format for all material available in this format (which includes most modern TV shows).
2: Show all movies in their OAR (acceptable to repeat them in a different format, but the emphasis should be on OAR presentation).
3: Cease voice-overs (or worse, video-overs) during the end titles of programmes and movies. If I WANT to know what's on next, I'll check the EPG!
4: Place commercial breaks in US TV shows, at the points in those shows which were DESIGNED for commercial breaks, and not elsewhere.
5: CEASE OVERLAYING THEIR PROGRAMMES WITH A LOGO

Unfortunately, I appear to be in a minority.


You are not in a minority in your wishes:)
1) Agreed and if the reports are accurate then on or around Oct 17th should see a vast improvment.
2) Agreed again, see above.
3) Not going to happen.
4) Not going to happen, thank god who wants a commercial break every 5 minutes!
5) Not going to happen without industry wide support or regulatory intervention. Even the BBC uses them now !

Personally I an not going to deny myself the SKY service because of the above points, yes it was better in the early days when there were few logos and cheaper packages but things change for the better and alas the worse.
 
Originally posted by Starburst
You are not in a minority in your wishes:)
No, but I guess i AM in that I won't be paying them until they at least begin to address them
Originally posted by Starburst
4) Not going to happen, thank god who wants a commercial break every 5 minutes!
I didn't make it clear; I wasn't proposing that EVERY natural script break in a US show should have an ad break (ie more breaks than currently) - just that those that they DO have are placed in the places in the programmes that were designed for this purpose, and not elsewhere. They are currently more intrusive than they need to be because they interrupt the programme OTHER than at points designed for this purpose.
 
Originally posted by JueUK
Just got Sky Installed, being a bit of a movie fan, I got all the movie channels.
It annoys me that out the the 13 !!! Sky Movie channels only one of them is broadcast in Widescreen. And that doesn't start untill 6.00pm

I agree, the 1 (or 2/3, if you include PPV stuff - err, ok 1!) was pretty impressive a few years, but it looks a bit naff now :(

For movies, sky's answer up to now has been has been that most of their customer base has 4:3 TVs so the're catering for the masses. Also, they'd expect more of these people complaining about "black bars" with OAR films, and asking where the rest of the picture has gone! With the populous take-up of DVD, and the fall in the price of 16:9 displays, it's about time this was looked at, and hopefully in a few months it will be.

Originally posted by nigel
Unfortunately, I appear to be in a minority.

I have a different view on the points...

1. The "BBC show WS" quote is often used - BBC1 is one channel. However sky use multi satellite slots, and to please all people all the time the'd have to rent and physically get double the bandwidth for separate 16:9 and 4:3 transmissions of all their channels. They can't control what format other providers give - the box just picks up the signal!

2. This is covered by 1 - double bandwidth. May need separate sources for each film as well.

4. Have you seen US series transmissions?? They usually are splattered with adverts, about 1 minute in, every 10 minutes (like SB said) then at the end. Is that better?!

5. Nearly every sat channel provider does this - it's not unique to sky channels.

Hmm, point 3 I actually agree with, although it's not exactly earth shattering :rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by Xeonic


For movies, sky's answer up to now has been has been that most of their customer base has 4:3 TVs so the're catering for the masses. Also, they'd expect more of these people complaining about "black bars" with OAR films, and asking where the rest of the picture has gone! With the populous take-up of DVD, and the fall in the price of 16:9 displays, it's about time this was looked at, and hopefully in a few months it will be.



If boxes on 4:3 tellies are displaying centre-cutout then how will 4:3 viewers know that those with 16:9 sets are getting the full picture, in order to complain about it? It's not the same situation as the BBC showing 14:9 in a 4:3 frame on analogue while broadcasting 16:9 on digital, which leads to thin black bars top and bottom (how many complain about these anyway?).

The only problems would be: the DOG would either be invisible to the 4:3 cut-out viewers or within the 4:3 frame on a 16:9 set. the first a possible boon, the second surely acceptable for those wanting anamorphic content.

As far as Sky is concerned, there are many who would take out subscriptions the minute their WS policy was changed; I'm pretty sure that negligible numbers would cancel their existing subscriptions!!


The only conceivable argument against is that it could increase costs to upgrade equipment to carry AFDs to enable box aspect switching.

Stuart
 
Originally posted by Xeonic



1. The "BBC show WS" quote is often used - BBC1 is one channel. However sky use multi satellite slots, and to please all people all the time the'd have to rent and physically get double the bandwidth for separate 16:9 and 4:3 transmissions of all their channels. They can't control what format other providers give - the box just picks up the signal!

2. This is covered by 1 - double bandwidth. May need separate sources for each film as well.

Just not true. An 16:9 transmission takes up no more bandwidth than a 4:3 one (at the same compression settings). Remember it's anamorphically squeezed.

And you wouldn't need separate sources. You can watch an anamorphic DVD on a 4:3 TV, and provided you have your DVD player settings correct you will get a picture with the proper AR. You don't need two DVDs.

There's no excuse for Sky not transmitting widescreen material in anamorphic widescreen.
 
Originally posted by Xeonic
I have a different view on the points...

1. The "BBC show WS" quote is often used - BBC1 is one channel. However sky use multi satellite slots, and to please all people all the time the'd have to rent and physically get double the bandwidth for separate 16:9 and 4:3 transmissions of all their channels. They can't control what format other providers give - the box just picks up the signal!

2. This is covered by 1 - double bandwidth. May need separate sources for each film as well.

4. Have you seen US series transmissions?? They usually are splattered with adverts, about 1 minute in, every 10 minutes (like SB said) then at the end. Is that better?!

5. Nearly every sat channel provider does this - it's not unique to sky channels.
1: No need to broadcast anything twice. Those who have 4x3 TVs and/or prefer this ratio can set their box to output a full frame 4x3 picture from a 16x9 source. So, we'd ALL be happy.
2: My point was on EMPHASIS. Most movie channels already show movies several times. They should show more of these showings in OAR Pan & Scam showings should only be in reverse proportion to the numbers of people (including those who don't YET subscribe - like me) who prefer OAR over Pan & Scam.
4: Like I said - not MORE adverts - just properly positioned. I find it hugely annoying to watch a US TV show where the storyline draws to a scripted pause - the music fades, the picture fades to black; then fades back in again (often with a scripted recap on the last few seconds before the fade) and then, 30 seconds later, the storyline is abruptly stopped, mid-stream, for ads. The ad break should have been placed where the producer intended it. Once again - I don't advocate that EVERY scripted ad break should contain adverts - just that the ads we DO have should be placed where the programme maker intended.
5: Yes it is widespread. Far too widespread. Lots of wrongs don't make it right. Anyhow, my point was that I won't be subscribing to (ie voluntarily paying for) any broadcaster that does this. Period.

But, as I say, I appear to be in a minority. If I weren't, Sky would have either addressed these issues, or gone out of business by now.
 
Well I'm in no hurry for Sky - their DTTV channel was terrible, as were the UK channels.

I cancelled my Ondig sub just before they went bump. Because of logos and not W/S

We only watched Carlton Food and Discovery Wings out of the pay channels!
 
Originally posted by lechacal


Just not true. An 16:9 transmission takes up no more bandwidth than a 4:3 one (at the same compression settings). Remember it's anamorphically squeezed.

Yes, I can see how this could be done with one broadcast. I did say may require two sources. :blush:

I totally agree that the pan & scan presentations of programming deviating from its OAR is dire - as I said hopefully the rise of proper anamorphic DVDs will make more people realise that full screen does not necessarily mean full film.
 
Originally posted by Starburst



You are not in a minority in your wishes:)
1) Agreed and if the reports are accurate then on or around Oct 17th should see a vast improvment.

hoot hoot,

Please please be true.. When I spoke to Sky they said they had no plans to be bringing any extra widescreen content onto their now huge widescreen base.

Where exactly did you hear this info ?

Cheers m8
 
Sky is currently constructing a new wide screen facility, which all being well, should come on stream around October.

Changing from 4 by 3 to 16 by 9, is a big job and means new graphic packages as well as physical play back equipment.

Expect Sky One to be the first to change along with Sky News, with other Sky channels to follow.
 
It's about time they got there finger out . I have been sat here waiting far too long . I remember not too long ago when sky were talking about widescreen being the future and the bbc saying it would never take off and they wanted nothing to do with it .

How things changed . I can't wait till all chanels are widescreen and DD capable .After all most off the stuff that sky1 show is straight from the US and was recorded in widescreen and in DD for Us dtv.

All you tend to hear from em though is that more people still have 4:3 tvs and they don't want to upset people . With the way dtv works that is just crap . The only people they are upsetting is us lot . The only reson they have waited so long is to save having to spend on all the new hardware they need .

If they had sorted all this out when they first started with Dtv like the bbc did then there would not be a problem and we would all be able to see the full pic
 
Originally posted by JueUK


hoot hoot,

Please please be true.. When I spoke to Sky they said they had no plans to be bringing any extra widescreen content onto their now huge widescreen base.

Where exactly did you hear this info ?

Cheers m8


First I heard about it was reading it from an email reportedly from SKY confirming broadcast suite upgrades which would enable w/s broadcasting across all SKY channels, reports then appeared on a variety of satellite news sites. The lack of w/s wasn't 100% due to low subscriber numbers with the correct televisions it was because there wern't enough subscribers/canelling subscribers to make spending millions of pounds on upgrades.
 
Originally posted by squid

How things changed . I can't wait till all chanels are widescreen and DD capable .After all most off the stuff that sky1 show is straight from the US and was recorded in widescreen and in DD for Us dtv.


I emailed SKY last night enquiring about Odyssey 5, it's on SKY1 in October and has a native DD 5.1 soundtrack, crossing my fingers SKY1 uses it as well.
 
Here is the official statment from Sky

Dear Julian

Thank you for your e-mail about Widescreen.

Please allow me to explain that, at the present time, our extensive research
and careful monitoring of viewer feedback has indicated that the widescreen
viewer is still outnumbered 3:1. As a dedicated movies network we are always
sensitive to the varying demands of our viewers and should a time arise when
widescreen televisions outnumber the traditional 4x3 sets, then we would
expect to see a shift in the service priority toward more dedicated
widescreen channels.

Sky is constantly seeking ways to extend the widescreen service. However, at
the present time, we are restricted by the number of films made available to
us in this format from the distributors. Therefore, when more titles become
available in widescreen we will be seeking to extend the widescreen service
whenever possible.

Thank you for your interest in Sky.

Kind regards

Donald Mclean
Viewer Relations


I suggest more people email Sky and hopefully they may eventually do something about it...

The address to email is

[email protected]
 
It remains an undisputed fact though, that the widescreen viewer is inconvenienced/short changed by films shown only in 4:3, whereas the 4:3 viewer need not be inconvenienced at all by the broadcast of 16:9 films. Therefore the point about who outnumbers who becomes moot....


Stuart
 
Totally right.
And if BBC, ITV, Ch4 and Ch5 have managed to figure that out already, then why can't Sky?
 

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