Why is 90% of Sky TV broadcast in 4:3 !!!!

Jeb

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Why are Sky stuck in the dark ages?
Why do they broadcast virtualy nothing in 16:9
11 of the 12 Sky movie channels
58 of the 60 Sky Box Office channels
Sky One
Sky News
Sky Sport (apart from Football)
All the music channels
All the UK this that and the other Channels
Discovery you name it theve got it channels
And (not that I ever watch them) the shopping channels

ARE ALL BROADCAST IN 4:3

I'm sick of watching short fat people my 42" 16:9 Plasma.

When are Sky and all the other Digi Satellite broadcasters going to get with it and follow the lead of the BBC!

I phoned Sky yesterday to ask them this very same question, after holding for what seemed like eternity, I got a very helpful call centre girl who didnt know what the hell I was talking about. After spending 15 trying to educate her on the difference between 16:9 & 4:3 we seemed to be making progress, I then inadvisably threw in 2.35:1 which was definetly too much info and she put me back on hold and never came back again.

Anyway I feel a lot better now I have got that off my chest.

If anyone has any useful info that may prevent me cancelling my £50 per month Sky plus subscription then please reply.

Better still if anyone knows Mr Murdoch personally then please send him a copy.

Jeb
Much better now :D
 
Welcome to the club Jeb im in the same boat as you.

Upgraded my tv to a nice 32inch Sony Widescreen and everything bar 2 or 3 channels is in 4:3 format. Would it really be too much for sky to make SKY 1, SKY News and a couple of movie channels widescreen?

Have a look at my old 'Widescreen SKY' post a few months back. There was a general belief that it would happen soon but Im starting to doubt that now. Maybe in 2005:confused:
 
As I posted earlier, just cancelled my sky premier movies for that very same reason. Even entertained ideas about getting sky+ just to get 5.1!! Not shelling out shed loads to watch a tiny minority of films in proper widescreen with 5.1 is about the only sensible decision i;ve ever made when it comes to home cinema!

When I cancelled the sky movies and was asked the reason, I tried to explain, as you did, to the dim scottish robot on the end of the line, but i could tell she didn't understand a word i was saying.

I agree, it's very cathartic to vent your spleen on sky once in a while. You feel much better, until you get the next statement!
 
Originally posted by Jeb

Anyway I feel a lot better now I have got that off my chest.

If anyone has any useful info that may prevent me cancelling my £50 per month Sky plus subscription then please reply.

Better still if anyone knows Mr Murdoch personally then please send him a copy.

Jeb
Much better now :D



It is probably all done to money.
SKY as an entity has to justify every penny spent on their service so broadcast suites and playout hardware won't be upgraded unless it makes sound financial sense.
This is I believe why SKY branded channels apart from a few are still "in the dark ages" widescreen wise, they are unable technically to do it unlike the BBC who take pride in their technical abilities of their organisation(But still joined in on the red dot and channel ident band wagon).
The same goes for the independent channels that broadcast under the SKY D banner and probably have even less money to spend on new hardware when it won't generate any extra income.
 
It's just the same on cable, even the cable only movie channels almost always show the 4:3 versions. That must be why I still haven't got a widescreen TV or projector.
 
I got a very helpful call centre girl who didnt know what the hell I was talking about. After spending 15 trying to educate her on the difference between 16:9 & 4:3 we seemed to be making progress

Heroic optimism, but words like 'peeing' and 'wind' leap to mind. May as well try and explain it to your cat.

The engineers at Sky know what it's all about but they're just dragging their heels. I think they're waiting for a backhander from the TV manufacturers before they'll go for it.
 
My cat understands it perfectly, get very excited during 'Life of Mammals', brisles at sabre-tooths in 'walking with beasts', she knows if theyre the right shape or not!
 
I'm with you guys on this.

There was a lot fuss made in October about the reportedly 'iminent' switch over to W/S on Sky One and Sky News. Oct 16th was quoted as the 'official' date for the changeover. Of course this date came and went. So did all the other predicted dates. Basically a load of 'old tosh.'

Personally, I don't give a monkey's about Sky News, as I never watch it anyway (prefer the more professional approach of News 24, which is also in W/S :D ). But it really p*sses me off when they transmit US sci-fi/action shows as 4:3 pan-and-scan, when you know that they were filmed in full 16:9. I've recently been re-watching Enterprise on C4 in the proper anamorphic 16:9, and it's an altogether more enjoyable affair. Same for other shows such as Buffy (BBC2).

As far as films are concerned, they are just taking the mickey, charging you X amount per month for 4:3 with at best Dolby Surround sound.:mad: I'm seriously considering cancelling Premier and going back to renting DVDs!
 
I agree completely AV Junky,

Enterprise, buffy etc on sky1 are total pants in 4:3 with logo's plastered all over the top of the screen. To think they make us pay through the nose for this as well!!

Its an altogether more enjoyable affair on bbc2\ch4 though, thats what I bought the widescreen tv for.

I think it will be at least a year though before we get any widescreen, SKY are in no hurry at all.

In the meantime i'm sure theyll keep burying us under a mountain of interactive crap which no one wants....
 
Originally posted by Jeb
Why is 90% of Sky TV broadcast in 4:3 !!!!
I think there is a really simple answer. Could it be because they are a load of cr*p? They don't get any of my money. Nor are they likely to.
 
The simple answer is down to economics.

For a whole variety of reasons, it's more expensive to output widescreen material and when you have a huge pile of 4:3 based kit, you need to justify dumping it.

The BBC I'm delighted to say, has a different economic base from Sky and has embraced widescreen as 'a good thing'.

Incidentally, it has upset more than a few of its regular 4:3 types by doing so!

Channel 4 were transmitting WS years ago in PALplus, but few people could see it properly.

ITV and five have been recent and reluctant converts...

So it will come to Sky - it's behind schedule - but it's happening behind the scenes as we speak.

It's completely unreasonable to slag off call centre staff about aspect ratios - how many people anywhere would know about 2:35.1 screens - and she may have been a robot, but being Scottish is not really her fault!

Even if you could wave a magic wand and convert Sky facilities overnight, much of the programme library material is in 4:3 anyway and will stay that way.

But much more Sky WS will be with us in 2003...
 
We are now at a point where the quality of tv shows you get from the net is better than what´s shown on sky. a divx episode of buffy to me looks better than sky, is widescreen, possibly is ac3 and has no commercials. never mind you can watch it much earlier.
Hopefully this will motivate sky to raise the quality of their broadcasts.
 
Originally posted by pnapp
We are now at a point where the quality of tv shows you get from the net is better than what´s shown on sky. a divx episode of buffy to me looks better than sky, is widescreen, possibly is ac3 and has no commercials. never mind you can watch it much earlier.
Hopefully this will motivate sky to raise the quality of their broadcasts.

How does one watch these DivX programmes? I have heard of the format, but do not know any details.
 
Kazaa mate, they're not promoted on bona fide sites like this one, know what I mean... But Divx is where it's at, for backing up your own DVD's to hard disc, or CD if you don't mind a lower res, but judging on my efforts, I'd say you'll be wanting a 2Ghz processor to encode, it's just takem my 1Ghz all afternoon to do one.
 

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