Letter-boxed SD programming on an HD monitor?

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What's it look like when you're watching a letter-boxed movie from a
conventional SD channel on an HD 16:9 monitor? Do you get a
relatively tiny rectangular image with lots of blank space all
around, or is there some way to zoom the image so that the
pre-formatted image fits the HD aspect ratio? If the zoom feature
exists, is it universally available, commonly available, or only on
some models from some makers? Have the makers all invented creative
marketing names for the feature?

When I look at HD sets in the stores, they're all locked into some
in-house video source, so I've never been able to really play with
one to see what it does with various sources.

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN | bert@visi.com

 

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A letter-boxed movie on an SD channel appears in the 4:3 frame just as it
does on a 4:3 TV set, with black above and below. So on a 16:9 set, there
would be black above, below and on each side, assuming you are viewing your
SD channels in "normal" mode.

If you view them in one of the stretched or zoomed modes, then you would
just be changing the shape of that whole 4:3 picture, retaining whatever is
in it, such as the letter-box. If you are viewing in a "zoom" mode that
cuts off top and bottom of the SD frame, you would cut off some or all of
the above and below letter-boxing. So, that might work but, since you are
stretching a small SD picture over a wide screen, resultant quality of the
picture is going to suffer.

mack
austin


"Bert Hyman" <bert@visi.com> wrote in message
news:Xns95DD64ACCFBA1VeebleFetzer@news.visi.com...
> What's it look like when you're watching a letter-boxed movie from a
> conventional SD channel on an HD 16:9 monitor? Do you get a
> relatively tiny rectangular image with lots of blank space all
> around, or is there some way to zoom the image so that the
> pre-formatted image fits the HD aspect ratio? If the zoom feature
> exists, is it universally available, commonly available, or only on
> some models from some makers? Have the makers all invented creative
> marketing names for the feature?
>
> When I look at HD sets in the stores, they're all locked into some
> in-house video source, so I've never been able to really play with
> one to see what it does with various sources.
>
> --
> Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN | bert@visi.com

 

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Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

I often use the ZOOM function on my Sony 16:9 set for just the situation you
describe. It works well, but as another poster stated, you are blowing up
an image that contains very little resolution, to fit a large screen, so
quality isn't the best. Kind of like a non-anamorphic widescreen DVD. For
me, the result is very acceptable.

--Dan

"Bert Hyman" <bert@visi.com> wrote in message
news:Xns95DD64ACCFBA1VeebleFetzer@news.visi.com...
> What's it look like when you're watching a letter-boxed movie from a
> conventional SD channel on an HD 16:9 monitor? Do you get a
> relatively tiny rectangular image with lots of blank space all
> around, or is there some way to zoom the image so that the
> pre-formatted image fits the HD aspect ratio? If the zoom feature
> exists, is it universally available, commonly available, or only on
> some models from some makers? Have the makers all invented creative
> marketing names for the feature?
>
> When I look at HD sets in the stores, they're all locked into some
> in-house video source, so I've never been able to really play with
> one to see what it does with various sources.
>
> --
> Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN | bert@visi.com

 

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Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"dg" <dan_gus@hotmail.com> wrote:

> I often use the ZOOM function on my Sony 16:9 set for just the
> situation you describe. It works well. For me, the result is very
> acceptable.

Same here on my 42" Sony viewed at 9' for basic analog cable SD channels,
at least the sharper ones. Of course the enlarged image loses some
sharpness, but often the result is still very acceptable if the program
content is actually worth watching. The enhanced impact of the larger
screen image somewhat atones for many defects. On some channels, I even
zoom the SD image to fill the 16:9 screen... cropping the SD's top and
bottom often yields more forceful composition, especially on old movies.

I don't guarantee the above comment will still hold true for larger screens
.... 42" suits me fine and gives a suitably "cinematic" experience.

--
Anti-Spam address: my last name at his dot com
Charles Gillen -- Reston, Virginia, USA

 

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Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On 13 Jan 2005 15:53:40 GMT, Bert Hyman <bert@visi.com> wrote:
> What's it look like when you're watching a letter-boxed movie from a
> conventional SD channel on an HD 16:9 monitor? Do you get a
> relatively tiny rectangular image with lots of blank space all
> around, or is there some way to zoom the image so that the
> pre-formatted image fits the HD aspect ratio? If the zoom feature
> exists, is it universally available, commonly available, or only on
> some models from some makers? Have the makers all invented creative
> marketing names for the feature?

If an SD letterboxed movie is a 16:9 format my Samsung SIR-T351 OTA
digital box can zoom it to full screen on a widescreen display. If it is
an even wider format broadcast SD, it may still have thin top/bottom bars.

However, many set top boxes and TVs will not zoom HD content. So it is
somewhat annoying when in rare cases a show that may have been originally
SD letterbox is broadcast HD with pillar boxes, ending up with shrunken
16:9 image with black all around.

Although, my up converting DVD player will fill or zoom any which way, so
a DVD can fill height, width, or both.