Syfy HD

[philwhite100]

I started to watch a movie that can't have been made in HD as it was too old for that. I was annoyed to see that it was not full screen and was in a windowed size. The same movie when viewed in SD was normal full screen. Is this normal??

[Kymmy]

You got upscaling turned on??

[jb66]

Its normal, All Standard 4:3 ratio programs on hd channels revert to the original size. Family guy always does it.

I cant give a technical explanation why, but I came to the conclusion its becuase the channel broadcasting it is actually adding the black bars on each side as the FX logo is actually on the black part of the screen, not the picture.

[Kymmy]

Surely though either TV upscaling or upscaling done by the V+ box should take care of it???

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by jb66

Its normal, All Standard 4:3 ratio programs on hd channels revert to the original size. Family guy always does it.

I cant give a technical explanation why, but I came to the conclusion its becuase the channel broadcasting it is actually adding the black bars on each side as the FX logo is actually on the black part of the screen, not the picture.

That's correct.

HD channels broadcast 4:3 content pillarboxed.
On SD channels they just broadcast the picture with the 4:3 flag. Your tv (or your STB) can then stretch that to fill a 16:9 screen. Doing so however distorts the picture and makes round things oval and everyone short and fat.

You can't just stretch 4:3 content on HD channels because the STB and TV both get 16:9 frames, and there is no flag to show that it's showing 4:3 content. You'd have to manually zoom or stretch the image on your tv, but really, why would you want to.

[dilli-theclaw]

Originally Posted by philwhite100

I started to watch a movie that can't have been made in HD as it was too old for that. I was annoyed to see that it was not full screen and was in a windowed size. The same movie when viewed in SD was normal full screen. Is this normal??

What was the movie? For example Gone With the Wind was made in 1939 and is available on blu ray. Just because it's old does not mean it can't be converted to HD. In fact if there is a decent print about I'd say it's easier for an old film to be converted.

As for that specific film if it had bars down the left right then yup most likely it was being upscaled.

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Surely though either TV upscaling or upscaling done by the V+ box should take care of it???

No, because the pillar-boxing is part of the picture. As far as the V+ is aware it's a 16:9 frame. It's exactly how it should be as well, if you're watching an HD channel you obviously care about picture quality, so why would you want to artificially distort the picture?

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by TheDon

No, because the pillar-boxing is part of the picture. As far as the V+ is aware it's a 16:9 frame. It's exactly how it should be as well, if you're watching an HD channel you obviously care about picture quality, so why would you want to artificially distort the picture?

This is correct. 4:3 content is shown as 4:3 on HD channels regardless of settings.

[philwhite100]

The movie was Under Siege 2. So any none HD shot movies or tv shows shown on HD channels will be like I viewed then??

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

This is correct. 4:3 content is shown as 4:3 on HD channels regardless of settings.

Wasn't talking about 4:3 (which this thread seems to have gone down for some reason) and as the OP says the movie in SD was full screen (so had to be 16:9), Upscaling should have worked perfectly there

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Wasn't talking about 4:3 (which this thread seems to have gone down for some reason) and as the OP says the movie in SD was full screen (so had to be 16:9), Upscaling should have worked perfectly there

I think the OP thought because the SD channel was showing a stretched 4:3 image in a 16:9 frame it was widescreen.

HD channels will only show 16:9 if it is 16:9.

---------- Post added at 12:54 ---------- Previous post was at 12:50 ----------

Originally Posted by philwhite100

The movie was Under Siege 2. So any none HD shot movies or tv shows shown on HD channels will be like I viewed then??

If the channel bought the SD version and it was 4:3, then yes.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by philwhite100

The movie was Under Siege 2. So any none HD shot movies or tv shows shown on HD channels will be like I viewed then??

It will actually depend on the program being in 16:9 or 4:3.