Last edited Sat Aug 5, 2017, 09:35 AM - Edit history (4)
A lot of old movies, when they were put into a format for showing on television, were put into the NTSC (analog) aspect ratio of 4:3. Shown today, on a flat screen TV, they leave black columns on the right and left sides of the display. I know the films were 1.85:1 or CinemaScope or equivalent when they were filmed, but the broadcast version is still 4:3.
I live in Alexandria, Virginia. Among the local TV channels is WDCW, virtual channel 20. I think it's not going to be around after the repacking. I'm not sure, so don't quote me on that. Anyway, they just added a new subchannel, LightTV, on 20.4. It shows such fare as "Heartland" and "Flipper." Not the original "Flipper," with Luke Halpin, but a newer version. Every program is shown in a 16 : 9 format, even though the original programming is not in that format. All the cars have oval headlights and wheels. I've tried going through all the options on my TV - wide, normal, stretch, zoom. Nothing I choose can make the display correct. In this case, it is the broadcast signal.
Another problem that shows up, in "Walker, Texas Ranger," for one example, is when a show was digitized back in the infancy of digital processing. It was processed at a slow frame rate. Whenever there's any fast-moving action, the pictures breaks up. Walker spins around to kick some bad guy in the head, and the picture turns into pixellated blocks.
Signal processing has come a long way in a short time. I have the local NOAA Weather Radio station running in the background. The "person" reading the information is actually a synthesized voice. Years ago, the voice used to pronounce "Winchester" {Virginia} as "Wincheddar," and the cadence was wrong too. He's got it down now, but "Monocacy," as in the Monocacy River, still isn't right. The voice puts the accent on the first syllable.
If those old programs were to be converted from analog to digital using 2017 standards, you wouldn't get that effect. No one's about to do that, though.
Some background: I got my first two coupon-eligible converter boxes (CECBs) in June 2008. They were Zenith DTT901s, and they had just been released. They were side by side on the shelf at Circuit City with the ZEnith DTT900, which lacked the pass-through viewing of analog broadcasting.
I did not get a TV with an ATSC (digital) tuner until I was given one for Christmas 2015. It was also my first wide screen TV.
I use nothing but rabbit ears to bring in a signal. It is frustrating to move them around to bring in one channel or another.
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