Channel surfing I saw 10 have dropped the black sidebars on 10.1/210, looks a bit dopey stretching the image like that and everyone having their heads stretched sideways. it’s not that bad once you get used to it, almost feels like you’re watching a real 16:9 format which beats 4:3 any day even stretched.
Now that I’m watching 100% digital, this is one of my pet peeves – stations that run 4:3 content stretched to fill 16:9. WPBT-DT and WLRN-DT have been doing it, and now WPLG-DT is doing it.
It’s annoying and unprofessional – it’s like back in the days of vinyl recordings when they turned mono recordings into “stereo” by notch-filtering each channel – trying to make it something it’s not.
So now I have to manually change the aspect ratio on my set just to watch a normal picture, thanks to stupid engineering decisions at some SoFla stations.
7 News here in Boston is now broadcasting a 16:9 format on their digital channel here as well starting today. I agree with the webmaster, it looks alot better than before and saves me from explaining myself when my guests come over and ask “Why are those black bars on the side of the screen?”.. LOL
a true 16:9 or stretched 4:3?
I’d love for someone to tell me why a distorted picture is preferable.
The bottom line is that stations should broadcast their content as it was intended to be viewed. If viewers want to fill their 16:9 screen with 4:3 content, then they are free to distort the picture themselves with the aspect ratio control on their set. For stations to force a distorted picture on me because some viewers are too lazy to distort it themselves is absurd.
I don’t like the streched picture either!! I don’t like it at all. Most HDTVs have the option to stretch the picture, so the viewer should use that option if they want to see it streched.
talk about the camera adding 10 pounds!
I hate the stretched picture, too. I prefer the black bars on the sides, and seeing a normal image.