Do you stretch 4:3 SDTV signals to fit your 16:9 HDTV?

[Vijay_s]

I knew that Tata Sky Plus offered Component Out + Ability to record. Source signal is the same and is 4:3

With Tata Sky, setting the STB to 16:9 does nothing.

See above...

Once you set to 16:9 check following channels

News X (Always on 16:9)
History channel (Few programs telecast in 16:9)
Animal planet (Few programs telecast in 16:9)

 

[bhanja_trinanjan]

yup, nothing changes....but it's a peresonal preference at the end of the day, i for one don't find the difference to be significant enough to forego the larger picture, whereas I can imagine how some would.

I find the difference to be very significant.

Stretching with Wide zoom also softens/blurs the picture and this is the main reason as to why SDTV looks bad on LCD HDTV sets.

If you keep the original aspect ratio, you will have a sharper picture and that alone will put an end to the "CRTs do a better job with SD signals than LCD HDTVs-- In my opinion, if the display's upscaler is good, the picture will be brilliant, just as good as any decent CRT with SD signals)" argument.

 

[psychotropic]

i must disagree there. That alone will not put an end to that argument.

The reason why stuff like Tata Sky looks good on CRTs is twofold, firstly the fact that the displays themselves are standard def, and secondly the fact that the displays are small (max 29" in normal Indian cases). The aspect ratio is, as far as I can see, a factor of lesser significance.

I have tried playing Tata Sky both stretched and in the original aspect ratio, and the compression artefacts are easily visible on my 42" plasma in both situations. The quality of the picture does appear marginally better in 4:3, but like I said it doesn't take care of the other issues that are there with Tata Sky on an HDTV. In light of that, I prefer to keep it stretched since I don't find the effect bothersome at all.

I must check out whether selecting 16:9 makes a difference on News X as someone suggested.

If you keep the original aspect ratio, you will have a sharper picture and that alone will put an end to the "CRTs do a better job with SD signals than LCD HDTVs-- In my opinion, if the display's upscaler is good, the picture will be brilliant, just as good as any decent CRT with SD signals)" argument.

 

[marsilians]

Yes, I can confirm that with Tata Sky +, if you go into settings and change the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9, nothing changes.

All this makes me wonder why none of the manufacturers make 4:3 LCD or plasma televisions.

By definition, widescreen = 16:9, so no point in making 4:3 panels. Its backwards compatible, i.e you can watch 4:3 programming without pic distortion and not the other way.

 

[bhanja_trinanjan]

i must disagree there. That alone will not put an end to that argument.

The reason why stuff like Tata Sky looks good on CRTs is twofold, firstly the fact that the displays themselves are standard def, and secondly the fact that the displays are small (max 29" in normal Indian cases). The aspect ratio is, as far as I can see, a factor of lesser significance.

I have tried playing Tata Sky both stretched and in the original aspect ratio, and the compression artefacts are easily visible on my 42" plasma in both situations. The quality of the picture does appear marginally better in 4:3, but like I said it doesn't take care of the other issues that are there with Tata Sky on an HDTV. In light of that, I prefer to keep it stretched since I don't find the effect bothersome at all.

I must check out whether selecting 16:9 makes a difference on News X as someone suggested.

But then you are blaming the messenger and NOT the message!
The LCD TV is just uncovering the fine details in the picture here and that in this case is blockiness. Source video faulty.

Try a good quality 480p/480i/576p/576i SD video WITHOUT COMPRESSION ARTIFACTS and a LCD HDTV will do better than a CRT set, provided the aspect ratio is unaltered. Just my opinion.

A lot depends on the built in video upscaler in the TV, though!

 

[psychotropic]

ah yes we are in agreement there, it's all tata sky's fault ....i have heard that "digital cable" such as hathway and so on are actually better.....any views?

But then you are blaming the messenger and NOT the message!
The LCD TV is just uncovering the fine details in the picture here and that in this case is blockiness. Source video faulty.

Try a good quality 480p/480i/576p/576i SD video WITHOUT COMPRESSION ARTIFACTS and a LCD HDTV will do better than a CRT set, provided the aspect ratio is unaltered. Just my opinion.

 

[bhanja_trinanjan]

ah yes we are in agreement there, it's all tata sky's fault ....i have heard that "digital cable" such as hathway and so on are actually better.....any views?

I would guess so! Cable has higher bandwidth than the Ku-band DTH transponders, so the operator should provide higher bit-rates.

Switching over to MPEG4 Big TV(over component) so as to get the best out of my new Bravia!

 

[adder]

I would guess so! Cable has higher bandwidth than the Ku-band DTH transponders, so the operator should provide higher bit-rates.

Switching over to MPEG4 Big TV(over component) so as to get the best out of my new Bravia!

well big tv does offer superior quality,but if u strech a image it will still loose some of its sharpness by a bit and the streched look when the source video was shot in 4:3 format.
channels like zee studio however have very impressive resolution and sharpness,atleast in big tv.when i compared the fifth element DVD played from my xbox and the same movie in UTV world movies,i was impressed by the quality at which big tv transmits.the DVD still has a tiny bit more detail,but compared to other indian DTH its impressive.

 

[bhanja_trinanjan]

I hope that Big TV keeps up the good work... I see them shooting themselves in the foot in the future by adding too many new channels without adding transponder bandwidth... Hope they keep their bit-rates high!

I just can't wait for my Big TV connection!