Picture Sizes on Television

Broadcasters on Virgin Media are handling the transition to widescreen differently. Viewers get the negatives every day but cannot affect the situation positively due to the absence of feedback channels. Hopefully this article will get through to the engineers and managers who can make a difference.

The pictures are from December 2007 to February 2008. This isn’t finished.

Goal

All shows must be displayed usefully on all screens in all modes.

Glossary

Screen

The viewing surface. It need not be a traditional TV.

Show

Any broadcast, including:

programmes;
films;
newscasts;
credit sequences;
adverts;
and so on.

4:3

The normal aspect ratio.

16:9

The widescreen aspect ratio.

Size

The ratio used by a screen or show.

Mode

Which display format the screen is using.

Problems

Some screens use 4:3. Others use 16:9.
Some shows use 4:3. Others use 16:9.
Some screens use special modes to adjust shows.

Screen Format (Mode)

Virgin TV has a TV display format setting:

It has the following 3 modes.

`16:9 Widescreen`

Sends all of a 4:3 picture.
Sends all of a 16:9 picture.

`4:3 Letterbox`

Sends all of a 4:3 picture.
Sends all of a 16:9 picture but in a letterbox.

`4:3 Normal`

Sends all of a 4:3 picture.
Sends only the middle 4:3 portion of a 16:9 picture.

You lose the left and right edge from widescreen shows in this mode. That means:

Thoughtful producers put nothing interesting at the edges of their shows.
Viewers of other shows miss interesting things from the edges.

Removing the 4:3 Normal mode seems a good first step towards tidying this mess.

Show Sizes

Broadcaster Interfeerence

Interaction of Shows, Screens and Modes

	4:3 Screen	4:3 Screen
	4:3 Show	16:9 Show
16:9 Widescreen Mode
4:3 Letterbox Mode
4:3 Normal Mode

Occassionally, cinematic aspect ratios will be used for films.

Solutions

Different channels manage their pictures differently.

Orthodox Solution to Screen Sizes and Picture Sizes
	4:3 Picture	16:9 Picture
4:3 Screen	Full Screen	Letterbox
16:9 Screen	Letterbox	Full Screen

Used by:

- BBC One
- BBC Two
- BBC Three
- BBC Four
- BBC News 24
- ITV 1
- ITV 2
- ITV 3
- ITV 4
- Channel 4
- Channel 4 + 1
- E4
- E4 + 1
- More 4
- five
- five Life
- five US