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In Reply to: there is none posted by Joe Murphy Jr on May 3, 2008 at 17:04:11:
Do you have standard definition digital broadcasting in the US?
The situation here in Australia at present is:
- we still have analog broadcasting and that is standard definition (PAL) 4:3 picture format
- we have both standard and high definition digital broadcasting. Both are 16:9 with identical picture apart from resolution. The major networks currently run 2 essentially identical channels differing only in resolution but image aspect ratio is the same for both. Some material broadcast on both does have a 4:3 aspect ratio, and movies can have the various wide screen aspect ratios but effectively for the viewer it's like watching an anamorphic DVD, the picture will display correctly with bars as appropriate for the program's aspect ratio and your screen provided your digital tuner knows what your screen aspect ratio is. Setting the screen aspect ratio is exactly the same process as setting your screen's aspect ratio for a DVD player. You just bring up the setup menu, choose the screen aspect setting, and select the right screen format. TV's with in-built digital tuners don't need to have their aspect ratio set because that's 'hard-wired' in the TV's own circuitry. The standard definition digital picture, while 16:9 in aspect ratio, has exactly the same pixel resolution as 4:3 PAL standard broadcasting or a standard definition DVD and can be recorded on a standard definition video recording device such as a VCR, DVD recorder, or hard drive recorder.
We are now, in the last 6-9 months, starting to see a couple of networks showing different programs at times on their standard and HD channels. That's fairly new because I understand that initially they were required to provide identical programming on both channels. Some networks are also introducing additional channels showing repeats or news broadcasts and so far all of those additional channels seem to be in standard def.
As far as hi def image resolution goes, we have 1 network transmitting in 720p, 3 in 1080i, and 1 in 576p which our federal government in its stupidity defined as hi def since it was a higher bandwidth transmission than 576i and required a digital network for transmission. Some networks transmit some programs in standard definition on their hi def channels if they don't have a hi def source for the program but the network transmitting in 720 p usually sticks up a test pattern for the duration and forces you to swap to their standard def channel if you want to see that program.
David Aiken
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Follow Ups
- Question… - David Aiken 20:05:08 05/03/08 (1)
- you're asking about a different topic - Joe Murphy Jr 23:56:06 05/03/08 (0)
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