Why aren't all hd shows widescreen on a 4:3 tv?

[yoda313]

Hello,

I was wondering, I still only have a 4:3 tv and wondered why some hd broadcasts are widescreen and others are not.

Sports are now being broadcast in hd but are still full screen on a normal tv. But newer shows like Star Trek Enterprise, LAX, West Wing, Smallville, and others are shown in the 1.78 widescreen mode (I think it's that for hdtv).

What I was suprised at was ABC's new series LOST must be broadcast in HD but shows up full screen on a 4:3.

I was wondering, what is the determination of which is wide and which is full when hd is converted for 4:3 broadcasting????

Thanks.

Kevin

[Marco33]

I was wondering, what is the determination of which is wide and which is full when hd is converted for 4:3 broadcasting????

That question covers a lot of items, I'll take a crack at it.

Not all widescreen shows are HD. Sci-fi channel does that a lot. They show a widescreen (letterbox) movies yet, the channel is SD.

If you have an HD TV and recieve an HD feed... it's widescreen. For the most part... some 4:3 shows are up-converted to HD (NFL matchup on ESPNHD) but then you will get bars on the side on a Widescreen tv.

If you have a regular sd tv, somewere down the line (cable box, provider) it's transmited in SD.

I guess it's mostly up to the provider how they want to break down the HD feed. Mostly they make it Fullscreen.

Hope that helps.

[Cornucopia]

My take:

Some channels simulcast, meaning they broadcast both HD (in Widescreen) and SD (in 4:3 fullscreen or letterbox). If you have a std. 4:3 TV, maybe you're just getting the SD feed.

Or,
It could be that you're getting an HD feed, but the HD->SD downconverter is preset to crop your widescreen to fullscreen, instead of letterboxing it.

Or,
It could be that your downconverter can accept "Pan & Scan" and/or "Letterbox" flags if they're there, but will crop to the center if none exist.

There may be other possibilities, but that's just what comes to mind.

Scott

[farnlc]

Let me take a crack at it now...everything the above post said was correct, but Im assuming since you have a 4:3 TV that you arent watching HDTV. There arent any any 4:3 TVs with integrated HD to my knowledge so either you are watching SD and are getting confused by the "PRESENTED IN HDTV" logo splashed across the screen, or you actually pay to have a HDTV reciever and watch it in 16x9 in which case you are wasting your money and should get a new TV.

[yoda313]

Hello,

Ok... I guess I'm understanding that it's up to the broadcaster to flag the standard transmissions as wide or full screen. I guess that must be it.

Kevin

Thanks