Analog TV Set with Analog Cable

[rjundi]

I noticed today my current 20" panasonic tv hooked to basic $14 analog cable and a Tivo series 2 recorded a show on PBS and the screen has a black border on all 4 sides and picture appears to be around 15" instead of filling the screen.

Is this what I should expect when the transition happens? I cannot find any pictures of an analog TV showing a DTV.

 

[digitalSniperX1]

I'm not sure but:

Old Analog (RS-170 standard I think) is probably digitized by your television set for display. The display is probably double that resolution (1280x960) so it centers the digital video and fills in black where there is no information.

Some TV's will upsample (called digital zoom or bi-linear interpolation) and make a full 1280 x 960 out of the 640x480.

 

[Steve S]

It would be cool if everybody said too bad I am quitting watching T.V.

 

[simple_gifts]

Quote:

It would be cool if everybody said too bad I am quitting watching T.V.


I did 10 years ago. The only I have to say is "I don't have to ask my doctor about anything....." I don't know how anyone can stand it.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Just installed 2 converter boxes on my sets.

Full screen EXCELLENT picture. Just as good as my Directv feed.

I'm calling them tomorrow and canceling my locals and saving $60 a year.

Bill

 

[Steve S]

There is not a whole lot of anything good on T.V.

 

[moribundman]

Originally Posted By: Steve S
It would be cool if everybody said too bad I am quitting watching T.V.


It would be cooler if you were to stop posting.

 

[Gary Allan]

bad mori

I won't buy a new television until mine breaks ..maybe not even then. My wife is finding worth in that chubby guy who eats the weird stuff ...who's followed by that lame jerk guy who you know would be a real 'hole in person ..who attempts to add coy poetic rhetoric to his jet setting personal bad eating habits.

Not that there's anything wrong with finding that stuff interesting ..it's just odd that there's nothing more engaging on the tube

 

[moribundman]

I watch all the TV stuff I care for online. The commercial interruptions are shorter and I can watch the programs when I want to.

 

[Crashbox]

Originally Posted By: moribundman
I watch all the TV stuff I care for online. The commercial interruptions are shorter and I can watch the programs when I want to.


Ditto here- have been without cable, satellite or aerial TV for almost five years now. It's great.

 

[Papa Bear]

We usually watch PBS Ch 56 out of Detroit over the air.
PBS is one of the few worthwhile channels in an otherwise wasteland of drivel which is commercial television.
Heaven help our children.
Our new DTV gets 4 channels on 56 now. 56, 56.1, 56.2 and 56.3. I like Create TV on 56.3

 

[mechtech2]

This may be a setting that you have to adjust.
Various screen shapes and sizes are commonly offered for DVD players and routers/boxes.

 

[The_Jeff]

We need to find out if the PBS is coming through the cable that way. In Maine they just dropped broadcasting analog PBS so the analog cable just clips the sides off the 16:9 for the 4:3 so it fills the screen. (digital cable will have the hi-def tier and show it all) A digital transmission will usually be 16:9 even if they are transmitting vertical black bars along the edges.

Sounds like your cable company is adding horizontal black bars to frame in PBS's vertical ones so you get the "whole picture" and they never crop the sides off... there's your picture frame.

DTV receivers have a "zoom" button to fix this.

 

[brianl703]

It wouldn't surprise me one bit if there were cable companies using the $10-after-coupon boxes to do the digital to analog conversion for their analog tier.

 

[wander2039]

PBS and such don't have to meet the deadline. Can't remember how they classified them compared to regular stations. I know our PBS is still analog only.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
We usually watch PBS Ch 56 out of Detroit over the air.
PBS is one of the few worthwhile channels in an otherwise wasteland of drivel which is commercial television.
Heaven help our children.
Our new DTV gets 4 channels on 56 now. 56, 56.1, 56.2 and 56.3. I like Create TV on 56.3


Dude, you need to get one o' them fancy satellite dishes, then you can get all *kinds* of... Oh, wait, Big Brother won't let you get TV stations in Canada that Big Brother deems unfit for you... Ne'er mind.

 

[StevieC]

I have DTV, because I have friends in the US who have allowed me to use their address.. Oh Yeah!

 

[47HO]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
I noticed today my current 20" panasonic tv hooked to basic $14 analog cable and a Tivo series 2 recorded a show on PBS and the screen has a black border on all 4 sides and picture appears to be around 15" instead of filling the screen.

Is this what I should expect when the transition happens? I cannot find any pictures of an analog TV showing a DTV.


It sounds to me that its just an aspect ratio difference. In other words, the PBS program was broadcast 16:9(rectangle) and your 4:3(square) TV screen had to show it in letterbox format to view all of it.

And the DTV transition is only required on OTA broadcsts.

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
We need to find out if the PBS is coming through the cable that way. In Maine they just dropped broadcasting analog PBS so the analog cable just clips the sides off the 16:9 for the 4:3 so it fills the screen. (digital cable will have the hi-def tier and show it all) A digital transmission will usually be 16:9 even if they are transmitting vertical black bars along the edges.

Sounds like your cable company is adding horizontal black bars to frame in PBS's vertical ones so you get the "whole picture" and they never crop the sides off... there's your picture frame.

DTV receivers have a "zoom" button to fix this.


I actually get Maine PBS(17), NH PBS(11), and Boston PBS 2 on analog cable. I noticed NH and ME PBS only show up with top/bottom black bars and it looks tiny on our 20" set. The station where I got the problem PBS 2(Boston) now fills the screen.

If the transition future looks like PBS in ME and NH I may break down and buy a HDTV. Chopped screens on 20" makes for a tiny picture.