justin25 Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Still waiting and waiting and waiting for sky news Australia to go widescreen i heard it mentioned in the hd foxtel blog that it should have been widescreen by the end of 2008 it is now 2009 and still waiting.It is a joke not to have the news service in widescreen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCh Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 BBC World News has got to be close to going WS wouldn't it? I actually sent them an email a while ago (probly 9-10 months ago) asking them when they were making the change. Their response was something along the lines of "since widescreen has not become an international broadcasting standard, we will continue to output our service in the current aspect ratio, and currently have no plans to change that"... But I agree with many of the others on here who are also complaining of the lack of widescreen news... the 600-range on Foxtel has to be the most neglected when it comes to WS (excluding kids channels) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvanOnTheGC Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Hmmmm.... bit of a weak excuse. It could be argued that HD is not an international broadcasting standard, but what do I get on Ch 203??? I've re-asked the question via the BBCHD website. I figured that will go to someone in Australia who could answer the question based on local knowledge rather than someone in the UK who would consider us a minor country far, far away. I almost immediately got an Out of Office reply from Tony Iffland's own email address (BBC's head in Australia). He's on holidays till Jan 27, so I hope I'll get some sort of reply not long afterwards. Evan :-> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvanOnTheGC Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Received a reply from BBC Australia (a bit earlier than I expected!) Hi Evan,Thanks for your email regarding BBC World News. BBC World News is planning to begin broadcasting in the 16:9 aspect ratio later this year, however as yet we don't have a date for the switchover. Sorry I can't provide any more specific information Evan :-> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCh Posted January 14, 2009 Author Share Posted January 14, 2009 Well at least they're a step further... although Arena have been saying a similar thing for quite some time now... lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckent Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Received a reply from BBC Australia (a bit earlier than I expected!) Whoa, awesome -- you know this means we'll get a lot of widescreen reports from America too, via them. And probably in top-SD quality, assuming they convert straight from HD to 576i. CK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvanOnTheGC Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 I'm sure it's been reported elsewhere already, but I've just got an email from the BBC and confirmed it myself: BBC World News is now 16:9 Evan :-> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad.. Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 I'm sure it's been reported elsewhere already, but I've just got an email from the BBC and confirmed it myself:BBC World News is now 16:9 Evan :-> cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckent Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 It looks damn nice. And just in time for all the US 16:9 content tonight. CK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCh Posted January 20, 2009 Author Share Posted January 20, 2009 Well it looks like we can take BBC World News off the 16:9 waiting list ... the only disappointing thing about taking this channel off the list is that another 4:3 channel has snuck up to take it's place - A-PAC, which (not surprisingly) is not widescreen... so the count of 4:3 channels is still 34 - 36 including timeshifts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juno Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 Have just purchased a 42 inch full high definition Toshiba TV. We have satellite Foxtel and the picture is shocking - very blurry and difficult to look at for any length of time. Any way of fixing the Foxtel picture? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCh Posted January 23, 2009 Author Share Posted January 23, 2009 Have just purchased a 42 inch full high definition Toshiba TV. We have satellite Foxtel and the picture is shocking - very blurry and difficult to look at for any length of time. Any way of fixing the Foxtel picture? Although the bitrate of many channels are just shocking, try using the highest quality output that your box supports. If you have IQ2, use HDMI. Otherwise, try the component output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCh Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 Well, now that there have been a few changes since my last list (BBC, Nick channels, ACC and new A-PAC channel), here is an updated list of what still needs to go WS on the platform. ENTERTAINMENT TV1 /+2 Arena /+2 The Comedy Channel Hallmark E! FTV MOVIES TCM SPORTS ESPN Eurosportnews Nat Geo Adventure NEWS & DOCOS Sky News Sky Business Fox News CNN A-PAC History Discovery Animal Planet Discovery Science Discovery Home & Health Discovery Travel & Living Bloomberg CNBC Australia KIDS & FAMILY Disney Playhouse Disney Cartoon Network Boomerang MUSIC MTV VH1 SPECIAL INTEREST Antenna Raitalia NITV TOTAL: 32 channels - 34 if timeshifts are included Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msheldrick Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 What about Comedy +2, it should be 35 channels inc. Timeshift Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BamBBBam Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Just confirming that Nickolodeon and Cartoon Network both went WS last night.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin25 Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Just confirming that Nickolodeon and Cartoon Network both went WS last night.. It was Nickolodeon and nick jr not cartoon network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCh Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 What about Comedy +2, it should be 35 channels inc. Timeshift Ahh yes... my bad! It won't let me edit my post now, so that will be updated in my next list when we get some more in WS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maquiery Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Digital has arrived years now.. perhaps not too long ago but its enough. Plasmas and LCD screens are allways widescreen so now tv networks should change this.. it dosnt take long for them to change it widescreen because theres now more people using modern television widescreens then the old days of a sqaure box under the unitshelf Even when analogue disapears i know there will still be (some) tv channels that will only be showing nothing like widescreen yet... Now i was wondering briz 31 community tv channel... hmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCh Posted March 29, 2009 Author Share Posted March 29, 2009 Well, just noticed when flicking channels that NITV is now WS... lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin25 Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 (edited) Wonder if the hallmark channel will be widescreen soon as their is a hallmark program in the ondemand section that is in widescreen but the main channel at the moment isn't.They did have the show until the list in the ondemand got updated Thursady. Edited March 29, 2009 by justin25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCh Posted March 29, 2009 Author Share Posted March 29, 2009 Wonder if the hallmark channel will be widescreen soon as their is a hallmark program in the ondemand section that is in widescreen but the main channel at the moment isn't.They did have the show until the list in the ondemand got updated Thursady. Lol well they've been doing the same with The History Channel for quite a while now, and the channel still isn't WS... So don't hold your breath! It would be nice to have it WS though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McDigital Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 G'day, Why do they do that? The channel obviously has the capability to broadcast in Widescreen, but the actual channel isnt? Foxtel's fault? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davmel Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 G'day,Why do they do that? The channel obviously has the capability to broadcast in Widescreen, but the actual channel isnt? Foxtel's fault? The Hallmark and History channel are both limited to 544x576i resolution which is anamorphically stretched to 4:3 ratio (just like most 4:3 channels). It could have the ratio changed to 16:9 but without a resolution change to 720x576i which all widescreen channels have it would look inferior in quality. However if the resolution is increased you need to add another 33% increase in bitrate or the compression will be excessive. There is no more room on the existing sat to increase bitrates. The OnDemand feed timeshift channels (one is MPEG-2 and another simulcasts in MPEG-4) both have 720x576i resolution and have a widescreen 16:9 ratio permanently hence why when you see the content on On Demand in widescreen and not on the regular channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCh Posted May 17, 2009 Author Share Posted May 17, 2009 Now that the Sky channels are *technically* WS, the list needed updating... lol! It's looking a lot better than it was 6 months ago... as it's mostly the channels in News & Docos that are slow to upgrade ENTERTAINMENT TV1 /+2 Arena /+2 The Comedy Channel /+2 Hallmark E! FTV MOVIES TCM SPORTS ESPN Eurosportnews Nat Geo Adventure NEWS & DOCOS Fox News CNN History Discovery Animal Planet Discovery Science Discovery Home & Health Discovery Travel & Living Bloomberg CNBC Australia KIDS & FAMILY Disney Playhouse Disney Cartoon Network Boomerang MUSIC MTV VH1 SPECIAL INTEREST Antenna Raitalia TOTAL: 28 channels - 31 if timeshifts are included Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timy Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I dont know what nat geo adventure or some of the discovery sub networks are but at times I wouldnt even class them as a 4:3 channel. They can at times not only have the black bars down each side of the screen but at the top and bottom as well. Now what is that. These channels are almost unwatchable because of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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