LAX on NBC

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Eileen Wright" <Eileen Wright @socal.rr.com> wrote in message
news:8iv1d.5753$XW.2146@twister.socal.rr.com...
> NBC's new series LAX is being shown in letterbox format, but I don't think
> it's in hi-def.
>
> I'm viewing it on a 42", 16x9 plasma screen using DVI input and Time
warner
> cable as my HD provider.
>
> Rather than fill the entire screen, or at least end to end, with black
bars
> at the top and bottom, the picture is simply centered on the screen, with
a
> viewable area of approx. 20" wide x 17" high and 32" from corner to
> corner.
>
> What's up with that?

It appears to have been fouled up in most parts of the country, including
Los Angeles.
This one might have been a network snafu, rather than a local snafu.

Many affiliates forget to throw the switch to DD5.1 audio, ending up with no
dialog in the center channel. Then, not realizing what was wrong, just punt
and up-convert the whole program.

Large discussion about it on the avsforum:
<http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=a85e8064207e1d15eb2d9db0b11
9c5c2&threadid=446008>

W²

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

It was fine in boston, other than the show being lame.

-Ken

"Dave Oldridge" <doldridg@leavethisoutshaw.ca> wrote in message
news:Xns95649CD5263Cdoldridgsprintca@24.71.223.159...
> "Eileen Wright" <Eileen Wright @socal.rr.com> wrote in
> news:8iv1d.5753$XW.2146@twister.socal.rr.com:
>
> > NBC's new series LAX is being shown in letterbox format, but I don't
> > think it's in hi-def.
>
> Yeah, it was letterboxed on both the Detroit and Seattle feeds. I had
> the impression, though, that some of the promos touted it as HD.
>
> > I'm viewing it on a 42", 16x9 plasma screen using DVI input and Time
> > warner cable as my HD provider.
>
> > Rather than fill the entire screen, or at least end to end, with
> > black bars at the top and bottom, the picture is simply centered on
> > the screen, with a viewable area of approx. 20" wide x 17" high and
> > 32" from corner to corner.
> >
> >
> > What's up with that?
>
> They are letter-boxing a converted 16:9 image into a 4:3 image which your
> TV pillar boxes into its native 16:9.
>
> Some TV's may offer a Zoom feature that lets you fill the screen with it.
> In my case it was as simple as watching one of the SD feeds. If they are
> going to do that with it, those are almost as good on my TV and, because
> my TV is 4:3 native and can be set full-height or 16:9 from the remote,
> that's no problem.
>
>
> --
> Dave Oldridge+
> ICQ 1800667
>
> A false witness is worse than no witness at all.
>

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

I don't think Heather Locklear naked coulda saved that show. Terrible!!!

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

We got letterboxed SD feed in the SF Bay area too. Whoever was in
charge should be fired. They hyped this show since the Olympics. I
bet the ad has been run 2000 times since then. All the advertizement
was followed by a no-show in the HD channel. This is yet another
proof that HDTV is not ready for primetime.

The Zoom feature will not fix the problem. When the letterbox the HD
picture into a 4:3 format, it is downconvert to low res and also part
of the screen is wasted by the black bar fillers. When you zoom this
SD picture into your 16:9 screen, you hide the black filler bars
successfully, but at the same time you enlarge the center portion of
the SD picture. The enlargement basically turn the SD into sub SD
quality.



Dave Oldridge <doldridg@leavethisoutshaw.ca> wrote in message news:<Xns95649CD5263Cdoldridgsprintca@24.71.223.159>...
> They are letter-boxing a converted 16:9 image into a 4:3 image which your
> TV pillar boxes into its native 16:9.
>
> Some TV's may offer a Zoom feature that lets you fill the screen with it.
> In my case it was as simple as watching one of the SD feeds. If they are
> going to do that with it, those are almost as good on my TV and, because
> my TV is 4:3 native and can be set full-height or 16:9 from the remote,
> that's no problem.

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Eileen Wright wrote:

> NBC's new series LAX is being shown in letterbox format, but I don't think
> it's in hi-def.

Must have been a problem with your affiliate. Here, Denver Co.,
LAX was in 16:9 non-letterbox 1080i. It looked better than either
Medical Investigation or Hawaii. I suspect that it could be your
cable co., I receive it OTA.

Jeff B

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Jeff B <fake@addy.com> wrote:

>
>Eileen Wright wrote:
>
>> NBC's new series LAX is being shown in letterbox format, but I don't think
>> it's in hi-def.
>
>Must have been a problem with your affiliate. Here, Denver Co.,
>LAX was in 16:9 non-letterbox 1080i.

OK in Albany NY also. At least for technical quality. I suspect this
will become known as the show that even Heather Locklear couldn't
save.

Most failures to show an HD program in HD arise at the stations. They
were dragged kicking and screaming into this digital conversion, and
they're not about to spend more than necessary to comply. So HD is a
pass-through. They were quick to add a box to overlay their station
logo on an HD feed, but all other signal processing must still be done
in NTSC and converted to HD specs. Some can't even do that; our PBS
affiliate, WMHT, actually switches from 1080i to 480i to run their ID
between shows.

Most stations have one Master Control operator who is now supposed to
monitor three feeds instead of one: analog, SD and HD. He may have at
most one monitor capable of showing the HD feed, and it's probably
used for other monitoring as well. The analog feed is still the
moneymaker, so it gets the most attention. Most stations switch to
NTSC processing for station breaks, weather advisories, promo overlays
and breaking news that could just as well wait until 10:00 or 11:00.
Often they forget to switch back. It's common to see several seconds
of SD at the start of an HD segment, and I've seen whole segments and
even whole shows in SD when HD should have been available. I even saw
several minutes of freeze-frame with normal audio (the SD and analog
feeds were fine). So the old assumption that the Master Control
operator always knows when he has a problem isn't necessarily valid
anymore.

> It looked better than either
>Medical Investigation or Hawaii. I suspect that it could be your
>cable co., I receive it OTA.
>
>Jeff B

Almost anything would look better than Medical Investigation, which
was apparently shot through a blue-green filter. The first show was
about people whose flesh turned blue, but since their faces were only
a bit more blue than everyone else's, how could you tell? I didn't
pay several thousand dollars for an HD system to see bad color. I'll
give the show one more try, but if that's its chosen "look," I'm done.

Of course, even big-name directors sometimes make the "artistic"
choice to use bad video throughout a movie. I'm not generally in
favor of colorizing monochrome movies, but I'd make an exception for
"Minority Report."

Del Mibbler <mibbler@nycap.rr.com>

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

All,

Thanks for your explanations and replies!

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

I get it OTA as well, The local NBC O&O sent it out sd widescreen.
"KNTV_dt"
"Jeff B" <fake@addy.com> wrote in message
newsBX1d.197436$Fg5.32812@attbi_s53...
>
>
> Eileen Wright wrote:
>
>> NBC's new series LAX is being shown in letterbox format, but I don't
>> think
>> it's in hi-def.
>
> Must have been a problem with your affiliate. Here, Denver Co.,
> LAX was in 16:9 non-letterbox 1080i. It looked better than either Medical
> Investigation or Hawaii. I suspect that it could be your
> cable co., I receive it OTA.
>
> Jeff B
>

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Tue, 14 Sep 2004, it was written:
> NBC's new series LAX is being shown in letterbox format, but I don't think
> it's in hi-def.
>
> I'm viewing it on a 42", 16x9 plasma screen using DVI input and Time warner
> cable as my HD provider.
>
> Rather than fill the entire screen, or at least end to end, with black bars
> at the top and bottom, the picture is simply centered on the screen, with a
> viewable area of approx. 20" wide x 17" high and 32" from corner to
> corner.
>
> What's up with that?

It's your cable company. I'm seeing it as HD directly over the air. I bet
that what they're doing is taking the analog feed. It is letterboxed in
analog.

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 08:04:21 -0400, "curmudgeon"
<curmudgeon@buzzoff.net> wrote:

>I don't think Heather Locklear naked coulda saved that show. Terrible!!!
----------------------------
It was alot better than the act you trot around, you f knownothing
waste.