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Aspect ratio problems on broadcasts

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Don Stauffer

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Oct 9, 2009, 10:21:54 AM10/9/09
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I notice a lot of broadcasts these days with shots with wrong aspect
ratio. I notice it primarily on news broadcasts. The studio shots are
fine. On local stations I am watching wide screen (I don't pay
satellite company extra for signals I can get from antenna). They come
up with some recorded story, and low and behold, it was shot wide but
appears 4:3, so the people are all tall and thin!.

Or, I see stuff that is wide and squat, looks like 4:3 but presented in
wide screen. The clips are too short to bother reaching for the remote
and changing aspect ratio, because that story would be over before I got
the aspect ratio changed.

Question- what is going on here? Is this a goof on some technician's
part at the station, or the cameraman using the wrong setting on the
camera (okay, I have done that myself, but I wasn't getting paid big
bucks, and didn't do it very many times)? With digital editing
software, can't the software doing the post work identify this as a
problem and notify the operator?

Laurence Taylor

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Oct 10, 2009, 2:40:58 PM10/10/09
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Don Stauffer wrote:
> I notice a lot of broadcasts these days with shots with wrong aspect
> ratio.
(...)

>
> Question- what is going on here? Is this a goof on some technician's
> part at the station, or the cameraman using the wrong setting on the
> camera (okay, I have done that myself, but I wasn't getting paid big
> bucks, and didn't do it very many times)? With digital editing
> software, can't the software doing the post work identify this as a
> problem and notify the operator?

It's called incompetence. The production staff either don't know how,
or can't be bothered, to correct it.

This is what happens when you get stations staffed by media studies
graduates instead of engineers who actually know what they're doing.

--
rgds
LAurence
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...Confucius say: Man who abuse his computer get bad bytes!
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aruzinsky

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Oct 25, 2009, 11:42:12 AM10/25/09
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That's not the worst of it. The worst of it is a 16:9 480 image set
in a 16:9 1080 or 720 background because that prevents HDTVs (with the
capability) from automatically interpolating the image to fill the
screen. I find that offensively stupid. If I were the FCC, I would
go after those networks for not serving the public interest.

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