TV broadcast content no longer fits screen

[Trench]

I'm noticing more and more lately that TV content is not fitting properly in my 4:3 TV screen. Often, the edges of graphics and text are cut off on both the right and left sides of my TV screen.

I'm wondering if with the rise of 16:9 broadcasts, the people responsible with putting together the screen layouts are being careless in regards to fitting content within the 4:3 aspect ratio area of the layout. However, sometimes things are even cut off from the bottom of the screen. Maybe it's just the new rage in graphic design to have content overrun the edges of the viewable area?

 

[sparkchaser]

Sounds like it's time to move to 16:9*. Or get another cable box.



*And that may not fix it. Many shows I watch are clipped even though I have a 16:9 set.

 

[Trench]

Sounds like it's time to move to 16:9*. Or get another cable box.



*And that may not fix it. Many shows I watch are clipped even though I have a 16:9 set.

As you point out, a lot of these things are clipped even our 16:9.

For a while, we did have a cable box that was dying out and somehow would occasionally blow up the screen to a highly zoomed-in level. The funny thing is I don't think zoom was even supposed to be a feature. When we got a DVR capable cable box, this problem went away, but a lot of things are still clipped.

 

[mantic]

Yep, editors have definitely been leaning towards 16:9 ratios much more lately. My personal opinion is they're "thinking ahead" to the day when pretty much all receivers are 16:9, and 4:3 will "look weird." Never mind that there's 50+ years of archival TV still on the air (Leave It To Beaver and The Andy Griffith Show will never die ). Of course the cynic in me is thinking that they're doing it to "encourage" consumers to buy new TV's...

--Mark

 

[skiddyrow]

16:9 Content should get letterboxed on a 4:3 screen, not cut off at the edges. If you are using a cable box / set top box, check the settings there - it should have an option to set the TV aspect ratio.

 

[sol92258]

.....the cynic in me is thinking that they're doing it to "encourage" consumers to buy new TV's...

--Mark

same here

 

[Trench]

16:9 Content should get letterboxed on a 4:3 screen, not cut off at the edges. If you are using a cable box / set top box, check the settings there - it should have an option to set the TV aspect ratio.

That's the thing. It's NOT 16:9 content. The occurrences I'm talking about are happening during 4:3 broadcasts. Even when viewed on 16:9 TVs, things are being clipped.

 

[Muirtach]

One of the issues with any tv screen, though less with newer models, is a varying amount of edge buffer that will not be shown. Without gettign overly technical it comes from the amount of molding around the edge of the screen and teh curvature of said screen. To ensure that all graphics and such are seen on every screen there is what is known as a "title safe zone" that is actually a smaller area than the full screen. Sort of like indent settings on a document.
With the rise of 16x9 broadcasting you run into people who either forget that the image should be made compatible for 4x3 as well and just use 16x9 title safe zones. That or they are newer to the field and simply do not think about it. I have had many issues over the years reminding people that I train that their text graphics need to fit inside said zones and what they see on their underscan (actually shrink the image a bit to show complete signal) monitors or editing software is not what the rest of the world will see.

 

[Trench]

One of the issues with any tv screen, though less with newer models, is a varying amount of edge buffer that will not be shown. Without gettign overly technical it comes from the amount of molding around the edge of the screen and teh curvature of said screen. To ensure that all graphics and such are seen on every screen there is what is known as a "title safe zone" that is actually a smaller area than the full screen. Sort of like indent settings on a document.
With the rise of 16x9 broadcasting you run into people who either forget that the image should be made compatible for 4x3 as well and just use 16x9 title safe zones. That or they are newer to the field and simply do not think about it. I have had many issues over the years reminding people that I train that their text graphics need to fit inside said zones and what they see on their underscan (actually shrink the image a bit to show complete signal) monitors or editing software is not what the rest of the world will see.

That's a rather interesting bit of information. Thanks.

Thanks also to the mod who fixed my thread title. That was bugging the heck out of me.

 

[cthip]

One of the issues with any tv screen, though less with newer models, is a varying amount of edge buffer that will not be shown. Without gettign overly technical it comes from the amount of molding around the edge of the screen and teh curvature of said screen. To ensure that all graphics and such are seen on every screen there is what is known as a "title safe zone" that is actually a smaller area than the full screen. Sort of like indent settings on a document.
With the rise of 16x9 broadcasting you run into people who either forget that the image should be made compatible for 4x3 as well and just use 16x9 title safe zones. That or they are newer to the field and simply do not think about it. I have had many issues over the years reminding people that I train that their text graphics need to fit inside said zones and what they see on their underscan (actually shrink the image a bit to show complete signal) monitors or editing software is not what the rest of the world will see.

also note that some higher-end tv's allow the customer to adjust/reduce the amount of "overscan" to reduce the amount of image cut off around the images. professionals can also sometimes fix the overscan through the service menu when they do calibration. of course if your broadcaster or cable box is clipping part of the image, there's not a lot you can do to fix it.