Why would TNT HD not show a movie in real widescreen

[agtpunx40]

I was watching part of Starship Troopers the other night, and was wondering why they wouldn't show the movie in real widescreen on the TNT HD channel. They showed it in a stretched widescreen instead. Normally, they seem to show tv shows that were recorded in widescreen, newer Law and Order episodes for example, in regular widescreen, and older shows that were not recorded in widescreen in a streched widescreen. The commercials on the TNT HD and TNT channels are different sometimes (I checked just now) so they must broadcast the two channels separately. So my question is, why would they choose to broadcast a movie in a stretched widescreen, instead of it's natural aspect ratio when it already fits the format of the station? Why would they go through the extra effort to convert it to pan and scan and then stretch it back out? The resolution was pretty good, definatly better than SD. On another side note I had forgotten how entertaining this movie is. Highly recommended if you're in the mood for something fun.

[kexodusc]

I think the bigger quesion is why TNT decides to fill a 2 hour movie with 48 minutes of commercials..

Good question though...That's weird, my guess is they're upconverting the same film from the SD channel, and use the stretch technique make it "HD compatitble"...Kind of dumb though, I don't think there's a single HDTV made that doesn't have stretch modes that would do this arguably better than TNT could, and to each viewer's personal satisfaction.

[edtyct]

Kexo, you're right. TNT still shows a lot of upconverted SD programming on their HD station, stretched on the periphery to fill a 16x9 screen. The reason that TNT doesn't leave the stretch modes to viewer discretion seems to be that it would rather create the illusion of operating in true HD all of the time than to concede conspicuously that SD is still the source for some of its broadcasts. I should also add that most viewers wouldn't have the option to eliminate pillar-or letterbox bars on upconverted broadcasts if an HD station decided to show them in their original aspect ratio.

Ed

[EdwardGein]

Don't know about your movies and new TNT series are OK in HD but old shows that they show on TNT HD are distorted and are abysmal and I try not to watch these as I value my eyes. You would think these billion dollar bozos wouldn't try to inflict this garbage with the American public. But apparently most of the US is too stupid to notice or care about this. There are alot of stupid people in this country and people like you and I are victims because of them.

[agtpunx40]

they really should just allow the viewer to choose to stretch stuff if they want, but since they must have the movie in a widescreen format, and should have it in HD format, why wouldn't they just show it that way. I understand why they stretch old stuff, to trick uninformed people into thinking that it's all widescreen, but why stretch stuff they don't have to? Why would you go through extra effort to make it look worse?

[edtyct]

Certain films are framed for 4:3, as well as widescreen, when shot to accommodate future TV viewing. I don't know whether Starship Troopers was. If not, any existing pan and scan version might well have been the default to accommodate TNT's larger audience, which presumably still watches 4:3 in SD. In such cases, it's probably cheaper and easier for TNT's HD channel to play second fiddle to SD's demands. Also, if TNT sent the film to its HD channel in 16:9 but in a pan and scan 4:3 window with black bars on the sides, most HD viewers would not be able to eliminate the black bars. To see what I mean, check out your local HD newscast. If it's in HD with a 4:3 window, you can't tweak it any further.

Ed