Digital TV has aspect ratio problems

Being the owner of a wide-screen TV connected to a digital set top box probably puts me in the minority for the moment among TV viewers. This may be the reason why a current problem with digital TV aspect ratio is receiving no comment from the viewing public.

The problem is that some TV programs and commercials on all channels, when viewed on a wide-screen TV, are wide-screen (16:9) but are shrunk, meaning that there is a black border all the way around. It is as if you need a zoom control to zoom in on the picture so it will fill the complete screen.

After considerable contact with SBS, who have this situation more than other channels, the answer was figured out. It took some doing, as my original queries were not understood and I received a lot of information about aspect ratios but not about the problem. After photographing my analog 4:3 and digital 16:9 TV pictures when this condition existed, the problem was understood (by SBS).

TV in Australia is in transition, not just with analog to digital but also 4:3 to 16:9 and this change of aspect ratio is a difficult one when the TV stations have to try and satisfy two different consumer demands.

Only the Nine and Ten networks have full 16:9 studio capabilities, while the others have limited 16:9 studio capabilities or none. For example, some two years on, only channels Nine and Ten transmit their news in 16:9 on the digital service.

When a program is fundamentally 4:3 but with inserts of 16:9 material, there are two options: (1) crop off the sides of the 16:9 picture; or (2) show the 16:9 material in letterbox format. This means that the 4:3 analog viewer sees the studio-based picture (for example, the presenter) in 4:3, filling the screen with no missing picture.

When the 16:9 inserted material is then shown, the analog viewer sees this material in letterbox with a black bar at the top and bottom. This is because the program people want the analog viewer to see all of the 16:9 picture.