Analog station in widescreen???

[Mr Tony]

Don't know how much info I'll get as I know there isnt a lot of analog stations still out there

So got bored yesterday at work and found a antenna (silver sensor) in the break room so hooked it up to the TV there to see if I could get ANYTHING. Figured I might get the analog Fox station that is like 15 miles away. Well it came in (fuzzy) and one thing I noticed watching the news (then Mike and Molly) is the picture had black bars on the top and bottom of the screen (like a SD widescreen pic would look)

I didn't think analog could be in widescreen. I know when I went to Brainerd the ABC (which is also in analog) is 4x3 pic (with the sides chopped off). Or maybe they are using a simple converter box at the site that can do widescreen. I'm confused. Anybody have an analog station in their area and has seen that??

for the record the station is K39GG Aitkin, MN and relays KQDS Fox 21 Duluth, MN

 

[Titanium]

That must look gorgeous! What is worse that 480 interlaced lines? Maybe 400 interlaced lines? LOL!

 

[waylew]

I didn't think analog could be in widescreen.

Why not,you used to watch "wide screen",aka "letter boxed" dvds on your old 4x3 crt,didn't you?I did.
Here the local FOX SD subchannel is sent out letter boxed,the HD has it's own channel.I'm pretty sure the FOX SD feeds are sent out letter boxed.

 

[kofi123]

Analog translators are 4:3, but, just like a digital converter box sending an incoming 16:9 digital TV signal to a 4:3 analog TV, analog translators are able to display 16:9 input in different ways. Namely, for display on the translator, the 16:9 picture can be cropped, letterboxed, or squeezed.

I know when I went to Brainerd the ABC (which is also in analog) is 4x3 pic (with the sides chopped off).

Look again. K16BQ used to crop off the sides of the 16:9 KSAX digital signal, but for about the last year to year and a half, the translator has been an example of broadcasting a 16:9 picture squeezed into the 4:3 analog aspect ratio. If you have an old 4:3 TV, you will be forced to into seeing the programming look too tall and skinny, but with a widescreen TV, all you have to do is stretch the channel to 16:9 and things will look like they are supposed to. I much prefer this method over the old one of cutting the sides off.

The analog KQDS translators have had the KQDS feed always letterboxed within the 4:3 frame since, I believe, the 2009 digital transition (for full-power stations). In any event, this has been going on for several years now. Back before KQDS newscasts and syndicated programming were broadcast in widescreen/HD, that content would show up on the translators as "windowboxed" (black bars on all four sides of the programming).

The analog KMSP translators follow (or followed, in the case of the ones that have been converted to digital) the active format description in use on the main KMSP signal. This means that any remaining 4:3 programming broadcast on KMSP completely fills out the 4:3 frame of the translator, while, as with the KQDS translators, 16:9 programming displays as letterboxed.

 

[Mr Tony]

Here the local FOX SD subchannel is sent out letter boxed,the HD has it's own channel.I'm pretty sure the FOX SD feeds are sent out letter boxed.

but I assume your local FOX is in digital. I'm talking analog (fuzz and all)

 

[N5XZS]

I wonder if they sent true 480i 16/9 aspect ratio by more analog VSB, bandwith more then 4.2 MHz, in 6 MHz world beside it would a NTSC out of scope IMHO.

 

[Mr Tony]

Look again. K16BQ used to crop off the sides of the 16:9 KSAX digital signal, but for about the last year to year and a half, the translator has been an example of broadcasting a 16:9 picture squeezed into the 4:3 analog aspect ratio. If you have an old 4:3 TV, you will be forced to into seeing the programming look too tall and skinny, but with a widescreen TV, all you have to do is stretch the channel to 16:9 and things will look like they are supposed to. I much prefer this method over the old one of cutting the sides off.

I could have sworn the day I was in Brainerd with my antenna (the day the cops pulled into the fairgrounds to see what I was doing that 16 the ABC logo was right in the corner of my 7" TV.

The analog KQDS translators have had the KQDS feed always letterboxed within the 4:3 frame since, I believe, the 2009 digital transition (for full-power stations). In any event, this has been going on for several years now. Back before KQDS newscasts and syndicated programming were broadcast in widescreen/HD, that content would show up on the translators as "windowboxed" (black bars on all four sides of the programming).

I hadnt tried 39 in a while but I thought the other day it filled up the screen completely on my panny plasma whereas the other day there were black bars on to and bottom

 

[waylew]

but I assume your local FOX is in digital. I'm talking analog (fuzz and all)

True,but I'm assuming(I know that's bad )they're feeding the analog xmitter the SD letterboxed feed,which is meant for 4x3.There used to be a low power analog FOX here that was letter boxed.They turned that off a year or so ago,but at the time we had 3 FOX's,all the same station.