RTE - Widescreen question

trevormcdonald

Due to my addiction to 24, I am being forced to watch it on Network 2 from next Tuesday as they are showing two episodes and will then be ahead of BBC Choice. Does anyone know who I could contact in RTE to find out why they don't show this excellent show in widescreen? I know I have been spoiled by the BBCs offering and even Fox show it this way, but I am prepared to forgive the advertisement intrusion to watch it on RTE. ER is good enough for them to show in this format, so what's wrong with this one, or is it just that they only receive the 4:3 version. They even used to show films in w/s up until about a year ago. Was this stopped as a result of their 'money woes', to demonstrate that they couldn't invest in future technology?
Why do idiots like me bother to buy widescreen tv's when the national broadcaster doesn't know/care that the format exists.

Trev.

dmeehan

er was shown in widescreen on sunday
(i think it was anyway, the memory's not what it used to be)

Amnesiac_ie

I think RTE can only broadcast one format. Therefore as the majority of viewers are still using 4:3 screens, almost all output from Montrose is 4:3. er and EastEnders are notable exceptions.

bkehoe

ER has always been in widescreen on terrestial (this season anyway).

Elmo

The music shown on The Late Late Show is also shown in Widescreen.

I have to say i didnt notice that BBC2 showed 24 in widescreen. That could be due to the fact that they show multiple screens at the same time on that show.

It's a great show. Looking forward to tonight it is very addictive, must see tv.

I like ER in widescreen it looks more professional.

byte

Looking at Eastenders now on RTE1 via Sky and although there are black bars, it's not anamorphic widescreen.:(

Mossy Monk

RTÉ have Eastenders in the lovely 14:9 ratio but it is shown 16:9 on BBC . i don't know they show ER widescreen and not others like 24. even some of the ads are show in 16:9

Elmo

There was An articel in one of the newspapers about this a while ago. RTE said that The Late Late Show Studio was full widescreen compatiable, No Tears went out in windscreen as did DDU and making the cut, On home ground could have too.

TV3 is fully widescreen compatable the broadcast in Widescreen but change over to Normal screen as not many people have widescreen.

And ER was produced back in 1998 for the first time in Widescreen as the producers thought that it was more professional looking and may of the advertisement in america use widescreen.

It was in one of the sunday newspapers????

thrillseeker

During the test period for Sky Digital, I was watching home and away on network 2 in 14:9 (4:3 ratio with black bars), when the program was interrupted.

When it came back it was in glorious anamorphic 16:9.
Then it switched back to 14:9 black bars after a few minutes.

I would say that all of the broadcasters could easily switch to anamorpic transmission if they wanted to.

Until widescreen tvs outnumber standard ones they probably won't.

Thank god for BBC1/2, E4, and Premier Widescreen.

Gadgie

I have e-mailed RTÉ twice already about this (and a third time just a minute ago...) and have yet to receive a reply :mad:

ER is made to be shown in 16:9 widescreen, and that is the way RTÉ show it (although a few days ago I saw a midday repeat which was cropped to 14:9...), but it would be just as easy for them to broadcast in anamorphic widescreen on digital and letterbox it for the analogue broadcast simultaneously, similar to the way BBC, ITV, C4 et al do.

I think the reason that RTÉ only broacast certain shows in widescreen is because that is the way that the distributors supply them, ie. RTÉ do not request them specifically. Note that '24' is only shown in widescreen on HDTV in the US and 4:3 on the standard broadcasts. Also, the more observant of you may have noticed that the BBC is showing bad conversions of 24, and if this is the price we'd have to pay for widescreen, I'd rather stick with the regular copies, thanks.

Those fools at Sky One say that they will not broadcast in widescreen until 16:9 sets outnumber 4:3 sets, which leads to the excellent 'Angel' being cropped from 16:9 to 4:3 without giving the viewers a choice how they want to watch it through their digibox! You can see how the show suffers from this here. (NOTE: This link contains spoilers for Angel S3 "Waiting In The Wings")

Also, why are all these ads appearing telling people to buy widescreen TVs in time for the world cup "to get the bigger picture"? Are they thinking that this extra picture is going to materialise from nowhere? Perhaps they know something we don't...

</rant>



Glenn

carrolls

I noticed that on Sky One last night when they showed Die Hard.
It seemed that the little square was following Bruce Willis's head
around for every scene. After 10 minutes your eyes become so tired that you give up watching. Then the adds come on to give your eyes a rest.
Movies are just unwatchable because of this crap.
And furthermore, the add breaks are way too long.

Mossy Monk

During the test period for Sky Digital, I was watching home and away on network 2 in 14:9 (4:3 ratio with black bars), when the program was interrupted.

When it came back it was in glorious anamorphic 16:9.
Then it switched back to 14:9 black bars after a few minutes.

i remember stumbling across this. i noticed Network 2 had a still picture, programme went off and came back 16:9. but it was the exact same on analogue so sadly it wasn't a test for digital broadcasts.

ER is made to be shown in 16:9 widescreen, and that is the way RTÉ show it (although a few days ago I saw a midday repeat which was cropped to 14:9...)

i also remember this, if it was the one i saw it had some woman who collapsed in the back of the car and yes it looked terrible. i'm watching way too much telly