mono sound

channelsurfer

can anyone help me please i cant seem to get my sky system to go into stereo is it because its connectd through a mono video or shouldnt it be in stereo anyways thru the scart lead direct to the tv just get a black screen when i try direct to the scart channel on the tv.

byte

The ordinary RF outputs of digiboxes don't output Nicam stereo, just mono. Connecting SCART from digibox to TV will, however, give you stereo sound. Or connect the phono outputs to a hifi if nearby for even better sound

optip

the scart connector actually outputs dolby pro-logic stereo so it's really exellent on an external surround amp...

im watching the arsenal match on tv3 through the digibox and the surround sound is great :-)

/optip

channelsurfer

thanks irishbyte. i got it fixed the scart lead was connected to the video . there was 2 scart leads just took out the video one and put it directly to the tv. good stereo sound now all right. silly me. how come bbc channels arent in widescreen though is this just the way sky broadcast them:D

watty

The Digibox has 3 settings for picture in Services Setup Picture

1) 16:9
This is "raw" mode. It can be 4:3 or 16:9 anamorphic. Pick this for WS TVs, OR 4:3 TVs that have a 4:3/16:9/Auto menu. The VHS will record in Anamorphic too.

2) 4:3
4:3 pictures are normal. 16:9 anamorphic is resampled horizontally only and sides chopped.

3) Letterbox
4:3 is normal. 16:9 is resampled down vertically, losing detail and blank signal added above and below the picture.


Notes:
Sometimes a Channel puts a 4:3 picture in a 16:9 animorphic frame. This results in reduced detail in option 1 and 2, and in option 3, bars all around.

If you have an ordinary 4:3 TV, 16:9 material on option 1 will fill the screen but be stretched vertically. You might not notice! I fyou have option 2, on a 4:3 TV, you also won't see widescreen.

How does an advanced 4:3 TV do 16:9 and why this is better than 3?
An ordinary traditional 4:3 TV has no animorphic mode. The picture is always the same shape. To see the whole frame of WS, the picture must be reduced in lines (thowing away detail) with blank lines top and bottom (option 3). An advanced 4:3 TV (Big Philips, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Sony like 29"), does true anamorphic by reducing the scan hieght as if it had a 16:9 WS tube. All the lines have picture, no detail is thrown away, DVD or Digibox or replayed Digibox recording is in 16:9 mode or RAW mode. The black bands do not have lines.

watty

PC pixels are square.
4:3 DVD or DV or DVBs pixels are nearly square (720 or 704 instead of 768)
4:3 SVCD pixels are rectangular, horizonntally, (480 instead of 768)

16:9 is called animorphic as there are STILL 720 horizontal dots, they are simply displayed rectangular.

WS Film using "panavision" is animorphic. The 35mm frame is identical to traditional non-WS cinema (same as an olympus PEN 1/2 frame camera, regular 35mm still camera use a frame at rightangles to cinema format). The specail panavision lens squashes sideways and the projection lens spreads sideways.
Cinema WS is wider than TV widescreen, so even with a WS TV, you will STILL get black bands on OAR (orignainl Aspect Ratio) films transferred to DVD.

channelsurfer

wow thanks for that i got most of it. i had the digibox set to 16:9 anyways . basically if the picture is broadcast in wide screen the digibox will take away the black lines on my widescreen tv?

Richard

Originally posted by channelsurfer
wow thanks for that i got most of it. i had the digibox set to 16:9 anyways . basically if the picture is broadcast in wide screen the digibox will take away the black lines on my widescreen tv?

No, the black bars are a product of your TV displaying 4:3 with black bars left and right to fill the space. If a programme is widescreen, your box will set the widescreen flag so that the TV (if it is set up correctly) adjusts automatically to the widescreen picture by stretching it to fill the whole screen.

channelsurfer

but that dosent work richard because the black bars appear in all the programmes that are widescreen (er on rte last sunday) i think that sky are just not broadcasting bbc1 &2 ni in widescreen because i have ordinary analogue cable and at the same time its in widescreen on cable and not on digital satelitte. every other channel that broadcasts in wide screen on satelitte is in widescreen ie blackbars at the top/

thrillseeker

Channelsurfer - think about it carefully. The reason you see black bars is that broadcasters format the widescreen pictures so none of the width is lost on a standard 4:3 tv. This leads to black bars top and bottom.
You have a widescreen tv. It is the same shape as the widescreen format (so why show the black bars!) The widescreen on BBC1/2, E4 etc is anamorphic. It appears to be stretched vertically when you watch on a normal 4:3, but your digibox/tv compresses the picture giving a lovely detailed picture filling the entire frame of your wide screen tv! (BTW you will get black bars for "letterbox" widescreen such as 2.35:1 ratio)

So RTE broadcast ER in "widescreen" formatted for 4:3 tvs, so you see it with black bars.
When E4 show ER the picture fits the tv perfectly.

Anamorphic - GOOD!
4:3 + black bars - BAD!

watty

Yes, thrillseeker, good.


You may STILL get black bars EVEN on a WS TV with the Digibox set to 16:9....

1) BBC particularly insists on Txing 4:3 "letterboxed" in an Anamorphic 16:9 frame, so black bars at sides on a WS TV , and black border all the way around on 4:3 TV with Digibox Letterbox mode, or full screen 4:3 but blurry, in Digibox 4:3 crop mode on 4:3 TV.

2) Cinema WS is actually WIDER than 16:9! So an Original Aspect Ratio, transmission or DVD, even in Anamorphic WS mode has small black bars top & bottom on WS TV. It looks like a ribbon on 4:3 TV in Digibox 4:3 letterbox mode.


A Widescreen picture letterboxed before transmission (or DVD/VHS recording) will be letterbox on a 4:3 TV and black border all around on a WS TV. You can "zoom in" on some WS TVs manually. It isn't Anamorphic WS so it has less detail (Black Lines wasted doing the "letterboxing", Anamorphic WS has NO black lines, if 16:9 picture, but is only the right shape on a WS TV. A Digibox, or DVD player can "letterbox" or crop anamorphic for a regular 4:3 TV. Advanced 4:3 TVs shrink the hieght and pretend the have WS tubes, so can use 16:9 setting on DVD or Digibox).

channelsurfer

thanks guys i get the picture pardon me for my ignorance on that matter . you cleared it up for me