[ivtv-users] [ivtv-devel] NTSC & WSS (was: ivtv TODO list)

[Jay R. Ashworth]

----- "Devin Heitmueller" <dheitmueller at kernellabs.com> wrote:
> In the United States, NTSC is expected to be in 4x3, and if the
> content is widescreen then the content provider uses black bars above
> and below to preserve the aspect ratio.

What he said.  :-)

> Televisions have various features to allow the user to decide whether
> to stretch the 4x3 video or to preserve the 4x3 aspect ratio on the
> widescreen display (by adding black bars to the left and right).
> There are also zoom features built into televisions to attempt to
> crop out where the black bars would be.  But none of this is automatic.

Actually, newer sets will in fact try to auto-zoom when they detect 
lettterbox, pillarbox, or both at the same time.  They often get it wrong, though.

My sister has a Philips that actually does a pretty decent job.

> The United States has basically concluded that the only way to get
> true widescreen is to watch digital HD TV.

I don't believe it actually has to be HD.  I think that OTA DTV can actually
utilize widescreen SD resolutions akin to 800x480.

[ checks Wikipedia ]

704x480 for NTSC, in fact:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_television

Cheers,
-- jra

-- 
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