TV producers taking the P?

[Mervyn and Trish]

Once upon a time we all had TV's with a 4:3 ratio screen. In those days when cinema films were shown there was sometimes a black band at top and bottom of the screen because the format was different.

That was unavoidable unless you were to lose the action at the sides of the screen.

Then along came widescreen TV's, with a 16:9 ratio and, as more and more people owned them, more and more programmes were made in that format.

Now most of us have widescreen ]TV's. Films made for the cinema still have an incompatibility issue because they use an even wider format - again unavoidable.

But now we all have 16:9 TV's there's no longer any problem with programmes made specifically for TV is there?

Well actually it seems there is. Because despite us all having 16:9 TV's some trendy TV producers have decided to make their programmes in a wider format which none of us actually have. A case in point is The Casual Vacancy which began on Sunday, where again we have black bands at top and bottom of the screen.

So come off it TV producers. We've paid good money for all those HD pixels and you're wasting 20% of them broadcasting nothing but blackness!

Are they stupid or are they in the pay of the suppliers of a new generation of superwide TV's which aren't generally in the shops yet?

Rant over ..... for now.

[Stephen]

Once upon a time we all had TV's with a 4:3 ratio screen. In those days when cinema films were shown there was sometimes a black band at top and bottom of the screen because the format was different.

That was unavoidable unless you were to lose the action at the sides of the screen.

Then along came widescreen TV's, with a 16:9 ratio and, as more and more people owned them, more and more programmes were made in that format.

Now most of us have widescreen ]TV's. Films made for the cinema still have an incompatibility issue because they use an even wider format - again unavoidable.

But now we all have 16:9 TV's there's no longer any problem with programmes made specifically for TV is there?

Well actually it seems there is. Because despite us all having 16:9 TV's some trendy TV producers have decided to make their programmes in a wider format which none of us actually have. A case in point is The Casual Vacancy which began on Sunday, where again we have black bands at top and bottom of the screen.

So come off it TV producers. We've paid good money for all those HD pixels and you're wasting 20% of them broadcasting nothing but blackness!

Are they stupid or are they in the pay of the suppliers of a new generation of superwide TV's which aren't generally in the shops yet?

Rant over ..... for now.

When the black bars appear, normally on the latest movies, I just press the 'Aspect' button on the TV remote, scroll down and click on zoom2. Sorted

[GillD46]

We watched the Casual Vacancy, but didn't have any black bands top or bottom. We just change the format if they ever do appear as Stephen says.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Agreed that will fill the screen, but they're still only transmitting the letter box picture. If you change aspect on the set you either distort the persepective or lose a bit at the sides to make it fit, depending on the model of tv and range of settings you have. My point is they know the shape of screen 99% of viewers have. Why not tranmit a picture that fits that format rather than expect viewers to tinker with settings or put up with black bands. It makes no sense at all.

[Manoverboard]

Our TV has ' auto adjustment ' which takes care of such minor inconveniences, there is also an ' aspect ' button should one wish to tinker oneself. Failing that one can always change one's channel, there's plenty of them out there.

ps ... I blame the BBC myself, if they were a private company they would be more sympathetic to the needs of their long suffering customers

[Mervyn and Trish]

Not just a BBC phenomena, but I take your OTHER CHANNELS ARE AVAILABLE point. Still annoying, whatever the workarounds available, that they make programmes which don't naturally fit 99% of tvs