Comments on: Why Isn’t Setanta Sports Available In Widescreen Format?

By: DaveMo

DaveMo — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:37:43 +0000

I'm watching Setanta Sports News right now (the 5:00 PM program), and they are broadcasting the entire signal “squished” – touch one button on the widescreen TV (”stretch'), and you get a beautiful 16:9 picture. I'm not sure if it's just certain news programs, but I have noticed several times recently that Setanta is broadcasting like this. Not matches (yet), but one can hope.

By: Carefree in L.A.

Carefree in L.A. — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:58:51 +0000

Its in HD and 16×9 at Barneys Beanery in West Hollywood….how are they getting that?

By: John

John — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:23:47 +0000

'Here’s the response from Setanta Sports:
There’s no such broadcasting format in the USA as 16:9 Standard Definition. All USA Standard Definition broadcasting must be in 4:3. It cannot be 16:9.'

That statement is incorrect.
NBC for example have done it for years. Regular TV shows, and Wimbledon tennis (which only went HD in 2008).

Show it with the black bars.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:55:18 +0000

It is not only Setanta but other channels like Fox's football (soccer) channel. There is no reason they can not display the whole picture (16:9) and simply use the letterbox format. This is very common practice throughout Europe. It is inexcusable to say that we are just a SD broadcast station and can do nothing about it. There are times during EVERY game where one just simply misses the action or we hear the commentators discuss something that is simply cut off in the 4:3 picture. Now if they could just get rid of those stupid on-screen station I.D. monograms!

By: Martin

Martin — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:52:39 +0000

Well I am glad that I am not the only person that hates the way Setanta is cropping a 16:9 image and losing half the picture. The news is a joke with one presenter missing. I've also noticed that on a few occasions EPL games have started with a 16:9 image squashed into a 4:3 picture, so I switch my HDTV to stretch mode and we have widescreen for a few minutes until someone at Setanta catches on and switches the signal so its cropped again. I was recently in the UK watching games on SD tv sets but in widescreen so I dont know why they cannot do that here.