I live in Belgium where we get BBC TV 1 & 2 on the cable distribution 
system. Until a few months ago, we were receiving the standard analogue 14:9 
pictures on both BBC channels. Then it changed so that BBC 1 is now Super 
16:9 and BBC 2 is widescreen (according to the automatic switching on my 
Philips 16:9 LCD set). The image on BBC 1 is full screen wider than it 
should be and on BBC 2 we have a letter-box type of display.
I have made several attempts to talk to the cable company about this but 
they simply say they do not transform the image format in any way.
They cannot/will not tell me if they are receiving the BBC signals from a 
terrestrial analogue or digital source but it seems certain that it is not 
by satellite.

Can anyone here throw any technical light on the source of this problem.

Thanks,

brianf

In article <483728a4$0$2994$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be>,
	BrianF wrote:
> They cannot/will not tell me if they are receiving the BBC signals from a 
> terrestrial analogue or digital source but it seems certain that it is not 
> by satellite.

The terrestrial analogue service shows widescreen programmes in 14:9
letterbox format. 4:3 programmes should be shown in 4:3. A very small
number of films may be shown in 16:9 letterbox.

They're probably sourcing from a digital platform and have
misconfigured their head end equipment.

Is there any teletext present? If there's a minimal teletext service
(eg. subtitles on 888), the chances are it's being sourced from
satellite. If not, DVB-T is the most likely.

-- 
Paul Martin

BrianF wrote:
> I live in Belgium where we get BBC TV 1 & 2 on the cable distribution 
> system. Until a few months ago, we were receiving the standard analogue 14:9 
> pictures on both BBC channels. Then it changed so that BBC 1 is now Super 
> 16:9 and BBC 2 is widescreen (according to the automatic switching on my 
> Philips 16:9 LCD set). The image on BBC 1 is full screen wider than it 
> should be and on BBC 2 we have a letter-box type of display.
> I have made several attempts to talk to the cable company about this but 
> they simply say they do not transform the image format in any way.
> They cannot/will not tell me if they are receiving the BBC signals from a 
> terrestrial analogue or digital source but it seems certain that it is not 
> by satellite.
> 
> Can anyone here throw any technical light on the source of this problem.

The Benelex cable cos certainly used to derive BBC 1 and BBC 2 by off air 
reception of the Dover transmitter. I'm a regular visitor to Amsterdam. Since 
about 2004 BBC 1 and 2 are now in 16:9 letterbox as seen via cable networks 
presented at hotels, so the signal is derived from Astra. The give-away is the 
restricted Ceefax service, and BBC London regional programmes. (Dover carries 
BBC South East).

It sounds as if your cable co is taking BBC 2 from Astra, but BBC 1 either 
from analogue Dover, of from a receiver set to 4:3 centre cut out, and 
possibly adding a Line 23 WSS 16:9 ident.

Are there still black bars visible top and bottom on the BBC 1 picture, that 
along with the Ceefax/regional thing, should verify whether the source is 
Dover or Astra.

-- 
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

In article <483728a4$0$2994$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be>,
   BrianF  wrote:
> I live in Belgium where we get BBC TV 1 & 2 on the cable distribution
> system. Until a few months ago, we were receiving the standard analogue
> 14:9 pictures on both BBC channels. Then it changed so that BBC 1 is
> now Super 16:9 and BBC 2 is widescreen (according to the automatic
> switching on my Philips 16:9 LCD set). The image on BBC 1 is full
> screen wider than it should be and on BBC 2 we have a letter-box type
> of display. I have made several attempts to talk to the cable company
> about this but they simply say they do not transform the image format
> in any way. They cannot/will not tell me if they are receiving the BBC
> signals from a terrestrial analogue or digital source but it seems
> certain that it is not by satellite.

> Can anyone here throw any technical light on the source of this problem.

It must be 'their end' since there is no difference between BBC 1&2.
If they are sourcing off an analogue off air feed that is basically 4:3.
If satellite or FreeView basically 16:9. A line feed would be (should be)
16:9

-- 
*It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats*

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"BrianF"  wrote in message 
news:483728a4$0$2994$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be...
>I live in Belgium where we get BBC TV 1 & 2 on the cable distribution 
>system. Until a few months ago, we were receiving the standard analogue 
>14:9 pictures on both BBC channels. Then it changed so that BBC 1 is now 
>Super 16:9 and BBC 2 is widescreen (according to the automatic switching on 
>my Philips 16:9 LCD set). The image on BBC 1 is full screen wider than it 
>should be and on BBC 2 we have a letter-box type of display.
> I have made several attempts to talk to the cable company about this but 
> they simply say they do not transform the image format in any way.
> They cannot/will not tell me if they are receiving the BBC signals from a 
> terrestrial analogue or digital source but it seems certain that it is not 
> by satellite.
>
> Can anyone here throw any technical light on the source of this problem.
>
Small correction - it is Zoom 16:9 for BBC1. There is obviously a flag set 
by the cable company as, no matter what format I set the TV to produce, when 
switching to BBC1, after a one second pause it always switches to Zoom 16:9. 
BBC2 seems not to have any format flag because it follows what ever format I 
set. For instance, If I set the TV to 4:3, I see a 14:9 picture on both BBC 
channels (black all around a wide picture), As I said, BBC1 then switches to 
Zoom 16:9. BBC2 remains where it is unless, as this afternoon, there is a 
film in 4:3 when the picture fills the full height of the screen.
The Ceefax display refers to a restricted service and talks about viewers 
inside and outside the UK. (Funny for the BBC to acknowledge the existence 
of viewers outside the UK!).

brianf

"Paul Martin"  wrote in message 
news:slrng3ekpg.i06.pm@thinkpad.nowster.org.uk...
> In article <483728a4$0$2994$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be>,
> BrianF wrote:
>> They cannot/will not tell me if they are receiving the BBC signals from a
>> terrestrial analogue or digital source but it seems certain that it is 
>> not
>> by satellite.
>
> The terrestrial analogue service shows widescreen programmes in 14:9
> letterbox format. 4:3 programmes should be shown in 4:3. A very small
> number of films may be shown in 16:9 letterbox.
>
> They're probably sourcing from a digital platform and have
> misconfigured their head end equipment.
>
> Is there any teletext present? If there's a minimal teletext service
> (eg. subtitles on 888), the chances are it's being sourced from
> satellite. If not, DVB-T is the most likely.
>
On Astra, BBC1 Ceefax says analogue Ceefax has been replaced by a digital 
service whereas BBC2 has a first page that refers to viewers inside and 
outside the UK.
On our cable, Ceefax on BBC1 and 2 both have the same first page as is on 
BBC2 on Astra.
The BBC signals on our cable do have one other characteristic that suggests 
they are satellite sourced and that is:
BBC1 on the cable is the London region whereas we watch BBC1 South on Astra. 
If I have the kitchen TV tuned to BBC1 on the cable and the lounge TV tuned 
to BBC1 South, there is a 2-second delay on the lounge set. However, if I 
tune the lounge set to BBC1 London, the 2 sets are almost in sync.
I must admit, I don't understand that as, whatever is on the satellite 
should have the same satellite path delay. Weird or what!

brianf

"Mark Carver" <mark.carver@invalid.invalid> wrote in message 
news:69pvjtF32ufttU1@mid.individual.net...
> BrianF wrote:
>> I live in Belgium where we get BBC TV 1 & 2 on the cable distribution 
>> system. Until a few months ago, we were receiving the standard analogue 
>> 14:9 pictures on both BBC channels. Then it changed so that BBC 1 is now 
>> Super 16:9 and BBC 2 is widescreen (according to the automatic switching 
>> on my Philips 16:9 LCD set). The image on BBC 1 is full screen wider than 
>> it should be and on BBC 2 we have a letter-box type of display.
>> I have made several attempts to talk to the cable company about this but 
>> they simply say they do not transform the image format in any way.
>> They cannot/will not tell me if they are receiving the BBC signals from a 
>> terrestrial analogue or digital source but it seems certain that it is 
>> not by satellite.
>>
>> Can anyone here throw any technical light on the source of this problem.
>
> The Benelex cable cos certainly used to derive BBC 1 and BBC 2 by off air 
> reception of the Dover transmitter. I'm a regular visitor to Amsterdam. 
> Since about 2004 BBC 1 and 2 are now in 16:9 letterbox as seen via cable 
> networks presented at hotels, so the signal is derived from Astra. The 
> give-away is the restricted Ceefax service, and BBC London regional 
> programmes. (Dover carries BBC South East).
>
> It sounds as if your cable co is taking BBC 2 from Astra, but BBC 1 either 
> from analogue Dover, of from a receiver set to 4:3 centre cut out, and 
> possibly adding a Line 23 WSS 16:9 ident.
>
> Are there still black bars visible top and bottom on the BBC 1 picture, 
> that along with the Ceefax/regional thing, should verify whether the 
> source is Dover or Astra.
>
I don't think you can conclude that what they do in The Netherlands is the 
same as they do here.

brianf

BrianF wrote:
> "Mark Carver" <mark.carver@invalid.invalid> wrote in message 

>> Are there still black bars visible top and bottom on the BBC 1 picture, 
>> that along with the Ceefax/regional thing, should verify whether the 
>> source is Dover or Astra.
>>
> I don't think you can conclude that what they do in The Netherlands is the 
> same as they do here.

If you mean 'here' as the UK, then I wasn't. I don't understand your statement ?



-- 
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

BrianF wrote:

> BBC1 on the cable is the London region whereas we watch BBC1 South on Astra. 
> If I have the kitchen TV tuned to BBC1 on the cable and the lounge TV tuned 
> to BBC1 South, there is a 2-second delay on the lounge set. However, if I 
> tune the lounge set to BBC1 London, the 2 sets are almost in sync.
> I must admit, I don't understand that as, whatever is on the satellite 
> should have the same satellite path delay. Weird or what!

BBC 1 English regions as seen on digital platforms, have an extra coding 
iteration, which is applied at the BBC regional centres. Therefore BBC 1 
London will always be a couple of seconds ahead of them. There is also the 
latency in the link back from the BBC regional studios to London. Remember all 
BBC regions are uplinked to Astra from London.


-- 
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

BrianF wrote:

> On Astra, BBC1 Ceefax says analogue Ceefax has been replaced by a digital 
> service whereas BBC2 has a first page that refers to viewers inside and 
> outside the UK.

Yes, but no.

BBC 1 London and BBC 2 England streams on Astra carry the limited Ceefax 
pages, the other BBC 1 and 2 regions do not. The reason being is entirely 
because the Benelux cable cos use the BBC 1 London, and BBC 2 England streams 
(with full BBC agreement).

Take a look and compare the pages on BBC 1 London via Astra with any other BBC 
1 region on Astra.



-- 
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

BrianF wrote:
>>> Can anyone here throw any technical light on the source of this problem.
>> The Benelex cable cos certainly used to derive BBC 1 and BBC 2 by off air 
>> reception of the Dover transmitter. I'm a regular visitor to Amsterdam. 
>> Since about 2004 BBC 1 and 2 are now in 16:9 letterbox as seen via cable 
>> networks presented at hotels, so the signal is derived from Astra. The 
>> give-away is the restricted Ceefax service, and BBC London regional 
>> programmes. (Dover carries BBC South East).

This is only true for analogue cable systems. The digital ones are in 
normal 16:9, not in letterbox. They do use astra however.

>> It sounds as if your cable co is taking BBC 2 from Astra, but BBC 1 either 
>> from analogue Dover, of from a receiver set to 4:3 centre cut out, and 
>> possibly adding a Line 23 WSS 16:9 ident.
>>
>> Are there still black bars visible top and bottom on the BBC 1 picture, 
>> that along with the Ceefax/regional thing, should verify whether the 
>> source is Dover or Astra.
>>
> I don't think you can conclude that what they do in The Netherlands is the 
> same as they do here.

You can't. The only thing you know is that before Astra, Belgian and 
Dutch cable companies used Dover (receiver in Nieuwpoort on a water 
tower) and before that, some companies just took Wrotham or Talcolneston 
(and perhaps Dover) UHF.

gr, hwh

Mark Carver wrote:
> BrianF wrote:
> 
>> On Astra, BBC1 Ceefax says analogue Ceefax has been replaced by a 
>> digital service whereas BBC2 has a first page that refers to viewers 
>> inside and outside the UK.
> 
> Yes, but no.
> 
> BBC 1 London and BBC 2 England streams on Astra carry the limited Ceefax 
> pages, the other BBC 1 and 2 regions do not. The reason being is 
> entirely because the Benelux cable cos use the BBC 1 London, and BBC 2 
> England streams (with full BBC agreement).

And BBC 3 and 4 as well.

> Take a look and compare the pages on BBC 1 London via Astra with any 
> other BBC 1 region on Astra.

That does give it away.

gr, hwh

"Mark Carver" <mark.carver@invalid.invalid> wrote in message 
news:69r190F34nhkhU1@mid.individual.net...
> BrianF wrote:
>> "Mark Carver" <mark.carver@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>
>>> Are there still black bars visible top and bottom on the BBC 1 picture, 
>>> that along with the Ceefax/regional thing, should verify whether the 
>>> source is Dover or Astra.
>>>
>> I don't think you can conclude that what they do in The Netherlands is 
>> the same as they do here.
>
> If you mean 'here' as the UK, then I wasn't. I don't understand your 
> statement ?
>
As indicated in my original post, here for me is Belgium (southern).

brianf

"hwh" <iimeeltje@hotmail.com.nospam> wrote in message 
news:48386df0$0$14342$e4fe514c@news.xs4all.nl...
> BrianF wrote:
>>>> Can anyone here throw any technical light on the source of this 
>>>> problem.
>>> The Benelex cable cos certainly used to derive BBC 1 and BBC 2 by off 
>>> air reception of the Dover transmitter. I'm a regular visitor to 
>>> Amsterdam. Since about 2004 BBC 1 and 2 are now in 16:9 letterbox as 
>>> seen via cable networks presented at hotels, so the signal is derived 
>>> from Astra. The give-away is the restricted Ceefax service, and BBC 
>>> London regional programmes. (Dover carries BBC South East).
>
> This is only true for analogue cable systems. The digital ones are in 
> normal 16:9, not in letterbox. They do use astra however.
>
>>> It sounds as if your cable co is taking BBC 2 from Astra, but BBC 1 
>>> either from analogue Dover, of from a receiver set to 4:3 centre cut 
>>> out, and possibly adding a Line 23 WSS 16:9 ident.
>>>
>>> Are there still black bars visible top and bottom on the BBC 1 picture, 
>>> that along with the Ceefax/regional thing, should verify whether the 
>>> source is Dover or Astra.
>>>
>> I don't think you can conclude that what they do in The Netherlands is 
>> the same as they do here.
>
> You can't. The only thing you know is that before Astra, Belgian and Dutch 
> cable companies used Dover (receiver in Nieuwpoort on a water tower) and 
> before that, some companies just took Wrotham or Talcolneston (and perhaps 
> Dover) UHF.
>
Indeed, over here we were all very familiar with the hiatus in the 1970s due 
to the BBC objections. Even over more recent years, it appears that the BBC 
is somewhat retiscent about admitting to the licence paying public in the UK 
that they sanction cable distribution of their signals on the continent.

brianf

"Mark Carver" <mark.carver@invalid.invalid> wrote in message 
news:69r1hcF32tktnU1@mid.individual.net...
> BrianF wrote:
>
>> BBC1 on the cable is the London region whereas we watch BBC1 South on 
>> Astra. If I have the kitchen TV tuned to BBC1 on the cable and the lounge 
>> TV tuned to BBC1 South, there is a 2-second delay on the lounge set. 
>> However, if I tune the lounge set to BBC1 London, the 2 sets are almost 
>> in sync.
>> I must admit, I don't understand that as, whatever is on the satellite 
>> should have the same satellite path delay. Weird or what!
>
> BBC 1 English regions as seen on digital platforms, have an extra coding 
> iteration, which is applied at the BBC regional centres. Therefore BBC 1 
> London will always be a couple of seconds ahead of them. There is also the 
> latency in the link back from the BBC regional studios to London. Remember 
> all BBC regions are uplinked to Astra from London.
>
>
Many thanks for that clarification.

brianf

"BrianF"  wrote in message 
news:48387dbe$0$2944$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be...
> Indeed, over here we were all very familiar with the hiatus in the 1970s 
> due to the BBC objections. Even over more recent years, it appears that 
> the BBC is somewhat retiscent about admitting to the licence paying public 
> in the UK that they sanction cable distribution of their signals on the 
> continent.

I don't know why. The more time Johnny Foreigner spends watching UK TV the 
more chance there is of him adopting our civilised ways.

Bill

In article <48387dbe$0$2944$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be>,
   BrianF  wrote:

[Snip]

> >
> Indeed, over here we were all very familiar with the hiatus in the 1970s
> due to the BBC objections. Even over more recent years, it appears that
> the BBC is somewhat retiscent about admitting to the licence paying
> public in the UK that they sanction cable distribution of their signals
> on the continent.

I don't know why there should be reticence on the BBc's part.  They get
paid for the service - at least they used to, I assume they still do.

-- 
From KT24 - in "Leafy Surrey"

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.11

"Mark Carver" <mark.carver@invalid.invalid> wrote in message 
news:69r1hcF32tktnU1@mid.individual.net...
> BrianF wrote:
>
>> BBC1 on the cable is the London region whereas we watch BBC1 South on 
>> Astra. If I have the kitchen TV tuned to BBC1 on the cable and the lounge 
>> TV tuned to BBC1 South, there is a 2-second delay on the lounge set. 
>> However, if I tune the lounge set to BBC1 London, the 2 sets are almost 
>> in sync.
>> I must admit, I don't understand that as, whatever is on the satellite 
>> should have the same satellite path delay. Weird or what!
>
> BBC 1 English regions as seen on digital platforms, have an extra coding 
> iteration, which is applied at the BBC regional centres. Therefore BBC 1 
> London will always be a couple of seconds ahead of them. There is also the 
> latency in the link back from the BBC regional studios to London. Remember 
> all BBC regions are uplinked to Astra from London.
>
>
Given the potential inacuracies of screen measurements, I would have to 
agreed that BBC2 image is nearer to 16:9 than to 14:9 so it seems likely 
that the signals are souced from Astra and that, for some obscure reason, 
the cable company is adding a flag to BBC1 but not to BBC2. Even so, the 
BBC1 cable picture is slightly wider than it should be while the BBC2 
picture behaves the same way if I set the TV to Zoom 16:9.
I route the analogue output of the satellite receiver to the same set (in 
the kitchen) and the automatically detected format for that is 'Widescreen' 
(ie. native 16:9) and the image is correctly proportioned.
All this seems to confirm my original suspicion that the cable company has 
screwed up the formatting but (characteristically) they will never admit it. 
Lets face it, if they were simply converting the digital signal to analogue 
and placing it on the cable, it would be in native 16:9 format.
Thanks to all who contributed. That helped me to better understand the 
situation.

brianf

"charles"  wrote in message 
news:4fa4ace623charles@charleshope.demon.co.uk...
> In article <48387dbe$0$2944$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be>,
>   BrianF  wrote:
>
> [Snip]
>
>> >
>> Indeed, over here we were all very familiar with the hiatus in the 1970s
>> due to the BBC objections. Even over more recent years, it appears that
>> the BBC is somewhat retiscent about admitting to the licence paying
>> public in the UK that they sanction cable distribution of their signals
>> on the continent.
>
> I don't know why there should be reticence on the BBc's part.  They get
> paid for the service - at least they used to, I assume they still do.
>
Ah, but would the great British public accept that?

brianf

"Bill Wright"  wrote in
news:HZednde2t8EJHKXVnZ2dnUVZ8qLinZ2d@pipex.net: 

> 
> "BrianF"  wrote in message 
> news:48387dbe$0$2944$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be...
>> Indeed, over here we were all very familiar with the hiatus in the
>> 1970s due to the BBC objections. Even over more recent years, it
>> appears that the BBC is somewhat retiscent about admitting to the
>> licence paying public in the UK that they sanction cable distribution
>> of their signals on the continent.
> 
> I don't know why. The more time Johnny Foreigner spends watching UK TV
> the more chance there is of him adopting our civilised ways.

If only the BBC had that attitude, but they don't. Presumably they are 
afraid that they'd sell less of their own productions to other tv 
stations and of their DVDs, if half of Europe had seen them before for 
free. Likewhise they'd have to pay more royalties for movies or foreign 
shows they wish to show. This is why they prohibit cable distribution 
of their domestic channels, and use Astra transponders with limited 
coverage. Belgium and the Netherlands are exceptions, because 
historically they were pioneers of cable television. Those countries 
have always distributed all terrestrial channels of their neighbouring 
countries nationwide, since that was the main purpose of developing the 
cable systems in the first place. After the BBC objected, they 
negotiated their right to keep it that way.

-- 
The anaesthetist misjudged the width of the bridge.

http://www.wschwanke.de/          usenet_20031215 (AT) wschwanke (DOT) de

Bill Wright wrote:
> "BrianF"  wrote in message 
> news:48387dbe$0$2944$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be...
>> Indeed, over here we were all very familiar with the hiatus in the 1970s 
>> due to the BBC objections. Even over more recent years, it appears that 
>> the BBC is somewhat retiscent about admitting to the licence paying public 
>> in the UK that they sanction cable distribution of their signals on the 
>> continent.
> 
> I don't know why. The more time Johnny Foreigner spends watching UK TV the 
> more chance there is of him adopting our civilised ways.

The most civilised thing is of course if Johnny Foreigner buys BBC 
programs that he has not been able to see for free :-)

gr, hwh

On Sun, 25 May 2008 00:31:54 +0200, hwh <iimeeltje@hotmail.com.nospam> wrote:

>Bill Wright wrote:
>> "BrianF"  wrote in message 
>> news:48387dbe$0$2944$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be...
>>> Indeed, over here we were all very familiar with the hiatus in the 1970s 
>>> due to the BBC objections. Even over more recent years, it appears that 
>>> the BBC is somewhat retiscent about admitting to the licence paying public 
>>> in the UK that they sanction cable distribution of their signals on the 
>>> continent.

The BBC sells cable rights abroad.

>> 
>> I don't know why. The more time Johnny Foreigner spends watching UK TV the 
>> more chance there is of him adopting our civilised ways.
>
>The most civilised thing is of course if Johnny Foreigner buys BBC 
>programs that he has not been able to see for free :-)

Teletubby neo-colonialism?

The Dutch have followed the BBC example. All FIFA European Cup matches will be
available free live via streaming video exclusively to those with a Dutch IP
address.
-- 

Martin

Cable companies in Belgium and the Netherlands now source their BBC
channels from satellite - guarenteed!

No access for newgroups at the Beeb at the mo, otherwise I'd have seen
this earlier.

rgds Martyn

wrote in message 
news:n5sk341a94oatmgrlvhdet2tlqn0ug9jf0@4ax.com...
> Cable companies in Belgium and the Netherlands now source their BBC
> channels from satellite - guarenteed!
>
> No access for newgroups at the Beeb at the mo, otherwise I'd have seen
> this earlier.
>
Thanks for the confirmation. Unfortunately, by the time the sigs reach the 
end user they have been somewhat mangled.

brianf

On Mon, 26 May 2008 18:10:04 +0200, "BrianF"  wrote:

>
> wrote in message 
>news:n5sk341a94oatmgrlvhdet2tlqn0ug9jf0@4ax.com...
>> Cable companies in Belgium and the Netherlands now source their BBC
>> channels from satellite - guarenteed!
>>
>> No access for newgroups at the Beeb at the mo, otherwise I'd have seen
>> this earlier.
>>
>Thanks for the confirmation. Unfortunately, by the time the sigs reach the 
>end user they have been somewhat mangled.

They are perfect in NL.
-- 

Martin

BrianF  wrote:

> "charles"  wrote in message 
> news:4fa4ace623charles@charleshope.demon.co.uk...
> >
> > I don't know why there should be reticence on the BBc's part.  They get
> > paid for the service - at least they used to, I assume they still do.
> >
> Ah, but would the great British public accept that?

The great British public swallows everything the BBC tells them.

-- 
Alan Pemberton
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
To e-mail me directly, please visit
<http://www.pembers.freeserve.co.uk/index.html#Mail-me>

BrianF  wrote:

> Small correction - it is Zoom 16:9 for BBC1. There is obviously a flag set
> by the cable company as, no matter what format I set the TV to produce, when
> switching to BBC1, after a one second pause it always switches to Zoom 16:9.

The cableco - or the decoder it is using - must be adding a WSS VBI
signal indicating a Zoom 16:9 picture (as C4 analogue does on its 16L12
shows).

If this inconveniences you, it is sometimes possible to switch off WSS
decoding (though it will be called something obscure in the menus) on a
widescreen telly. On my Sony WEGA, turning off 'auto widescreen
switching' does that, but the set still responds to pin 8 voltage 16F16
switching.

-- 
Alan Pemberton
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
To e-mail me directly, please visit
<http://www.pembers.freeserve.co.uk/index.html#Mail-me>

"Alan Pemberton" <Spambox@pembers.freeserve.co.uk.invalid> wrote in 
message 
news:1ihk6dr.19xm90dg8t9ciN%Spambox@pembers.freeserve.co.uk.invalid...
> BrianF  wrote:
>
>> "charles"  wrote in message
>> news:4fa4ace623charles@charleshope.demon.co.uk...
>> >
>> > I don't know why there should be reticence on the BBc's part. 
>> > They get
>> > paid for the service - at least they used to, I assume they still 
>> > do.
>> >
>> Ah, but would the great British public accept that?
>
> The great British public swallows everything the BBC tells them.
>

They don't have a lot of choice...

"Martin" <me@address.invalid> wrote in message 
news:7ool341ahefrsce0urjqja712ui5qfqckb@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 26 May 2008 18:10:04 +0200, "BrianF"  wrote:
>
>>
>> wrote in message
>>news:n5sk341a94oatmgrlvhdet2tlqn0ug9jf0@4ax.com...
>>> Cable companies in Belgium and the Netherlands now source their BBC
>>> channels from satellite - guarenteed!
>>>
>>> No access for newgroups at the Beeb at the mo, otherwise I'd have seen
>>> this earlier.
>>>
>>Thanks for the confirmation. Unfortunately, by the time the sigs reach the
>>end user they have been somewhat mangled.
>
> They are perfect in NL.


Thanks but evidently not the same distribution company.

brianf

"Alan Pemberton" <Spambox@pembers.freeserve.co.uk.invalid> wrote in message 
news:1ihk6gs.1l1celdxs400N%Spambox@pembers.freeserve.co.uk.invalid...
> BrianF  wrote:
>
>> Small correction - it is Zoom 16:9 for BBC1. There is obviously a flag 
>> set
>> by the cable company as, no matter what format I set the TV to produce, 
>> when
>> switching to BBC1, after a one second pause it always switches to Zoom 
>> 16:9.
>
> The cableco - or the decoder it is using - must be adding a WSS VBI
> signal indicating a Zoom 16:9 picture (as C4 analogue does on its 16L12
> shows).
>
> If this inconveniences you, it is sometimes possible to switch off WSS
> decoding (though it will be called something obscure in the menus) on a
> widescreen telly. On my Sony WEGA, turning off 'auto widescreen
> switching' does that, but the set still responds to pin 8 voltage 16F16
> switching.
>
Zoom 16:9 is the best compromise but the only format setting that shows the 
full picture undistorted is 4:3. Then the 16:9 image is visible with black 
all round. (I think this is known as 16:9 window format.)

brianf