Video Asylum

Posted by petew (A) on January 06, 2002 at 07:39:45

In Reply to: viewing cable tv on a widescreen tv.... posted by Susan on January 05, 2002 at 14:41:00:

hi Susan,

i didn't understand a word of your post, nor do i understand John's response, but I do believe i understand the confusion part

i recently purchased a 16:9 set with a built-in doubler/scaler.
i receive my network feed from the 100% digital Directv satellites (you need two satellites to get HD programming)

here's what i've deduced about the "scaling" issues you address in your post:

with 4:3 or "normal" television—the worldview we all grew up with that was endorsed and established by our parents-- you get black lines on the sides of your 16:9 viewscreen. the owner's manual for the display warns in big black letters that this will cause permanent damage to the mindset if you continue to watch like this. the manual also notes that the display of unmoving logos will "burn-out" that area of the brain. all broadcasts either over the air, on cable, or via satellite send unmoving logos to the lower right corner of the screen--thus assuring a "churning" of new television purchases every 2 or 3 years. Oh...the manual also warns against "crawlers"...the moving text lines broadcast in startling prose by every (pardon the expression) news network. i just wanted to assure you that the FBI has not rescinded the "high alert" admonition--they want us all to remain in a enhanced state of psychological terror at least until the chief justice of the supreme court re-elects sheriff (wanted: dead or blowed-up) shrubbery.

Widescream: with shows broadcast in Widescream (ie: the West Wing on NBC) you will get a screen filled with information...actually, it will be overfilled--the "high-alert" crawlers at the bottom of the screen may be partly cut-off, thus causing an even more "enhanced" state of alertness in the viewer because you can't read the latest update on the inability of the CIA or special forces to determine the last known reliable location of Dick Cheney.

What you can do is use some of the options on the tv for "scaling".

you can try the "zoom" option, which "blows up" (the president favors this option) the picture in such a way that you can't find or doubt the reliable location of all the pixels around the edges. this takes advantage of smart bomb technology to burrow deep into the assumed central structure of the situation, and blows it up, leaving the fringe areas to the Northern Alliance and Noam Chomsky. at least, that's what Rumsfeld says, but we can't be sure because nobody can see what Ashcroft and Cheney are doing just off the screen--i always feel a bit uneazy with the zoom solution to terrorism--I mean television. there's something distorted about it that only a warped mind could ever be comfortable with.

then there's the "justify" option. This scaler solution “fills in the blanks”. I don’t know how they do it but the unknown areas signified by black bars on the top and bottom of the cell are mysteriously hidden and filled in with what appears to be a normal situation. All the Arab-Americans suddenly disappear and everything goes back to “normal”. It’s not normal though because the whole image is bigger than before, almost as if we’ve taken on more than we can handle. It is an amazing thing to see—I don’t understand it at all.

“Full”: this is the option you use when you watch DVD’s like Apocalypse Now Redux. You’ll see huge bands of unknown areas at the top and bottom, like rows of dominoes. In between is a thin band stretching from horizon to horizon. If forces you to squint like when your have to look for something directly into the rising sun—almost more than you can see without constant diligance—scanning your attention back and forth—head on a swivel--you have the feeling that even though it’s clearly all there in plain view, you somehow lack the ability to comprehend the full impact of the situation. But this is the way the world is; this is the future, where we’re going to spend the rest of our lives.

And finally there’s “Auto”. There’s no thinking at all here. On my tv it’s called “Panasonic Auto”. This multi-national corporation has done all the work for you, and pre-selects the images that best suit the goals of the new world order. You may notice that occasionally black bands will appear here and there, and then just as suddenly disappear, without any rhyme or reason. And sometimes you get a hint of distortion—a brief uneasiness that the people talking to you are a bit warped—that they just don’t look or move like the kind of folk you interact with when you’re not staring at the screen…. It's something we all can get used to though, because you just don't have to think about it.

"You can get used to anything, even hanging, if you live long enough."

I hope this clears up the waters.

dy/dx