Why are some OTA HD signals not widescreen?

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I was at BestBuy recently looking at a Samsung TXP2670WH , and the CBS
HD OTA signal looked great and was in 16/9. Looking at the ABC
affiliate, it was HD but not as clear and was not in widescreen. I
thought all HD would be widescreen. Does this have to do with each
station, or is it the TV?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

CGott wrote:
>
> I was at BestBuy recently looking at a Samsung TXP2670WH , and the CBS
> HD OTA signal looked great and was in 16/9. Looking at the ABC
> affiliate, it was HD but not as clear and was not in widescreen. I
> thought all HD would be widescreen.

HDTV can be a pure HD Signal : Source HD 16:9, editing HD,
Transmission in 16:9 HD.

HDTV 'upconvert' (Not pure HD): Source 4:3 analog or digital,
Edited in 4:3 Std Def, Upconverted to a 4:3 HD
Signal with black side bars....


SDTV Digital: same as HDTV upconvert, except Step 3
is a 4:3 Digital signal with Gray sidebars...







Does this have to do with each
> station, or is it the TV?

This has to do with each stations Digital Transmissions...

and a slightly lesser extent the TV...

Except some TV's like Sony's CRTs may have better guts to
give a better upconvert/picture presentation..

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

CGott wrote:

> I was at BestBuy recently looking at a Samsung TXP2670WH , and the CBS
> HD OTA signal looked great and was in 16/9. Looking at the ABC
> affiliate, it was HD but not as clear and was not in widescreen. I
> thought all HD would be widescreen. Does this have to do with each
> station, or is it the TV?

If it was "not as clear" and "not in widescreen" then it wasn't a HD
source. It was most likely a standard NTSC signal just upconverted to
play on the HDTV.

If you watch the networks over their DTV station during the day when
they are not showing their true HD prime-time shows, they just take
the standard NTCS signal and simply convert it to use the ATSC spec,
which results in a 4:3, not-as-clear image.