QUOTE(writesimply @ May 19 2010, 12:14 PM)
My conclusion for widescreen SD transmission is this: Astro will not do it until more than 60% of their subscribers have HDTVs. By which time, the same number would have already migrated to B.yond, or are forced to upgrade if Astro wants to migrate to H.264 codec for all of their transmissions.
Judging from the sale of VCDs which is still fairly significant, TV owners in Malaysia are mostly 4:3 CRT SDTVs. They don't see the value of DVDs - which most often has anamorphic video - so they also won't see the value of widescreen SD transmission. When they DO get a HDTV, THEN they'll demand for it.
But as I said earlier, by which time HD channels will be the default and SD channels are provided free or at minimal costs.
You're talking about the B.yond function with regards to SD channels. What we were talking about is widescreen SD transmission where the video is actually anamorphic video like what is on anamorphic DVDs.
You can still get the aspect ratio of SD channels correct using the aspect ratio function on B.yond. But you'd have to use your TV remote as well. First, enable the zoom function on B.yond; this will stretch the video. Second, use the Zoom function on your TV to squash it back to the correct aspect ratio; use a channel like Discovery, NGC or History to make the adjustments. BE MINDFUL that the non-anamorphic widescreen programs do not have the same aspect ratio. Some are correct 16:9 while others are more zoomed in; for example some of the programs on Star World like Mercy and Trauma.
fuad
Interesting.
Back in the UK, you set your STB to the screen format you have i.e. 4:3 or 16:9. The STB then either displays the channel in its native 16:9 format, or crops it (i.e. what Astro does) to the 4:3 format for normal TVs.
Surely this would be the best solution, as 4:3 SDTV owners would get to watch channels as they currenty are displayed, and 16:9 SD and HD owners would be able to watch the channels in their native format. Neither TV owner would then have a stretched picture or black bars on the screen
Food for thought.
Added on May 19, 2010, 1:18 pmQUOTE(AjkR06 @ May 19 2010, 10:44 AM)
unfortunately, byond will only allow u to record the channel that you're currently watching....
byond only have one tuner, but max have 2 tuners...
Oh dear
I hope they release an STB that has 2 tuners in the future! (They'll probably charge for it).
This post has been edited by THEALB10N: May 19 2010, 01:18 PM 
Apr 7 2010, 12:28 PM
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