I have a wide-screen TV and everything was fine till last Wednesday when BBC 1 and BBC 2 started to appear only in 4.3 format (i.e. with black bands at the left and right. The sound quality is also now poor and the sound for both stations is in mono only.

In the area where I live, the cable company is Seditel who say that, when they tested the signal at the box in the street, everything was OK.

Does anybody else have this problem? Is it the BBC?

Steve - we're in Brussels and use Brutelle, no probs with BBC's, I'll check the widescreen stuff tonight and confirm tomorrow...

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Steve - we're in Brussels and use Brutelle, no probs with BBC's, I'll check the widescreen stuff tonight and confirm tomorrow...

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Today I went to a local (Braine l'Alleud) TV shop. They receive their TV by cable (probably also Seditel). The guy tuned one of the wide-screen TVs to BBC and the picture was in 4:3 format. Other stations with wide-screen transmissions automatically switched to wide-screen. If you then "force" them to display in 4:3, there are black bands all round the picture (wider at the sides than at the top). With the remote control, you can then adjust the picture to fit the screen (with no distortion and with only very small loss of picture at the top and the bottom). The guy said that he thinks the BBC have done something.

This is the test: set BBC 1 to 4:3. If the picture fits perfectly in the screen with no black bands at the top and bottom but with wide bands at the sides, then you have the same phenomenon as I do. If you get black bands all round, then Brutele are getting something different from Seditel and you will be able to adjust the picture to wide-screen format without distortion. I cannot do this.

Of course, it is always possible to fill the screen ("wide", "smart" etc), but then you get distortion of the image and cropping of the picture which I find unacceptable.

I look forward to your reply tomorrow.

ok Steve, just followed your instructions and I get the same as you. in 4:3 format, I get the large black bands to the sides but no bands at the top or bottom. So it must be that the beeb dont broadcast in "true" widescreen I guess ? anyhow I never noticed before and it doesnt really bother me. Hope this helps but if you need more "testing" let me know...

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ok Steve, just followed your instructions and I get the same as you. in 4:3 format, I get the large black bands to the sides but no bands at the top or bottom. So it must be that the beeb dont broadcast in "true" widescreen I guess ? anyhow I never noticed before and it doesnt really bother me. Hope this helps but if you need more "testing" let me know...

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Thanks, Dizzy.

It just irritates me because I spent a lot of money 18 months ago on a large, flat, widescreen TV set and everything used to be fine; the picture quality was reasonable, we had a big picture and stereo sound. Now we have a picture which is about the same size as the old TV we threw out.

Wide-screen format broadcasts from other stations appear as wide-screen; it's just BBC 1 and 2 which have changed and we rarely watch anything but them.

Do you have a phone number for Brutele? I could try calling them to see if they have any comments. However, they will probably first ask for my post code and address (this is what Seditel did). This will be meaningless as I am not their customer. Alternatively, if you could call them to see if they know what is going on, that would be very useful. Please don't put yourself out unnecessarily, though.

I can't believe that I am the only Brit in Belgium to be bothered by this.

I've sent a few e-mails to the BBC, but it's difficult to find the right address. My mails (in which I asked for them to be forwarded to the right department if they had not gone to the correct one) have been read but I have had no replies. If I do get any feedback, I will post it here.

Steve - I'm telling you stuff know already but... as you are a customer of Seditel I would be tasking them with finding out why the BBC seems to no longer transmit in widescreen. They presumably pay BBC to allow them package it up and sell it to you so they would have more success than you in getting to the bottom of it.

I dont have a number for Brutele but they are on the web.
<a href="http://www.brutele.be" Target="_BLANK">http://www.brutele.be</a>/

You're right. I still have no reply from the BBC so I have sent an e-mail to Seditel (it has been read). Let's see if they come back with something constructive. I'll post it here.

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You're right. I still have no reply from the BBC so I have sent an e-mail to Seditel (it has been read). Let's see if they come back with something constructive. I'll post it here.

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I just got a reply from Seditel saying that everything is now OK; I checked and it is. I hope that your Brutélé picture is also now OK.

It was a pleasure "talking" to you.

Steve

Wow, Dizzy did it all by himself without Marcie helping.

and I can grow sweetpeas !!!

I'm here! I have Seditel and a 4:3 TV, but get a 16:9 picture with bands top and bottom, for what it's worth.

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I'm here! I have Seditel and a 4:3 TV, but get a 16:9 picture with bands top and bottom, for what it's worth.

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This is what we get now on the 4:3 TV in the bedroom. At least you get the whole image. I noticed that, during "the problem", part of the image in 4:3 was missing from the sides. You could see this when there was a left or right justified caption on the screen: part of the first and last letters was missing. Now it's OK

True, occasionally I get that too, come to think of it.

Saw an advert somewhere once. On the screen it said something like "Don't you wish you had" and on the line below in large letters the full width of the picture, "idescree".

On the digital reception, I do not get this problem (disclaimer: because I and nobody else in Belgium can get SKY digital)

As of today (17th May), the problem has returned. I have sent another e-mail to Seditel.

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As of today (17th May), the problem has returned. I have sent another e-mail to Seditel.

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I received a reply from Seditel:

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bonjour, voici les explications de notre service tvd :


en effet depuis le captage des chaînes bbc1 et 2 par satellite le son était en stéréo
nous avons remédier au problème en plaçant des encodeur NICAM
depuis ce lundi 17 les deux chaînes sont en NICAM stéréo mais image 4/3
UNQUOTE

I am not satisfied with this and replied as follows:

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Ceci n'est pas acceptable!

L'utilisation des téléviseurs 16:9 devient de plus en plus répandue: vous faites, donc, marche arrière. Comment justifiez-vous cette action? Pourquoi avez-vous donné preférence du son stéréo sur le format de l'image? Avez-vous consulté vos clients?

Est-ce la même situation pour les chaînes allemandes que vous diffusez? Si oui, vous aurez sans doute des réclamations de vos clients allemands.

Cette situation, est-elle provisoire? Si oui, à partir de quelle date envisagez-vous fournir un service complet?
UNQUOTE

This has now been passed to their Complaints Department. Let's see what happens.

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ok Steve, just followed your instructions and I get the same as you. in 4:3 format, I get the large black bands to the sides but no bands at the top or bottom. So it must be that the beeb dont broadcast in "true" widescreen I guess ? anyhow I never noticed before and it doesnt really bother me. Hope this helps but if you need more "testing" let me know...

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In view of the latest situation, could you please check again. I would like to determine whether it is only Seditel or if Brutélé have also gone back to 4:3.

I am not a happy bunny!

Tonight, Seditel = 4:3

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Tonight, Seditel = 4:3

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Marcel, which commune do you live in? I am in Ophain (Braine l'Alleud).

I would like Dizzy to rejoin this thread because I would like to know if Brutélé have also changed back to 4:3.

Do you know if it is possible to send private messages in this Forum? (So that we could exchange e-mail addresses - the last thing I want to do is put my address on here; I get more than enough spam as it is!))

I'm with Brutele and just did your test - I still got black bands at the top and bottom, with wide grey bands at the sides. Is that good or bad? I'm confuzzed...

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I'm with Brutele and just did your test - I still got black bands at the top and bottom, with wide grey bands at the sides. Is that good or bad? I'm confuzzed...

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It sounds as though Brutélé are giving you 16:9 format with BBC while Seditel are only giving their customers 4:3).

I assume that you have a wide-screen TV set. Using the remote control, you should be able to increase the picture size (-> 14:9 -> Zoom) to fill the screen. This is what you would get if you were watching BBC in the UK.

On my TV, 4:3 format fills the screen top and bottom but there are wide black bands left and right. The image can be stretched to fill the screen but this results in cropping of the picture and and/or distorsion which is not acceptable.

As I write (11.35) BBC 1 is showing City Hospital which normally is in 16:9 format (but I am only getting 4:3). Everything was fine until about 2 weeks ago when Seditel started mucking about with things.