CBOT and CBOT-DT can have different programming for a period of time. For example, a few weeks ago the SD Vancouver station aired a different hockey game than than the HD station.

roger1818, the CRTC is requiring that digital transitional stations have X number of hours of separate, non-repetitive programming from their analogue versions (I keep seeing 14 hours/week in CRTC approvals).

the CRTC is requiring that digital transitional stations have X number of hours of separate, non-repetitive programming from their analogue versions (I keep seeing 14 hours/week in CRTC approvals).

I always thought this meant that there must be 14 hours of WS or HDTV content (i.e. not upconverted SDTV programming). Am I wrong?

Here is the quote from the CRTC

The CBC made a commitment to simulcast the current programming service of CBMT with the exception of up to 14 hours per week of supplementary programming that would not be duplicated on the analog service. The applicant further committed to ensure that all unduplicated, supplementary programming broadcast on the undertaking is broadcast in a wide screen, high definition (HD) format.

CBOT and CBOT-DT can have different programming for a period of time. For example, a few weeks ago the SD Vancouver station aired a different hockey game than than the HD station.

Sounds like there are a few details to work out. It could be that Rogers in Ottawa will carry more than one CBC HD channel just as they now carry many CBC SD channels.

WRT HD facilities here, if The National news goes HD and a lot of the national news originates from here, then there will have to be some HD facilities here.

Here is the quote from the CRTC

The CBC made a commitment to simulcast the current programming service of CBMT with the exception of up to 14 hours per week of supplementary programming that would not be duplicated on the analog service. The applicant further committed to ensure that all unduplicated, supplementary programming broadcast on the undertaking is broadcast in a wide screen, high definition (HD) format.

"all supplementary programming in a wide screen, high definition format" - the application seems almost laughable when you compare against the actual on-air programming

If you want to discuss "news in HD" and how many/type of cameras and people are required, please do so in the following thread as it's not applicable to CBC only.

http://digitalhomecanada.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42616

I always thought this meant that there must be 14 hours of WS or HDTV content (i.e. not upconverted SDTV programming). Am I wrong?

The way I understand it is this: In the long term, in any community, the HD channel is a replacement for the SD channel. Consequently, the programming will be the same most of the time. For example, we would not be permitted to use the HD transmitter to launch a new service like an all music channel. We are permitted to air 14 hours of programming per week on the HD channel that is not shown on the SD channel. We did this during the Torino Olympic Games when the HD hockey games were replayed.

Thanks for the clarification Marc (and everyone else who responded). It is really great having you on this forum! I wish the other networks would let one of their employees chat on a similar forum.

Anybody else lose their CBC-HD channel from Toronto?
Here in Cranbrook with Shaw that is what we get but it's been off the air since yesterday .

Marc, I know SRC is updating studios in Montreal in HD. Is the CBC doing the same thing in Toronto ?

Marc, I know SRC is updating studios in Montreal in HD. Is the CBC doing the same thing in Toronto ?Hmm, the SRC/CBC studios in Montreal are generally well over a quarter-century old ... the CBC studios in Toronto are almost brand new. I'd imagine that may be an issue!

Marc, I know SRC is updating studios in Montreal in HD. Is the CBC doing the same thing in Toronto ?
Yes. We are converting some Toronto studios to HD right now. I can't say when you will see the results on air at this time.

Hmm, the SRC/CBC studios in Montreal are generally well over a quarter-century old ... the CBC studios in Toronto are almost brand new. I'd imagine that may be an issue!

They're not so new. TV transmissions were moved from Jarvis street to the current location on Front on April 23, 1996. The studios were in operation before then.

They're not so new. TV transmissions were moved from Jarvis street to the current location on Front on April 23, 1996. The studios were in operation before then.10 years already! My how time does fly ... if you'd asked me I'd have said it was about 3 years ago ...

Perhaps we'll get to see Rick Mercer in HD in 2007 ... not sure if that's a positive though, or a negative. :-)

BTW, I'd meant to ask:

I don't normally have CBC on after midnight. But I flicked over the other day - Wednesday night, and they were airing this movie "All About My Mother" I think ... and it was letterbox. But it was in letterbox on the HD channel, so there were black bands on all 4 sides of the picture (with a 16:9 TV at least).

Looking at the CBC HD schedule, I see it stops before midnight. Why not air WS after midnight?

Nick

Why not air WS after midnight?It all depends on what formats the movie is available in. Many times movies come in letterboxed widescreen instead of anamorphic widescreen. I guess the CBC could zoom in on the picture but the resulting picture would probably only have about 360 lines of resolution and they would probably get lots of complaints about how lousy the PQ is. Since most widescreen TVs can do the same thing, it is probably better to let the viewer decide if they want to do this or not.

These movies are probably of sufficient quality that they could be properly formated for WS by CBC. After all, they do DaVinci.

I would guess that they simply "miss" some of these opportunities to provide us with a WS instead of "windowboxed" experience.

I believe I asked the same question quite a while back in the previous CBC thread.

BTW, I'd meant to ask:
... and it was letterbox. But it was in letterbox on the HD channel, so there were black bands on all 4 sides of the picture (with a 16:9 TV at least)...
Nick

I had a look at the air check and talked to the people involved with preparing that program for air. Although it was letterboxed, it was not a standard ratio. If it was upconverted as a 16:9 program the bottom part of the second line of subtitles would have been lost. Since the whole show was subtitled, the decision was made to treat it as a 4:3 show.

I had a look at the air check and talked to the people involved with preparing that program for air. Although it was letterboxed, it was not a standard ratio. If it was upconverted as a 16:9 program the bottom part of the second line of subtitles would have been lost. Since the whole show was subtitled, the decision was made to treat it as a 4:3 show.

Thanks for the explanation. When you say that it wasn't a standard ratio do you mean that it was 1.66:1? Although most movies are filmed at 1.85:1 (which is close to, but not the same as 16:9), other popular aspect ratios are 1.66:1 and 2.35:1 (apparently the widest popular American movie was Ben-Hur (1959) at 2.76:1).

For movies filmed at 1.66:1, I agree you don't want to stretch the image by 33% like normal as this would crop off some (3 1/8%) of the top and bottom (never good, but especially a problem if there are sub-titles), but there is another solution. You can stretch the image by 25% and sidebox it with black bars to make a 16:9 aspect ratio. For other ratios less than 1.78:1 (16:9) the same principles can be applied with different scaling ratios.

For more information on this see 1.66:1 Movies (http://gregl.net/videophile/anamorphic.htm#1.66:1). It is talking about making an Anamorphic widescreen DVD which is probably a bit different than making a WS broadcast (am I correct in assuming that WS broadcasts are not stretched vertically (or squeezed horizontally) like anamorphic DVDs are?), but the basic principle is the same.