*Sigh* It's That Time of the Decade Again...

[wwfpooh]

Elmo's already ruined the show, please don't let it continue to be ruined by un-necessary black bars that cut off the tops of peoples heads and other little things at the bottom of the screen.

Fixed.

 

[frogboy4]

Well, remember, Sesame Street is going to be FILMED in HD from now on...

*Prays* Dear God, please don't let this mean the show will also be in widescreen now, Elmo's already ruined the show, please don't let it to continue to be ruined by un-necessary black bars that cut off the tops of peoples heads and other little things at the bottom of the screen. Amen.

That's a myth. Come on, Snowth. Again with this? That's just plain misinformation.

 

[wwfpooh]

And lord--or whatever being is out there--knows we don't need misinformation.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I miss Jim's involvement, miss Kermit's "News Flash" sketches, miss Mr. Hooper and David, etc.

Yeah, me too, although I never really got to know Hoper and I always knew how he was, though. I always saw him on the Christmas special every year. Unfortunately we cannot ever get these things and people that made the show so great and what it was back. But at lease we still have but memories.

 

[wwfpooh]

Yeah, me too, although I never really got to know Hoper and I always knew how he was, though. I always saw him on the Christmas special every year. Unfortunately we cannot ever get these things and people that made the show so great and what it was back. But at lease we still have but memories.

That's the problem: As we get older, memories may fade.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

That's the problem: As we get older, memories may fade.

You can always write it down.

 

[wwfpooh]

You can always write it down.

True, but so many of the elderly get diseases nowadays that they need others to help them.

 

[Drtooth]

Well, remember, Sesame Street is going to be FILMED in HD from now on...

*Prays* Dear God, please don't let this mean the show will also be in widescreen now, Elmo's already ruined the show, please don't let it to continue to be ruined by un-necessary black bars that cut off the tops of peoples heads and other little things at the bottom of the screen. Amen.

Not only that, even PBS has been playing commercials about how people who don't have digital cable will have to purchase digital converters in order to watch channels like PBS.

Now then, why is America in such a hurry? It's my understanding that in Canada people are being given two extra years (2011) before they HAVE to convert to all digital.

Personally, I feel it's because all the new TV's are widescreen. And for some reason, I don't understand why they don't develope the full screen equivvilant of widescreen letter boxing... that is, black bars going vertically on the edges.

But basically everything is either going HD or has become HD. And Digital box or not, you can't enjoy it unless you have a really good TV anyway.

The one thing I am HOPING, ney, Praying for is that with digital channels, we finally get an end to static and noise bars that pop up on broadcast TV. At least one good thing should come of it.

That said:

I agree and actually made a point to mention that in the post of mine you quoted: "I'm glad it is on PBS because the program was created to give latch-key kids a step up in education and it should always be available to that demographic (in new shows, not just videos or reruns)."

Sesame Street will always exist. It bothers me that PBS and others bring up the Street as something that would be cancelled if PBS falls. The real tragedy is that these kids who don't have cable (my family didn't have it until my teens), the ones who need Sesame most would not be able to access show.

The problem is major companies THINK that everyone has cable. I know poor people that have it, if you want irony. But the fact of the matter is, until someone can come up with new technology that makes cable cheaper, and gives the massive telecom conglomerates a run for their money (until they eventually buy them out and raise the price), cable and satalite will always be overpriced. For the love o' Pete... they just stick a wire into your TV. 30 bucks a month for that!

I feel that PBS has floundered in its responsibility in other programs in having to continually use the Sesame crutch to prop them up. I do think PBS needs more funding, not less, but they are less likely to get it with the current state of their network’s content. A sad truth.

I said it before, the kids programming, at the same time, gets better and worse. For every Word Girl, Curious George, and Piggly Winks they buy every season, we have terrible dirrivitive trite like (again) Superwhy, undead zombies sucking the life out of the line up (Barney and Teletubbies), and ill fated stuff like Postcards from Buster (you know, I'm getting terrible insomnia lately. I wish I taped that show to bore me to sleep). PBS does have it's share of hits there... but the adult programming goes up and down.

Even the Britcoms they've been getting are clones of US shows. We're even getting their CSI- esque shows. I'm sorry, but I watch British shows on PBS for classics like Monty Python, Mr. bean, Are you being Served, and Faulty Towers. Now, every so often they dust this stuff off like that for 4 months, and it's back to whatever else, bottom of the barrel stuff that A&E didn't licence already.

But Pledge month programming is WORSE! I remember when I was younger, when they came begging for money, they brought something special to the table. Wallace and Grommit cartoons, Big Bird's Birthday, and stuff like that. And they'd only air it once or twice. Now, we have the same nostalgic music programs, Celtic Musci programs, foppish German idiots ruining classic music programs, and some idiot trying to sell you a book, doing the special for a tax credit and free advertising. That's not gonna get anyone to give you cash... unless they're the desperately seeking self help people, who are too lazy to go out to buy the book, or even borrow it from the library.

They had this nice Electric Company special 2 years back. They aired it in the course of a weekend 4 or 5 times. Then I never saw it again, burried under Wayne Dyer, Suzie Orman, and Rich Dad Poor Dad.

 

[frogboy4]

Personally, I feel it's because all the new TV's are widescreen. And for some reason, I don't understand why they don't develope the full screen equivvilant of widescreen letter boxing... that is, black bars going vertically on the edges.

But basically everything is either going HD or has become HD. And Digital box or not, you can't enjoy it unless you have a really good TV anyway.

The one thing I am HOPING, ney, Praying for is that with digital channels, we finally get an end to static and noise bars that pop up on broadcast TV. At least one good thing should come of it.

You're right. The new television standard will be the widescreen dimension. It is something a lot of the entertainment industry has wanted for a very long time and now it is being phased in. There is a full screen letterboxing when watching programs taped in the traditional television proportion. That's a feature in all of the widescreen TVs I have seen (unfortunately I do not have one yet).

The weird static and pops created with some HD shows irritates me too and they even happen through my digital cable. I think this will be solved with the new converters. Man, people are going to be out a chunk of change for those devices and nobody will be happy about it. However it is a one time deal unlike the continual upgrades we all have to make with our computers, software and internet upgrades. The progress is happening in television. Heck, now TV is struggling to keep up with itunes, YouTube video games. Grand Theft Auto 4 made over $500 million in one week sales (love it or hate it) dwarfing successes that week in all other media types.

The new content for shows that come to HD are primarily shot and framed to be broadcast in widescreen so there's no cutting off of heads etc. However, if these HD shows are ever broadcast in the traditional ratio they usually have vertical cuts along the peripheral edges of the frame. Same problem, different location. The cutting off of a program's top and bottom content can occur when some studios choose to reformat old programs into the widescreen ratio. I am very much against this practice and don't believe Sesame Workshop will do that with their classic content.

That be the skinny.

 

[mikebennidict]

True, but so many of the elderly get diseases nowadays that they need others to help them.

What does this have to do with the thread topic?