Why so many letterbox non-HD broadcasts on 36-1 PBS?

[RonH]

I notice more and more than the shows on MPTV HD, 36-1 (or TWC 510) are not HD.  Nature and Nova seem to do this quite a bit.  You get the black bars on the side, and on the top, wasting much of the screen.

Are these shows not in HD, just widescreen, or is our local PBS station messing this up?

[Bebop]

I noticed that in the last week or so, it's kind of odd. They used to show none HD wide screen shows in full.

[Jayflap]

What is occurring is that during prime time the station wants to simulcast what is on 10 and on 36-1, so if you want to see something on 10 but don't have access to an analog channel 10 signal, you will still be able to view the programs. What is happening is much of the programming is recorded in HD but PBS is not sending it to the stations as such, only an analog feed. This is why you are seeing what you are seeing with the 'breadbox' look of bars on all the sides.

There is one program in particular (I wish I could remember the name) that is a DIY program produced up in Minnesota. This program is shot in HD but the facility only has the capability to edit in SD. This show at this point will not be HD since they are not posting it the HD format.

I personally would love to have the HD station be only HD, but right now with the current feeds from PBS this is not possible without staying on the one HD feed that PBS sends which repeats the same programs over and over.