MLB on FOX6

[trev57]

Today's MLB game on FOX has the scoreboard all the way in the top left corner and and the "MLB on FOX" logo all the way in the top right corner on the HD channel. I've never seen them do this before and I would be surprised if they didn't get a few complaints because people can't see everything on the SD channel.

I personally like it as an HD viewer.

[Tom Snyder]

Do we know if they showed the SD version in widescreen with black bars top and bottom?

[trev57]

Nope. They showed it with a cutoff scoreboard, meaning SD viewers couldn't see the score until they went to a commercial. I saw some highlights of other MLB on FOX games last night and it appeared as if they did the same thing on all the games.

[foxeng]

FOX has gone to full screen on their sports and is sending the AFD code for letterbox. According to FOX, they have notified the cable companies of this practice and for them to begin using AFD for FOX programming.

[WPXE ION]

Ahhh TV lingo alphabet soup. AFD Wiki

[mrschimpf]

Well I can tell you despite Fox promoting a widescreen experience tonight on SD with the preseason game, WITI's SD signal on Charter was old fashioned 4:3 center cut and it didn't look pretty at all. Hopefully a few preseason games and 'we're not seeing the whole picture' calls to customer service has Charter flip the switch on AFD.

I know it's supposed to be that way for WTMJ's NBC programming also, but Charter completely ignores AFD preferences on their analog channels, whether out of ignorance or just plain laziness (until they got local HD channels and the infrastructure to air them, they pulled in WMLW's 58.2 signal using a eBay purchased tuner from a customer that had the failed HD-sucking USDTV service).

[mrschimpf]

Looks like Charter got the AFD memo from Fox...both 6 and WLUK 11 now have the actual show content appear in 16:9 on the regular analog channel (seems that it's sent only during the actual show and it goes back to being unflagged during commercials and local content).

Good on them getting that worked out, though 4 is still not sending the AFD flag over NBC shows.

[WITI6fan]

Looks like Charter got the AFD memo from Fox...both 6 and WLUK 11 now have the actual show content appear in 16:9 on the regular analog channel (seems that it's sent only during the actual show and it goes back to being unflagged during commercials and local content).

Good on them getting that worked out, though 4 is still not sending the AFD flag over NBC shows.

Last I heard NBC actually stopped this on purpose after the DTV switch. I've heard of some local stations still doing it manually, but obviously WTMJ doesn't.