Hi! Does anyone know why MeTV is putting their shows in black boxes now? Ugh!!

By black boxes, do you mean black bars on only the left and right sides of the screen? That’s what my affiliate does (WZVN 26-2.)

MeTV has been doing that since 2017 when they converted to widescreen. There was some anger on here about it when it happened. It’s all done to accommodate the advertisers who want their ads in widescreen.

By black boxes, do you mean black bars on only the left and right sides of the screen? That’s what my affiliate does (WZVN 26-2.)

MeTV has been doing that since 2017 when they converted to widescreen. There was some anger on here about it when it happened. It’s all done to accommodate the advertisers who want their ads in widescreen.

To be fair, it’s been more than 14 years since the digital television transition in the United States, and most people have widescreen TVs. Watching old 1:33 ratio TV on these TVs looks like this now:

https://i.ibb.co/12Wzftz/IMG-5174.jpg (https://ibb.co/pXFhvBh)

It’s not black bars; it’s just unused screen space. That’s what happens when you fit an almost square image onto a rectangular screen. You’re still getting the full image originally broadcast in 1980something. Perhaps more, because those old sets had plenty of overscan.

I feel for people who still have old 4x3 TVs, as I’m sure pillarboxing looks awful and small on their sets, but two decades into the widescreen era, they are the minority and networks and TV stations just aren’t catering to them anymore.

By black boxes, do you mean black bars on only the left and right sides of the screen? That’s what my affiliate does (WZVN 26-2.)

MeTV has been doing that since 2017 when they converted to widescreen. There was some anger on here about it when it happened. It’s all done to accommodate the advertisers who want their ads in widescreen.

It must be my affiliate then. The picture is much smaller than it has been in the past. Not even as big as the photo Dream Canteen posted. My TV is about 1 year old so I don't think it is that.

Thanks for the help!

I saw that happen to the INSP channel on my cable system a year or two ago. Gunsmoke and everything else was suddenly boxed like that. I was ready to call and complain until I stumbled across they had added an HD channel for INSP and the old channel was the smaller SD version.

i dont even watch it anymore i been watching catchy comedy on frndly

I hate letterbox!!

I hate letterbox!!

I'm in complete agreement with you, bro.

I hate letterbox!!

They SHOULD have made provision to make shows fit all screens.

I have a widescreen TV, and still contend with these black bars. Sometimes on the sides, sometimes on the top and bottom, sometimes on all 4 sides.

MeTV doesn't shrink anything down. Most of their shows were originally broadcast in 4:3 and modern TVs are 10:9. You are seeing the full picture, though MeTV actually stretches a bit to 1.6:1. Stretching 4:3 to 10:9 looks bad and usually the top and bottom of the picture is cropped.

Here's an example of what happens when they make the older format fit the NEW format

The circle becomes and oval

The actors get shorter & FATTER lol