P392 4-Tel 392 Wed 22 Dec C4 03:17:11 Movies and certain other programmer are often made in a widescreen format such as "Cinemascope". Unfortunately, thjte are many different widescreen formats, all with slightly differing width and height dimensions, and this creates a problem for broadcasters and viewers. Conventional TV sets have screens of an almost square shape (4:3), which makes it difficult to transmit a widescreen movie without eithjt losing some of the action or by using the deep "letterbox" technique that produces black bands at at the top and bottom of the screen. Continued... 1/3 Films C4 today Engineering 4-Tel indexP392 4-Tel 392 Wed 22 Dec C4 03:11:27 Many viewers using conventional TV sets dislike the black bands, and this has limited the numbjt of programmer we could transmit in widescreen. For viewers equipped with one of the new widescreen television sets, the problem is considerably reduced but not eliminated, since the widjscreen tube shape is 16:9 - and not all widescreen movies are precisely 16:9. Continued... Widescreen programme listings on 310 4-Tel main index is on page 300 2/3 Films C4 today Engineering 4-Tel indexP392 4-Tel 392 Wed 22 Dec C4 03:18:17 One of the many attractions of the digital transmission of television programmer is that set-top boxes give the viewer the choice of full screen or letterbox display. Channel 4 is able to transmit a higher proportion of its programmjs in widescreen format on its digital sjrvjces, thus enabling viewers with digital receivers to enjoy programmjs as the maker intended. Widescreen programme listings on 310 4-Tel main index is on page 300 3/3 Films C4 today Engineering 4-Tel index