[Blockierte Grafik: http://img714.imageshack.us/f/arte2.jpg/]
Im not an expert
how do you know the arte sample was originally 4:3 then stretched to 16:9
what I know is that, 16:9 or 4:3 is how the channel broadcasts
HD = 16:9, if they broadcast with black bars +4:3 movie, It's a good thing,without those bars you will see the movie as SD (very stretched image), with the bars, It's HD like
SD= 4:3, or 16:9, many SD channels are 16:9 especially sports channels, why you wanna downgrade 16:9 to 4:3, I don't know about arte, but sometimes 4:3 channels broadcast in 4:3, but when the program is 16:9, the same channel switch to 16:9, is arte 16:9 or 4:3 channel? how do you know the arte movie was in 4:3? if so It's very tough, It means arte will adjust the picture depending on the movie (16:9 or 4:3), if 4:3 they will have to add bars like HD, I think arte wont do that, and you want that dreambox will have some video processing to see how the video was encoded, if 4:3 and the channel is 16:9, dreambox will add bars, very diffucult to realize
is that what you look for?
How I know that the original was 4:3 ?
Easy, the face is completely squashed, you should immediately notice this, and this is a very old TV show ("The Avengers", see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054518/).
This series was recorded in 4:3, as can be seen by watching the IMDB page.
Besides, this was broadcast on Arte Belgique (cable), where the aspect ratio was wrong.
I simultaenously recorded the same thing on Arte SD (satellite) and Arte HD (satellite), there the aspect ratio was correct (4:3 on Arte SD, and 16:9 with an embedded 4:3 video on Arte HD).
Why I wanna see this image in 4:3 ?
Because it is meant to be 4:3, I don't want to see all faces and shapes distorted.
For the SD version :
This will not decrease image quality in any way, you'll get black pillar bars, but that 's it. the pixels are now 720x576, and they are elongated to create a 16:9 image.
If you change the aspect ratio to 4:3, the image will be unstretched, and will look normal again.
For HD movies, I would do the same if they are elongated 4:3 ones, if this is impossible because they need to be 16:9, yes, I'd like to get the Dreambox to add pillar bars, and restore the original resolution.
That is exactly what happens on my PC, when I choose Media Player Classic, and change the aspect ratio during playback.
No quality loss whatsoever, but a correct aspect ratio.
For those that don't see the fact of the faces being distorted, compare these :
1) Arte Belgique : aspect ratio 16:9 (incorrect !)
[Blockierte Grafik: http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/2615/arte3.jpg]
2) Arte SD satellite : aspect ratio 4:3 (correct, face is not stretched horizontally)
[Blockierte Grafik: http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/214/arte1.jpg]
3) Arte HD satellite : aspect ratio 16:9 with within a 4:3 image with black bars added to fill the whole picture (correct, face is not stretched horizontally) :
[Blockierte Grafik: http://img714.imageshack.us/i/arte2.jpg/]