TBSHD is horrid...

I think its the sames case As TNT only a small % is HD the rest is strech-o-vision. 480 upconverted. I'm sure in time both will get better. But they don't have to show HD all the time so they won't.

It's nothing like TNT-HD. At least there you're looking at upwards of half of the programming being in HD.

TBS-"HD", on the other hand, is a joke. Now that baseball coverage is over, there is 0% HD programming. Nothing. Nada. It's a complete waste of bandwidth and should be taken off systems so room can be made for stations that actually do something besides stretch SD content.

TNT isn't great, but at least it's something.

I was happy to get it for the MLB playoffs, but they really need to start adding other true HD content. A waste otherwise.

They rushed the HD channel for MLB playoff coverage (which also instantly get them almost nationwide additions)

They will have more HD eventualy (similar to TNT)

MLB was the initial focus.

I agree, worse HD channel in the entire line up.

Now that HD-Lite has been quelled, perhaps this PsudoHD should be the next target. Pretending to show HD when you don't is misleading and downright ugly.

This is true. Why do they list everything as "HDTV" in the program guides, when NOTHING is in HDTV on the channel? The least they can do is be honest in their listings

At least they could show it in the proper aspect ratio and then I could stretch it myself if I wanted (which I don't!).

They rushed it into our lineup here on TWC in NYC which they claim to have "limited bandwidth" for new channels, despite standing agreements to carry other channels (which they are not carrying due to bandwidth limitations) and channels which other boroughs of the city are receiving but we are not.

WHAT A WASTE OF LIMITED HD BANDWIDTH!

I hope that all the people who feel that TBS and TNT and any other crap not-so HD channel in stretchovision, calls or sends an email to the network and complains. DO IT.

Marketing strategy!

By listing everything in HDTV, guide data providers list content on the standard channel as "Available in HD." It makes people with [only] the SD channel think they are missing something. Hence, they call their provider to complain about the lack of the HD feed.

TBS isn't the only one guilty of this. This has become a relatively common practice.

We need a big Swanni Article on this.

It should be easy enough. I mean every single episode of The Office has been in true HDTV on NBC. But I haven't seen a single episode on TBS-HD that has been HD.

I just emailed them at tbsinfo@turner.com asking them to show their shows in OAR.

It doesn't make the practice right especially if non-technical people are being duped into thinking it's something that it isn't and, paying extra for it. There are some good HD channels out there now, but a lot of the newer ones like TBS aren't HD and shouldn't be designated as such. Complain, complain, complain.

I did the same thing the week it started here. Under the subject line of "TBSHD - not very funny."

If you only complain about it here then there is zero chance they will do anything. I mean there's only a 1% chance they will anyway, but the alternative is to wait until next summer when they bring back their TBS originals.

The FiOS folks were crawling up the walls over no TBS-HD on FiOS in time for baseball. My argument that TBS-HD would be only two weeks worth of baseball and nothing else didn't carry a lot of water.

But you shouldn't expect much more HD on TBS until baseball season starts next year. None of their current comedies except for The Office and Seinfeld (which won't be 16:9) are all HD. Only a handful of seasons for Raymond and The King of Queens are HD. Presumably the TBS Originals are in HD, but maybe not My Boys or 10 Items or Less, since they're both on their second season and have been in production for over a year now.

Four years later, TNT still airs many movies and TV shows in stretch-o-vision, even though much more of its syndicated programming is available in HD/widescreen compared to TBS. So at best TBS-HD will fall far short of TNT-HD, especially since it's drawing from an inferior catalog of television series. Given the drought in successful comedies for the past few years, TBS-HD is--and will be for some time--a total waste of space.

Done. Sent my comments to tbsinfo@turner.com:

Hi,

I am now receiving TBS-HD from Time Warner Cable and something seems to be wrong with your broadcast. Instead of the programming being in high definition (as the information in the program states), all of your programming seems to be standard defintion programming (exactly the same as what's on your TBS standard definition channel), but stretched out to fill the whole screen.

What is the point of doing this? It makes everyone look short and fat and gives me a headache. My television has a "stretch" feature that I can use if I wanted to.

In addition, it seems like misinformation to be indicating in the program guides that programs are in HD when they clearly aren't (that they are just stretched to fill the screen).

What is the point of having an HD channel when you don't show anything in HD? That same slot could be filled on our cable system (which claims to have limited bandwidth to add high definition channels) by something that does broadcast 24/7 in true high definition (such as CNN-HD, MTV-HD, etc.)

Is there anything you can do about this?

Thanks,
Scott Bernstein

Another letter e-mailed to WTBS:

Hello,

I was eagerly anticipating the arrival of TBS-HD. What a HUGE disappointment.

Other than baseball (which is now history) I can find no other programming on TBS-HD that is presented
in high definition. Shows like The Office and Everybody Loves Raymond have been filmed and broadcast in HD
by their respective networks for some time now.

It is disingenuous to identify all of your stretched 4:3 programming as HD especially when you are not
transmitting any real source HD material. Furthermore, watching the distorted stretched picture for any period
of time gives me a migraine headache forcing me, at best, to view the program on your original SD channel.

I would still be disappointed about the absence of any HD on your WTBS-HD branded channel, but much less irritated if you
would present your programming in OAR. Even though it wouldn't be real HD, the overall sharpness and resolution of your
channel broadcast in 1080i would be much more viewable.

I find it confusing that there seem to be two major exceptions to your corporate policy of stretch-o-vision.
During the baseball playoffs on WTBS-HD, all non 16:9 shots actually appeared as OAR with colored bars.
And thankfully, CNN-HD programming (which looks incredible) has yet to be infected with this disease.

Please reconsider your policy and present all non HD source material in OAR. Your company should be embarrassed
by the distorted images you are transmitting and marketing to the consumer as high definition on WTBS-HD.

Thank you

you know that WTBS no longer exists - right?

WTBS Atlanta became WPCH - and no longer simulcasts TBS content.

I don't even bother tuning to that channel. What a waste of bandwidth. Uugh.

Do you think TBS will broadcast Frank TV in HD?

Just added my two cents as well:

Good afternoon,

Our cable provider added TBS-HD to its lineup on October 10, 2007, in time for the National League Championship Series. I must say that the production of the HD content of the baseball games was of high quality, similar to the production of your NBA games on TNT-HD. However, I am disappointed in the remainder of your programming on TBS-HD. Expecting to see movies and television shows broadcast in HD format on other providers, I have not seen one program that was of HD quality broadcast on TBS-HD. In fact, I used the Previous Channel feature of my remote control to compare TBS-SD and TBS-HD recently during a broadcast of the King of Queens. The program was exactly the same on both channels.

On other broadcast providers, when a program is broadcast on the HD channel but is only available in SD, sidebars are used to show the program in its original aspect ratio (OAR) of 4:3. This is much preferable to the way in which SD programs are broadcast on the TBS-HD channel. Unfortunately, because of the distortion caused by this decision to stretch the program, I have chosen not to watch programming on TBS-HD or on TBS-SD until programs are broadcast in their original aspect ratio. I would encourage your program engineers to modify the format of TBS-HD so that programs are shown as they were meant to be (which is, I understand, a decision made on other TimeWarner/Turner broadcast channels like Turner Classic Movies) in their original aspect ratio and to broadcast more programming in the HD standard OAR of 16:9. Thank you for listening.

Sincerely,

I would hope so, seems like a funny program to watch.

From the adverts, however, seems likes stretch SD.