New Discovery Channel CH 244 small black bar at bottom

[james039]

Ever since the new version of Discovery Channel debuted on CH 244 I see a thin black bar at the bottom of the screen (about 1cm). It is always there on this channel. It does not show on any other channel or the on demand contents.

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[57]

People who have some "overscan" on their TVs may not see this, but I concur, it is there.  You may wish to advise Rogers and/or Discovery.

[james039]

It's been several weeks and this hasn't changed. Is anyone at Rogers even paying attention? A video engineer worth their salt wouldn't have even let the channel go live with a visual glitch like this. I can't be entirely sure, but it even seems the whole frame is slightly shifted upwards, not just being slightly cut off. Again, it doesn't impact on demand episodes, just live broadcast.

[Pauly]

Who are you complaining to? Rogers or the New Discovery Channel?  if your complaining to Rogers than your complaining to the wrong people as Rogers is not allowed to alter the signal they receive, they are just the delivery people.  Your problem is with the new Discovery channel, please call them and complain and send screen shots etc.  

[AngeloYacon]

As of January 23rd, the small black bar at the bottom of the screen still shows up on Channel 244:Small Black Bar Still Appears on Discovery (CH 244)

[Pauly]

Have you tried contacting Discovery Channel Canada head office to bring this to their attention?

[james039]

I have emailed rsmsupport@rci.rogers.com which is the only contact provided on the Citytv+ website. Maybe if enough people contact them they might take notice.

[Pauly]

yeah keep trying, maybe you can try reaching out to them on social media too like facebook or instagram or X?

[james039]

I've been pestering them via the contact link at https://citytvplus.ca/brands/discovery  and so far hasn't made a difference. Just checked today and the video feed still has the black bar at the bottom.

[57]

I just checked and yes, the black bar is still there.  It amazes me that poor service is so pervasive these days, especially since you're trying to help them.

[mebe]

My guess is that the original broadcaster uses the missing frame at the top of the screen for random, push-banner updates that deal with scheduling, advertising, and other things that don't apply to the Canadian version of this channel.

By slightly changing the aspect ratio, there's no need for Rogers to insert its own banner like is often done with the Sportsnet banner (at bottom), that is placed over the American banner (until it goes away.

Even the Rogers 4:3 SD VERSION (digital legacy tv) has the black bar at bottom of screen.

The On Demand versions are not affected or altered because no push-banner technology is used there.

[57]

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@mebe wrote:

My guess is that the original broadcaster uses the missing frame at the top of the screen for random, push-banner updates that deal with scheduling, advertising, and other things that don't apply to the Canadian version of this channel.

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If you look at the pictures earlier in this thread, you will see that it's a very small black bar at the bottom of the screen and would not provide enough room for anything like a banner.

I do not know why this is happening, but your guess doesn't hold any water from what I can see.

[mebe]

• I understand your scepticism, but let me try to change your mind.
  
  I have no proof since I no longer have access to the American version of the Discovery channel, but I find it hard to believe that they stopped using aggressive push-banner techniques that literally push the screen up and/or down, so that the banner at the bottom of the screen, actually grows in size, so it's much harder to ignore.
  
  I have both the HD and SD VERSIONS of Discovery Canada, so I can see the small black bar at the bottom of both versions, so it's easy to believe that our provider (Rogers), has NOT altered the picture.
  
  Instead, it is my belief that Discovery Canada has cleverly and intentionally added the black bar at the bottom, to hide and/or Block the American push-banners from appearing.
  
  Don't get fooled by the small size of the black bar, it is NOT an overlay banner designed to cover the American banner, but merely the starting point of where the push-banner originates. We don't see the screen move up or down with the banner because the black bar has no information inside of it, so nothing can come out of it. That's why Discovery Canada had to remove the bottom of the screen just below the Discovery logo (bottom right corner).
  
  In the UK, via SKY Tv, Discovery UK uses push-banner updates that grow in size and also affect the top of the screen as it fades away, so that the banner gets bigger.

In Canada, Corus uses push-banner updates from the right side of the screen, that shrink the size of the tv show, temporarily changing its aspect ratio.

Since the Canadian History channel airs most of its American content (Pawn Stars, American Pickers, etc.) well after it airs in America, the content  is in its pure form (like On Demand, or web-dl), thus  no need to worry about blocking any American banner.

I rest my case ... Prove me wrong, Discovery Canada.

[mebe]

The Black bar is gone!

[james039 · Accepted solution]

I sent in another request and this afternoon when I linked this thread to confirm with them that I wasn’t the only one experiencing it, I think that finally tipped them off to check on it.

[mebe]

My Monday post is the real reason that Discovery Canada blinked. Anyone (especially the advertisers), could ask the engineers if the Black bar (even during the commercials) was intentional, and if they lied by answering No, there would no longer be any realistic, plausible deniability. I can later show what I'm babbling about, and why the current Discovery Canada feed that you are watching now, is MOT the same black-bar version that was there before the Fridayy switcheroo.

[james039]

There’s a wrinkle in your theory, and that is there is no permanent insertion of ads on the US feed as you’re suggesting. You must be thinking of ESPN.

The problem we’ve been encountering was nothing more than a technical error in the parameters of the signal. Whether or not either of our posts triggered them to look into it and correct it is to some extent speculative.

[mebe]

I love your theory, but I have another potential parameter example for you to see on the new Rogers Investigation Discovery channel ... It is broadcasting in the wrong aspect ratio, so each time the enlarged Red-version of the ID logo appears ( bottom right corner of screen) it goes off the screen.  It only appears for one second, but is cut evenly in half (pause the screen to see it). The red version (and white version that's perfect), appears at begining of each show and each time the show returns from each commercial break.

The Black bar from Discovery Canada vwould have stopped the red ID Logo from leaving the screen.