Understanding High Definition
HD - Aspect Ratio
Aspect ratio describes the relationship of a screen's width to its height. HDTV uses a widescreen format of 16:9 - - just like in a movie theater (by comparison, the aspect ratio on a standard TV set is 4:3) which means your HDTV picture captures everything the filmmakers intended. The aspect ratio of the content is controlled by the service provider (HBO, Showtime, etc.).
Most of the Suddenlink service providers identify programming in 16:9 HDTV on their websites. Look for the “HDTV” symbol or “WIDESCREEN” when looking at the programming line up. As time goes on, there will be more and more HD in 16:9 aspect ratio.
Whether the HD signal is in 4:3 or 16:9 format, the picture quality will be better (crisper, clearer, etc.) than a standard digital signal. The reason is there is up to 5 times the information or data for each HD service than there is for standard digital, no matter what the aspect ratio.