Some
high-definition television networks and
TV stations use "stylized pillarboxing", meaning they fill-in the blank areas on the sides with their HD
logo or other still or
motion graphics, when the program being shown is only available in
4:3 aspect ratio (
standard definition). The use of graphics assures viewers that they are watching the HD version of a channel, instead of their thinking they are watching the SD version, along with filling the entire screen with a video image rather than the regular black bars. This also tells widescreen
television sets with automatic
resizing not to stretch the video, and instead to present it in the proper aspect ratio (although conversely, this may cause
fullscreen SDTV sets and
analog cable TV headends to horizontally compress or to
windowbox the video). with 'echo' pillarboxing A limited number of local stations also apply custom pillarboxes, but most have removed them with both the advent of all-HD schedules and customer complaints about erroneous technical information in
PSIP data. Some
TV shows present an "echo" of the edges of the program video in the sidebars, usually blurred. Local
television stations in the U.S. typically use graphics or a simple color
gradient for
electronic news-gathering packages shown on their
local news programs. Until equipment replacement withdrew the majority of SD cameras from news organizations, portable ENG cameras were often not able to shoot in HD (due to their number and expense), though the studio cameras were in high definition. Some financial news channels (such as
CNBC's "HD+" and the
Fox Business "HD Wing") offered "enhanced" HD feeds, which were pillarboxed to one side to provide a sidebar for additional on-screen data (such as stock quotes and graphs). Some Japanese
anime switched from SD to HD during their run. Sometimes a flashback to a scene produced in SD had to be shown. For instance, in
Naruto, the image of Naruto and Sasuke filled in the blank gaps as one of the SD-era flashbacks is being shown. ==See also==