Why do I still have the Letterbox?

[naybag]

OK, So I have a 32in HDTV with a HD digital cable box. I am watching ABCHD channel, and still have a letterbox view. What am I missing? Is this normal?

[dgh]

What's the aspect ratio of the display?

[pdawg17]

OK, So I have a 32in HDTV with a HD digital cable box. I am watching ABCHD channel, and still have a letterbox view. What am I missing? Is this normal?

Not all programs on HD channels are HD...what program are you trying to watch?

[naybag]

16:9 / 4:3

[naybag]

Not all programs on HD channels are HD...what program are you trying to watch?

At the moment, I am trying to watch the Washington v Tampa Bay football game. And I have the horizontal bars along the top and bottom. I should note that the picture quality is excellent, just can't get rid of the bars.

[dgh]

16:9 / 4:3

What does that mean?

[stevel]

I have found that a lot of the HD network programs are 4:3, and yes, I have seen letterboxed material within the 4:3 frame. Very annoying.

[naybag]

What does that mean?

It's a widescreen tv. The aspect ration is 16:9.

[naybag]

I have found that a lot of the HD network programs are 4:3, and yes, I have seen letterboxed material within the 4:3 frame. Very annoying.

That is quite annoying. Can anyone else turn to abc hd and tell me what their screen looks like?

[BGLeduc]

I am seeing the Redskins in proper 16:9 mode. It appears that your local affiliate is sending the game out down-converted to a 4:3 image. Do other HD broadcasts look correct?

It is certainly annoying, but not at all uncommon. At least in my city, HDTV is very much a work in progress.

Brian

[ThreeSoFar]

Zooming should eliminate the bars.

[JimSpence]

OK, So I have a 32in HDTV with a HD digital cable box. I am watching ABCHD channel, and still have a letterbox view. What am I missing? Is this normal?How's the HD box connected to the TV?

[naybag]

How's the HD box connected to the TV?

Go skins! It's hooked up through audio and video cables into the component 2. It's not with a DVI.

[naybag]

Zooming should eliminate the bars.

If I zoom, then the sreen gets smaller with bars on all four sides.

[ThreeSoFar]

My 42" Samsung DLP has a "zoom1" which zooms in the right amount to get rid of the bars at top and bottom of a 4:3 letterbox image.

[naybag]

I am seeing the Redskins in proper 16:9 mode. It appears that your local affiliate is sending the game out down-converted to a 4:3 image. Do other HD broadcasts look correct?

It is certainly annoying, but not at all uncommon. At least in my city, HDTV is very much a work in progress.

Brian

Thanks. This is helpful. I have seen only a couple of channels in full screen before. At the moment, all but one channel (WJLAHD) have the letterboxes.

[xtopher_66]

I'm watching the games via WJLADT and they being broadcast in a 16:9 aspect ratio. No need to zoom on my Sammy DLP.

[windracer]

The ABC-HD feed here looks fine too ... fills up the entire screen on my Panny 42" plasma.

The picture looked great ... too bad the Bucs weren't as great. :(

[Stu_Bee]

I have a Panasonic 42", and I can tell which channels are HD, because it doesn't let you change the aspect on HD channels.
Of course that kinda sucks if the HD channels is showing 4:3 content.

[JTAnderson]

How is your cable box connected to the TV?

Hint: If the answer is not component video cables or HDMI, that probably explains your problem.

[smak]

If ABC-HD was a 4:3 picture he'd have bars on the left and right, not top and bottom.

Since football is not letterboxed watching it on a 4:3 screen wouldn't give you boxes on all 4 sides.

I've never seen a TV show in "letterbox" format on an HD channel, i don't know how that could happen.

-smak-

[Stephen Tu]

What brand of cable box do you have? The most likely cause of this is the cable box not being set to 16:9 HD output mode. You may have to go into the setup menu & change it. (On Motorola boxes, turn box off then hit menu, change to 1080i/16:9 with arrow buttons. SA boxes I have no clue, but there should be some analagous procedure available.)

Make sure to pick a zoom mode on your TV where people seem properly proportioned, so you can determine whether its the box, the zoom setting, or the broadcast itself. For this purpose you should limit yourself to just the standard 16:9 and 4:3 modes of the TV, not other modes which also crop/variably stretch parts of the screen (consult TV manual if unsure which is which). If when you have the bars on all 4 sides (your TV's 4:3 standard no zoom mode), the picture isn't distorted, that indicates the box isn't outputting in 16:9 HD and fix is above. In widescreen 16:9 mode, with bars only top & bottom, everything would look stretched horizontally.

If the STB is set to 16:9 1080i output, then the standard widescreen would show no letterbox (on HD football games & primetime network HD shows, not necessarily all movies, some of which are wider than 16:9), and no distortion.

[Stephen Tu]

I've never seen a TV show in "letterbox" format on an HD channel, i don't know how that could happen

It happens for example when an HD channel broadcasts syndicated repeats of a show like ER which was broadcast in letterboxed 4:3 for standard broadcasts since they started HD.

[newsposter]

Zooming should eliminate the bars.

so that's what zoom is for...I had my tv for 2 months now and couldn't for the life of me figure out why i'd want to magnify a picture that much!

[jhimmel]

Make sure you box is set to output widescreen format.

[naybag]

What brand of cable box do you have? The most likely cause of this is the cable box not being set to 16:9 HD output mode. You may have to go into the setup menu & change it. (On Motorola boxes, turn box off then hit menu, change to 1080i/16:9 with arrow buttons. SA boxes I have no clue, but there should be some analagous procedure available.)

Make sure to pick a zoom mode on your TV where people seem properly proportioned, so you can determine whether its the box, the zoom setting, or the broadcast itself. For this purpose you should limit yourself to just the standard 16:9 and 4:3 modes of the TV, not other modes which also crop/variably stretch parts of the screen (consult TV manual if unsure which is which). If when you have the bars on all 4 sides (your TV's 4:3 standard no zoom mode), the picture isn't distorted, that indicates the box isn't outputting in 16:9 HD and fix is above. In widescreen 16:9 mode, with bars only top & bottom, everything would look stretched horizontally.

If the STB is set to 16:9 1080i output, then the standard widescreen would show no letterbox (on HD football games & primetime network HD shows, not necessarily all movies, some of which are wider than 16:9), and no distortion.

Thank YOU! I have a Motorola box and changing the 16:9 Output mode did the trick. I knew it had to be something with the box, but before now, I didn't know how to find that menu and change those options. I am so excited! Now, I see what all the HD hoopla is all about. Just beautiful!

[naybag]

OK, so now the non-HD channels are real grainy looking (which includes all the Tivo recordings). Can anyone tell me what the settings of the Motorola HD Cable box are? What setting have I changed that may have caused this new grainy look?

[JimSpence]

I've never seen a TV show in "letterbox" format on an HD channel, i don't know how that could happen.Well, if a show is broadcast OAR and is 2.35:1 then you will see letterbox on your 16:9 screen. :)

[Dawghows]

I was about to start a thread about this very subject, and then I saw this. But I'm not sure I'm getting it all. Here's my situation:

Just bought a 40" Samsung LCD (the 650 model, if that matters).
We DO NOT have HD service at this time — just plain old DirecTiVo (R10) like we’ve always had.
I went into the D*TiVo settings and changed the picture format to 16:9.
Still, everthing I’ve seen so far is stretched to fit the screen, even shows that are letterboxed.

Is there some other setting I have to change?

[shibby191]

I was about to start a thread about this very subject, and then I saw this. But I'm not sure I'm getting it all. Here's my situation:

Just bought a 40" Samsung LCD (the 650 model, if that matters).
We DO NOT have HD service at this time — just plain old DirecTiVo (R10) like we’ve always had.
I went into the D*TiVo settings and changed the picture format to 16:9.
Still, everthing I’ve seen so far is stretched to fit the screen, even shows that are letterboxed.

Is there some other setting I have to change?

The 16:9 setting on an SD DirecTivo doesn't do anything. No matter what you are sending an 4:3 signal to your TV and your TV will stretch/pillerbox however you have it set.

[JimSpence]

IOW, use the settings of the TV to change the aspect ratio.

[Dawghows]

IOW, use the settings of the TV to change the aspect ratio.

But if I'm understanding all this correctly, my choices are:

A) continue to watch the stretched version that I'm seeing right now, which may or may not be letterboxed depending on the network feed

or

B) set my television to show me the 4:3 aspect ratio picture that I would normally see on my old CRT, which again may or may not be letterboxed, depending on the network feed.

IOW, as long as I'm watching an SD signal, there is no way for me to set either the TV or the R-10 (or both) to show me a true, full-screen, 16:9 picture without any letterboxing. Correct?

[JimSpence]

Right! There is no way to get full screen true 16:9 picture from an SD signal.

4:3 on a 16:9 display will be pillar boxed. There is a case where you can see letter and pillar boxing. That's when a channel is showing a widescreen program on an SD signal. In this case, you could stretch the picture both ways to fill the screen.

[shibby191]

IOW, as long as I'm watching an SD signal, there is no way for me to set either the TV or the R-10 (or both) to show me a true, full-screen, 16:9 picture without any letterboxing. Correct?

Jim pretty much said it all. But yea, SD is 4:3...period. If the program happens to be letterbox it's still a 4:3 signal. Thus on an HDTV you'll see a "windowbox" effect with the normal 4:3 bars on the side plus the letterbox bars. There is no way to get rid of this other then the get an HD receiver and watch HD channels.

Check your HDTV aspect ratio settings. Especially with an SD signal you should have a wide range of options. One may be a "zoom" mode which can zoom in and remove most of the bars in a windowbox situation.

[Dawghows]

Thanks to all.