Aspect Ratio Oddity

[majones]

I have an HR10-250 and an HP md5880n DLP HD television. I use HDMI to connect the DVR to the TV on one input, and a second OTA antenna input to the 'antenna' input on the TV.

I tuned in to the Cubs/Cardinals baseball game on Fox this afternoon hoping it would be broadcast in HD, but it wasn't. I was tuned into the game on my Fox OTA digital station coming through my HR10-250, and it showed up in 4:3 ratio (no surprise).

However, when I switched the source on the TV to the direct OTA antenna input, it showed up natively in 16:9 ratio (but still not in HD, of course).

On the HR10-250, I've selected all the resolutions the TV will handle (480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i) and I have it set to 'Panel' instead of 'Full.' I tried the Up Arrow to 720p (the resolution broadcast by this Fox station), but it was still 4:3.

So what I can't figure out is, why wasn't the ratio on the digital local channel coming through the HR10-250 showing in 16:9 as it was broadcast?

[AstroDad]

Strange. I didn't watch the game today, but in the past it has always come through as 16:9 for me through the HR10. (I am in Tomball). Just to clarify, you have an OTA connection both into the HR10 and seperately into the tv as well, right?

By the way, I graduated from Cy-Fair in '92 and lived in Cypress until I went to college :)

[TyroneShoes]

First, I'm assuming that you were viewing FOX DT OTA as you say, but it is easy to mistakenly be looking at the FOX LIL SD feed through the HR10. But you sound sure of this, so I'll let that one go.

FOX provides both a DT and a SD feed to the affils. The SD feed is 4:3 480i. The DT feed is 16:9 720p. The source of non-HD games for FOX is typically 480p 16:9 at the venue, and converted to 720p before being sent to the affils. The local station can carry the 720p directly, but could possibly have been upconverting the SD feed at the time you were watching it through the HR10. Also a bit unlikely.

It could also be that there was something set wrong in the flags that tell the receiver how to display the video, that caused the HR10 to display it that way, while your HD set ignored that flag, just by virtue of the idiosyncratic differences between tuners. A little less likely, but possible.

[majones]

Strange. I didn't watch the game today, but in the past it has always come through as 16:9 for me through the HR10. (I am in Tomball). Just to clarify, you have an OTA connection both into the HR10 and seperately into the tv as well, right?

By the way, I graduated from Cy-Fair in '92 and lived in Cypress until I went to college :)

Yes, I have the OTA feed split so one feed goes into the HR10 and one goes directly into the TV.

My oldest just graduated from Cy-Fair last month and played varsity baseball for the Bobcats under Woody. My middle son will be a Junior there in the fall. By the way, we like to drive up to Tomball and have BBQ at the Rib Tickler. :)

[majones]

First, I'm assuming that you were viewing FOX DT OTA as you say, but it is easy to mistakenly be looking at the FOX LIL SD feed through the HR10. But you sound sure of this, so I'll let that one go.

FOX provides both a DT and a SD feed to the affils. The SD feed is 4:3 480i. The DT feed is 16:9 720p. The source of non-HD games for FOX is typically 480p 16:9 at the venue, and converted to 720p before being sent to the affils. The local station can carry the 720p directly, but could possibly have been upconverting the SD feed at the time you were watching it through the HR10. Also a bit unlikely.

It could also be that there was something set wrong in the flags that tell the receiver how to display the video, that caused the HR10 to display it that way, while your HD set ignored that flag, just by virtue of the idiosyncratic differences between tuners. A little less likely, but possible.

I have only the digital locals in Channels I Receive, but as you know, it's possible to key in the non-digital locals that come over the satellite. I could have done that, and if I did, shame on me. :mad:

The HR10 setting the wrong flag is interesting as I did not know about that. Thanks.

[Grantbo]

Hmmm...interesting. Just a few days ago I posted for a very similar issue that I'm having with my HR10-250 and DLP.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4231092#post4231092

[TyroneShoes]

Grant made me think of another possibililty. While I'm not at all familiar with your TV, my Sony has an option for each of its 8 inputs that allow you to set a "default" display mode. IOW, you can set a particular input to always stretch, or always zoom, or not, etc. It could be that you have different defaults set for different inputs on your display itself.

[Grantbo]

Grant made me think of another possibililty. While I'm not at all familiar with your TV, my Sony has an option for each of its 8 inputs that allow you to set a "default" display mode. IOW, you can set a particular input to always stretch, or always zoom, or not, etc. It could be that you have different defaults set for different inputs on your display itself.

You are correct. Samsung DLPs do provide different viewing options (zoom, stretch etc). Three weeks ago, I had a OTA HD receiver and a SD TIVO coupled to my Samsung. I had it set-up, so that all broadcasts were displayed in widescreen format (HD was obviously broadcast in 16:9, but all 4:3 broadasts were stretched to fill the 16:9 screen)...now that I have replaced the OTA HD receiver/SD TIVO combo with a HD TIVO, OTA non-HD broadcasts are not stretched to 16:9 proportions, but DTV non-HD broadcasts are. Now that I think of it, the OTA non-HD broadcasts, such as WBBM/CBS, do have station specific side-bars. Meaning that there are no gray or black bars to the sides of the 4:3 broadcast, but patterned, blue bars with CBS logos.