Widescreen issues with new type Sky digibox

[healeydave]

Ok, I've decided to duplicate this advice/solution I found on the Digital Spy forum in case someone else falls into the same trap I did, as it was relevant to a Tivo combination setup.

My trusty old Sony digibox finally packed up back in January and I was given a rather nasty looking new Pace set-top-box which resembles an Xbox 360 in design.

Everything appeared fine to begin with but something wasn't right with the widescreen, I had a full screen but rather too full, the image was being stretched and hence certain programs with phone number type graphic banners etc were quite obviously off screen.

I really had no reason to start checking the TV settings were also correct (although of-course I did). I checked and double checked all the settings (or so I had thought) and nothing had changed other that one digibox being swapped over for another.

In the newer type digiboxes, they have a setting called "Second Location Picture Format". I'm not actually using this feature specifically but because I have a Tivo connected to the Sky box, and the Tivo is changing channels via an RF2Link device connected to the RF2 port, the Sky box thinks I am using this feature and swaps to the Second Location Format.

The Sky box determines which Picture Format to use based on where the channel change signals come from, e.g:

Channel Changes via the Sky Boxes Infra-Red Window - the "Picture Format" setting is used.
Channel Changes via the Sky Boxes RF2 Port - The "Second Location Picture Format" setting is used.

By default, the "Second Location Format" is set to 4:3 so whilst my TV was set to use 16:9 and the default "Picture Setting Format" on the Skybox was 16:9, I was getting the "Second Location Format" 4:3 stretched image on screen . The Solution is of-course to make sure both of these settings in the digiboxes Picture Settings menu are set to 16:9

It took me a while to see it working whilst I was testing changing this setting several times and exiting from the menu, because the Picture Format doesn't change until you actually change the channel :-)

[Automan]

That alas has been an issue for quite some time...

Also causes problems if the Sky box gets the wakeup from RF2 in which case If I recall you get no voltage on pin 8 of the TV scart of the STB - let alone wss signal.

Automan.

[frogster]

This affects all Sky boxes and has been a feature of the firmware for several years now.

I don't really see what the problem is: just be sure to set both format options to 16:9.

IIRC the Sky-Eye Tivo instructions point this out.

As mentioned, if the Sky box is brought out of standby by the RF2 socket then pin 8 does not go high, which means no scart switching, no W/S signal and no RGB.

There is a Sky-Eye product that handles this also, and of course you can solve the problem by pushing the on/off button on the fascia of the digibox twice whenever you notice that the Tivo isn't seeing a widescreen source.

Personallly I run all my AV equipment via a UPS which solves the entire problem as our power cuts rarely exceed a few seconds/minutes.

[Pete77]

Personallly I run all my AV equipment via a UPS which solves the entire problem as our power cuts rarely exceed a few seconds/minutes.

You should try moving where I am. Had an 8 hour and then a 16 hour power cut a week apart back in January.

Would take a pretty meaty UPS to keep a Tivo and Sky Digibox running through all of that.

[healeydave]

I must have had it set correctly on the Sony and just forgot about it when the Pace was installed if its been an issue for some time, I just don't recall.
When I was investigating the problem, one website mentioned the feature was from a certain version onwards and made me think it was relatively recent.

Everything works fine now & fortunately the secondary issue shouldn't affect me too much as the digibox stays on 24x7 & we don't have too many powercuts round here :-)

[iankb]

I found the same problem with one of the new 'Flow' boxes from Thomson. Took me a day before I realised what was going on.

[Pete77]

I found the same problem with one of the new 'Flow' boxes from Thomson. Took me a day before I realised what was going on.

Does the Thomson box work more quickly or slower than something like a Pace DS430N?

[iankb]

Does the Thomson box work more quickly or slower than something like a Pace DS430N?I use it on 20006 fast. And that's fast. Don't know what the Pace is like.