Why HD broadcast not in HD

[bhotchki]

So I am the proud owner of a new TivoHD and have a 42" Panasonic Plasma. I have 2 Charter Comm. cable cards installed. I recorded the season premier of ER on the HD NBC channel and not the SD NBC channel. When I started watching it tonight it is coming in "squished" with black bars above and below the picture. My TiVo is set to 1080i and I tried it on 1080hybrid but no luck. I am using component cables (aka the ones with five colors!).

Any ideas how I can find out if this is a Charter broadcast related issue or a Tivo issue?

When I pull up information using the info button it says it is broadcast in HD and at 1080i.

[bkdtv]

The Tivo recording is bit-for-bit identical to the original broadcast. Most likely, your NBC affiliate failed to pass the HD feed for some reason. Perhaps they were doing maintenance, or perhaps they just forgot to switch over to the NBC HD feed.

[aus1ander]

Another reason is sometimes stations broadcast a "weather bug" when severe weather is in the area, which forces them to switch to SD. My local NBC always switches from HD to SD when the weather bug comes up. It can be quite annoying.

[GoHokies!]

Head over to avsforum and check out your local HDTV programming thread - if it was a provider issue, you can bet that someone has complained about it there.

[Laserfan]

Another reason is sometimes stations broadcast a "weather bug" when severe weather is in the area, which forces them to switch to SD. It can be quite annoying.Yeah, really. I have witnessed (too many times) when the local broadcast station seems to be "asleep at the wheel" and an HD show is broadcast as SD for a while. Very annoying.

I might've guessed all that (switching between SD for, say, commercials, and HD) would be automatic and idiot-proof!

[Revolutionary]

Apparently not.

My local ABC affiliate sometimes switches the HD channel to the SD feed for commercial breaks (presumably when there is no HD commercial in the queue?). But their timing is awful. They might miss the start of HD program by anywhere from 1 to 20 seconds, at which point you are treated to a "pop" and then a replay of the last 3 seconds. Its not unwatchable, but its annoying.

[litkaj]

So I am the proud owner of a new TivoHD and have a 42" Panasonic Plasma. I have 2 Charter Comm. cable cards installed. I recorded the season premier of ER on the HD NBC channel and not the SD NBC channel. When I started watching it tonight it is coming in "squished" with black bars above and below the picture. My TiVo is set to 1080i and I tried it on 1080hybrid but no luck. I am using component cables (aka the ones with five colors!).

Any ideas how I can find out if this is a Charter broadcast related issue or a Tivo issue?

When I pull up information using the info button it says it is broadcast in HD and at 1080i.

Make sure your TiVo is set to output video at "16x9", not one of the other two options ("4x3" and "smart" something or other).