TiVo HD: Format of SD program?

[SuperRob]

Question for the gurus out there. I'm getting a receiver that has a DCDi scaler chip in it. However, I just found out (post-purchase, naturally) that the scaler will automatically stretch 4:3 images to 16:9. And there's no way to turn it off.

So my question is this ... when viewing a 4:3 program on the TiVo HD, and you have your screen dimensions set as 16:9, does it output a full 16:9 frame, or is it only sending the 4:3 picture data? I'm leaning towards 16:9, if only because they give you the option of setting the color of the bars, but I wanted to check to be sure.

[mappler]

I don't know with certainty the answer to your question. However, perhaps some info will help. You can have the Tivo do the scaling for you by setting the output format. For me, this is required, as my TV will not take 480i content properly over an HDMI input. Therefore, I have Tivo upscaling to 1080 for me. Tivo gives the choice of having black bars or gray bars on the side of 4:3 content. So, I'm assuming that since it has this choice, it means that Tivo is outputting a full 16:9 picture. I don't have a good way to test your specific scenario though. Maybe someone else here does....

-Matt

[aindik]

It outputs a full 16:9 frame (or, it appears to output a 4:3 signal designed to be stretched into a 16:9 frame).

For 480i or 480p content, you can decide, with the TiVo's aspect button, whether the 16:9 frame is a) a stretched picture, b) a zoomed picture, or c) a paneled picture with bars on the side.

[SuperRob]

Thanks, both of you. My understanding is that the scaler in the receiver I'm getting is far better than what's in the TiVo, so I plan to set the format as Native. I'm pretty certain now that it's always outputting a 16:9 frame as long as as that's the TV Aspect Ratio you have set, so I should be good to go.

Can't wait for the new receiver to show up! :)