Looking for some quick feedback on the ASPECT button on your remote. Do you use that button? If so, when do you use it, and how frequently? Remember to include the type of TV you have (16:9 or 4:3).
Don't use it. I leave mine on 1080i and between my Denon 3808ci AVR and Samsung LN46A750 (16:9) the sig gets upscaled to 1080p. If watching one of the annoying channels that insists on stretching for me (which I rarely do), I'll use the TV to control aspect.
I have a 16:9 TV and I use it frequently when watching SD channels. Programs filmed in 4:3 I full screen and programs shown letterbox in a 4:3 I zoom in on.
I dislike it immensely when an HD channel shows something letterboxed ina 4:3 window. I can't zoom in there and am stuck with black bars all around. Yes, I know it's the channel's fault for doing something stupid.
I use it on SD channels (BBC America mainly) to "zoom" into content that is broadcast in widescreen (or nearly widescreen because some part of the picture top and bottom is lost).
Or I use "panel" for 4x3 content.
I never use "Full" which stretches the picture and makes everything look , well, stretched
I have a 16x9 television and use it at least once a week (to Zoom) when I watch the downloaded version of Diggnation.
One note/wish... If I forget to set it back to full, my Netflix streams will be in the wrong aspect ratio. When this happens, I must exit the Netflix application to fix the aspect. I wish the aspect button worked when I am using the Netflix application
I have a 16:9 TV and I use it when I'm watching an LD channel that is letterboxing HD content. I hit "Zoom" and that way it fills the entire screen.
The most recent example is Torchwood on BBCAmerica -- my cable company doesn't carry BBCA HD, so I watch it on the LD channel and zoom it.
One note/wish... If I forget to set it back to full, my Netflix streams will be in the wrong aspect ratio. When this happens, I must exit the Netflix application to fix the aspect. I wish the aspect button worked when I am using the Netflix application
I have a 16:9 display. I use "native" output from the S3, with "tv aspect ratio" set to 16:9 and "aspect correction mode" set to "full". I always want programs to be OAR - no "fill the panel and make people look short/fat for SD stuff" for me.
Anyway, I never use the "aspect" function of the TiVo itself. In fact I kind-of forgot it even had an "aspect" button - I use a Harmony One rather than the peanut so maybe that's why I forgot about it.
My display is configured to use its 16:9 mode for 1080i/720p signals, and to use its 4:3 mode for 480i and 480p. I do on rare occasions change the aspect *on the display* (not the tivo) :
- when watching a SD channel that has properly letterboxed content, I'll occasionally use my display's "zoom" mode, which preserves OAR
- when watching Netflix streams, it appears to put out 480p and expect 480p to be displayed in a 16:9 aspect, so I use my display's "16:9" mode here. Note, I've only watched about 3-4 streams so far so I'm still new to this.
As Netflix is the only thing (that I use) that is 480p, I might experiment with leaving 480p in "16:9" mode and seeing if this means I never really need to touch even my display's "aspect" button except the occasional zoom.
Cliff notes:
- I don't use the TiVo remote's "Aspect" button (use a Harmony)
- I don't use the TiVo device's "Aspect" function
- I on rare occasion use my remote's "Aspect" "button"
- I on rare occasion use my display's "Aspect" function
AGREED! This is a big time annoyance. It should also work for other HME apps (e.g. Tivo's Youtube app and the tivostreamer and streambaby thirdparty products).
I use the aspect ratio button quite frequently for zooming-in letter and pillarboxed sd content. Also on some downloads.
Leave it on Panel most of the time. (No other choice for HD of course.)
Use Zoom for SD signals that are letterboxed, i.e., have a large black border on all sides in Panel mode.
The only justification I can think of for Full is if you want SD to fill your entire screen even if it means everything is 33% wider than it really is -- never use it. I have noticed that many public places that have flat panels running seem to have it on Full mode displaying wider-than-real SD channels.
I use it some. Usually in combination with the simular contol on the 16:9 TV. There is very limited HD on my basic cable. Only PBS station and the Fox station have. The Fox station has a very weird HD format. It is letterboxed on four sides of my screen in the full mode. I zoom it to get to fill the screen, but there is still a bit of spill over. Bypassing the TiVo the picture is the same with info saying it is 720p. They have a SD signal as well in the VHF range. I have my format set to 1800i fixed for this TV. When I had it on the other older 16:9 TV, I used 480p, 720p, 1080i hybrid.
The other local channels are all SD and 4:3. The NBC station uses letterboxed SD and the zoom works well there. The others, ABC and CBS stations, are not and to fill my 16:9 screen I have to use combinations of the two controls to get the best picture with no streching and minimum spill over.
I will be glad when the local stations finally go to HD, but that seems not in the immediate future. They say its too expensive here in Fairbanks, Alaska. Anchorage already has more local HD.
I use zoom whenever watching letterboxed content such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad on AMC (few providers offer AMCHD), as well as the various history channels which deal almost exclusively in SD letterbox content.
You must keep this as a button on the remote unless you implement [reliable] autozoom on SD letterbox content. Many customers still watch SD channels, and more and more SD channels are showing their content in letterbox, necessitating the zoom function. Broadcom claims SD "letterbox detection" as a feature in their specs, but I have never seen anyone use / implement it.
That said, I do not think the ASPECT button needs to be as prominent on the TiVo remote as it is now. I would much rather have the LIST/SHOWS button in its current spot and have the ASPECT button somewhere else, such as at the bottom of the remote with PIP and SWAP buttons, if you were to add that functionality to a future TiVo. I probably use the ASPECT button 5x per week compared to 50x per week for the LIST button.
Sometimes something was shot in 16:9 aspect ratio, but the channels squeezes it to fit into a 4:3 but everyone looks all tall and skinny. I'll use the aspect button once to strech it out to 16:9 (no zoom) so it fills out the screen correctly. (FULL setting)
I'm very glad my Tivo has this button!
As others said, I think sometimes itd be useful for it to function even on HD content....when the content provider decides to show something in letterbox, DESPITE being on an HD channel (so you end up with black bars on the left/right and top/bottom).
16:9 set. My S3 is set to 720p fixed. I always Zoom on letterboxed SD, and otherwise use Panel. I'm usually switching several times a day. There are also a handful of sources where Full is appropriate -- 16:9 video squeezed to 4:3.
I would be very, very upset if the Aspect button went away.
I second the request for a way to access this from HME.
Like most of the others posting here, I have no need for the "Full" option but I use "Zoom" for letterboxed SD content and "Panel" for all other SD programming to preserve the aspect ratio. With USA-HD coming to Charter Madison in two weeks, I don't think that I will have any Season Passes on stations where this will apply anymore, but there will still be the odd Amazon download or one-off recording where this will apply.
However, I definitely second the person who complained about the aspect button not working on HD content. During storm season, our local affiliates for NBC and FOX (probably ABC and CBS, too, but we don't have any HD season passes on those stations) go to their SD feeds to overlay weather warnings, letterboxing the HD feed and then putting the weather information below the bottom black area, squishing the picture even further. We end up with a craptacular tiny picture on our 37" TV. In those cases, it would be very nice to be able to zoom.
Actually the Aspect button does work on HD, but only when you tell the TiVo that you have a 4:3 display. (And then it doesn't work on SD.) What happens then is, with a 16:9 source, Panel letterboxes, and Zoom crops the sides.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
TiVo Community Forum
9.4M posts
278K members
Since 2001
A forum community dedicated to TiVo digital video recorder owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about programming, streaming, content, schedules, home theaters, displays, models, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!