Picture size on some programmes

Both CC and TCM still only broadcasting in 4:3 and not 16:9. However, certainly on TCM, they do show widescreen prints of films instead of versions cropped or re-edited to 4:3 and these are then displayed, as you have found, with a black space around the whole of the image.

There is a way around this, and that is to set the Aspect Ratio to "Zoom" . How to do this is detailedon page 28 of the User Manual.

The only issue is that proper 4:3 content will also be zoomed-in so you will lose the outside edges of the picture.

You should only be getting borders on either the top/bottom or the sides, not both. If you are, then there's a problem with the TV.

VirginMediaPhil said:

You should only be getting borders on either the top/bottom or the sides, not both. If you are, then there's a problem with the TV.

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That's not true.

Some broadcasters show some programmes as 16:9 aspect in a 4:3 frame.

As Carl says, TCM show some of their films in a way that has black space at the sides and top and bottom, which allows you to zoom and not loose any of the picture.

Zaichik said:

Is anyone else finding that some programmes appear in a small box in the middle of the screen. The new episode of South Park on Comedy Central is a case in point - there are big borders at the top and bottom and on the left and right. (The aspect ratio is set correctly on the TV.) An older episode I recorded last week fills the screen OK, so I don't know why tonight's is different.

I've seen the same phenomenon on TCM - sometimes a movie appears normally in 4:3 (i.e. fills the screen to the top and bottom) and other times it's reduced to small box in the middle of the screen.

Is this a TiVo issue or is it really how the programmes are broadcast?

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The correct (non distorting) settings for TiVo are Panel and 16:9 wide.

If you still have problems give a couple of programme examples to have a further look at.

There's no problem, Ozsat. Other than stupid broadcasters

passingbat said:

That's not true.

Some broadcasters show some programmes as 16:9 aspect in a 4:3 frame.

As Carl says, TCM show some of their films in a way that has black space at the sides and top and bottom, which allows you to zoom and not loose any of the picture.

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I meant if you were using the 'Full Screen' option.

cwaring said:

There's no problem, Ozsat. Other than stupid broadcasters

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There are two problems with TiVo here. The first is that the default settings is "Full Screen" which distorts the picture.
(As an aside, I am starting to wonder if some people's complaint about SD quality is due to them having this option set wrong. If they don't change the default, they'll not only have a distorted image, they'll have more scaling happening than is necessary.)

The second problem is that TiVo deal well with changing content. Some SD programmes look best with Panel (they are 4:3, and get black bars left and right). Some look best with Zoom (they are 16:9 scaled to 4:3, and Panel gives black bars on all four sides; Zoom fills the screen and clips all the bars). My TV has an Auto setting which detects when Zoom is appropriate and switches mode automatically. TiVo neither (a) auto-switches itself; (b) passes through to let my TV do its own auto-switch; (c) provides a convenient UI to let the user switch manually.

Agreed on both issues But they would both be moot points if certain channels didn't bastardise their content

Kerrang is an example of the broadcast is 3:4 but quite a lot of the content is 16:9. The DOGs are sometimes the only thing displayed top and bottom of the screen.

Havent noticed myself but i do know Tivo has quite a few aspect ratio settings you might try