Black side stripes

Originally Posted by Proppinupthebar

Then you are using your TV incorrectly. BBC and ITV analogue broadcasts are 4:3. You are horizontally stretching and hence distorting the pictures to fit.
Your ntl box is sending the picture it recieves from the BBC, which is a picture with black bars down either side.

How should i use my TV correctly?

[Tristan]

There is a signal sent by the STB (if fact, two signals) to tell your TV that it's sending a widescreen picture.

The purists claim that you should watch 4:3 content pillarboxed on a 16:9 TV. Most people don't though.

Originally Posted by gary_580

How should i use my TV correctly?

Terrestrial broadcasts are in 4:3, set your TV to 4:3 with your STB turned off.
Then turn on the STB and your TV should then switch according to what the STB is sending to it.

[Tristan]

In your face, eight balls!

I should add that by "pillarboxed", I mean, with vertical lines left and right, in the same way the BBC are broadcasting the football.

Originally Posted by Proppinupthebar

Terrestrial broadcasts are in 4:3, set your TV to 4:3 with your STB turned off.
Then turn on the STB and your TV should then switch according to what the STB is sending to it.

I dont set any aspect ratio on the TV. I just let it deal with the signal in the way it was designed to. Is that wrong?

Originally Posted by gary_580

I dont set any aspect ratio on the TV. I just let it deal with the signal in the way it was designed to. Is that wrong?

Its designed to show 4:3 pics in a 4:3 ratio, and 16:9 pics in 16:9 ratio. its not dealing with signals in the way it was designed to so i guess that would make it wrong.

[magpie]

Originally Posted by gary_580

I dont set any aspect ratio on the TV. I just let it deal with the signal in the way it was designed to. Is that wrong?

If you are ever* watching an analogue picture and it fills your screen, then what you're watching is actually stretched horizontally. In these instances, your TV should be set to 4:3.

A TV set to auto should do this itself. However, my TV doesn't actually have an "auto" option - on mine, I just select 4:3 as the default size, and it then changes itself when it recieves a widescreen switching signal from the STB.


* sometimes channel 4 show films in letterbox widescreen on analogue - your TV should zoom this image so that it fills your screen, albeit at a lower resolution.

Originally Posted by Proppinupthebar

Its designed to show 4:3 pics in a 4:3 ratio, and 16:9 pics in 16:9 ratio. its not dealing with signals in the way it was designed to so i guess that would make it wrong.

How can you even say that when you dont know what the TV is? IT might be designed to show a 4:3 pic in a 16:9ratio by strethcing the outter edges. Seems way off the point. How ever i got the answer (i think). From what people have said it seams the Digital and terrestrial analogue are transmitted in different formats. Terrestrial 4:3 and Digital 16:9, however the digital signal when showing the portugese pictures can only fill 4:3 but its still transmitted as 16:9

Originally Posted by gary_580

How can you even say that when you dont know what the TV is? IT might be designed to show a 4:3 pic in a 16:9ratio by strethcing the outter edges. Seems way off the point.

Because no manufacturer deliberately manufactures a TV which will deliberately distort pictures. Its not rocket science.

[poolking]

gary_580,

Post the make and model of your television, so some one can look into it, then hopefully these arguments can be resolved.

Originally Posted by Proppinupthebar

Because no manufacturer deliberately manufactures a TV which will deliberately distort pictures. Its not rocket science.

Now im really confused. If stretching a 4:3 picture to fit a 16:9 screen isnt distorting the picture what is it?

Panasonic TX32PD30

Its the way you are using it. It has been setup to stretch the pictures, in normal operation it won't.

[Tod]

While the experts are here, if I switch my STB to RGB my widescreen TV always stretches the picture to fill the screen no matter whether it is a widescreen program or 4:3 (and it makes no difference what aspec setting the TV is on!). Is there any way to get the STB to send the black sidebars for broadcasts that are 4:3?

[Lew]

What make is your TV, Tod?

Tod do you have AV control set to on? And are you using the TV out scart on the back of the STB and not the VCR out.