TiVo : TiVo - some channels not Wide Screen - why?

[HB_TiVo]

I'm a bit baffled, have recently changed from Sky+ to Virgin and now have TiVo but find that some channels show programs in an odd format. MTV for instance (Hellcats) records with the program set inside a thick black border with the MTV logo over the top of the black border and picture. On Sky+ the screen just looked like a normal wide screen view. The adverts are all wide screen so it only seems to be the actual program. This also seems to happen on some other channels too (but not for all the programs shown) ie Good Food.

Any ideas why???

[devilincarnate]

If you got in to the :
Menu> Help and settings> Settings> Video output> Aspect correction mode

you will need to select full and then you will not see the black bars on the screen.

Hope this helps you?

[HB_TiVo]

Brill, thank you so much and glad it was so simple - it was driving me mad.

[devilincarnate]

Originally Posted by HB_TiVo

Brill, thank you so much and glad it was so simple - it was driving me mad.

Oh and also forgot To the forum

[Lew]

Originally Posted by HB_TiVo

Brill, thank you so much and glad it was so simple - it was driving me mad.

Bear in mind though, that non-widescreen material will now be stretched and will make everything look short and fat, and that it won't affect non-widescreen material broadcast on HD channels which will still have sidebars.

[carlwaring]

ZOOM is the better option

[ntl.wotcha]

I have my tivo set to "zoom" which automatically aspect corrects a lot of channels.

For example, nick jr transmits most of it's content in 4:3 but the actual 4:3 has been squashed down to 14:9 so you get black bars top and bottom which they then over lay their logos etc. (A lot of channels seems to do this, including MTV etc).

If you set the Tivo to "panel" then it will show it with black bars above/below and sides.
If you set the Tivo to "full" then it just stretches the whole thing sideways but leaves the black bars at top and bottom.
If you set the Tivo to "zoom" then it will fill the whole screen but it also corrects the aspect ratio issue from the source so you end up with everyhing in the right proportions but can lose a bit of text/logos that are put in the top/bottom black bars.

Personally I find zoom mode best for this sort of channel. Obviously if a channel is in 16:9 then the Tivo displays the full screen anyway.
I'm not sure how the Tivo works out what/how much to zoom I assume it's built into the signal somehow ?!

[HB_TiVo]

Thank you so much for your replies, this is really helpful. I'll try Zoom and see if that is even better.
I have to admit I'm loving a lot of the TiVo functions but one I miss from Sky+ is the ability to book mark places in a recording so you can go back to it easily. But it's only a small niggle for me.

[passingbat]

Personally, i think you're better leaving Tivo in the proper 'panel' mode and if you want to change the picture for specific shows, use your TVs aspect ratio settings.

I pretty much always watch 4:3 in their correct aspect ratio and get the black bars down the side. But sometimes, I will zoom the picture, though that sometimes leads to a poor quality picture, so i go back to 4:3.

On TCM, they tend to show movies in the 16:9 aspect ratio, but within a 4:3 frame. Zoom works fairly well for these and you don't lose any of the picture.

I never use the strech mode as although it's meant to keep the centre of the picture in proportion and strech the outer part of the picture, it still loks awfull to me.

On any VM installation i've had, the installer always leaves it in the wrong aspect ratio, i.e., wide and i have to go in and change it. For the way you seem to prefer it, it sounds like you were unlucky and got one of the few installers who knew what he was doing

Originally Posted by HB_TiVo

.. one I miss from Sky+ is the ability to book mark places in a recording so you can go back to it easily. But it's only a small niggle for me.

Most VCR's add this feature (index marks) so I'm suprised it's not included

With V+ you could skip directly to specific time

With Tivo you have to FFWD to any particular point

Bookmarks would be a great feature to add

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by JethroUK

With Tivo you have to FFWD to any particular point

You can use skip-to-tick (Press |<- or ->| whilst in FF/REW)