Chorus/UPC picture going into 6;9 res

popebenny16

Well, whatever the old screen resolution was back in the days of Murphy's Valve telly's.

It's doing this automatically depending on if a show is transmitted in w/s or not. So, all the terrestrials, sky one, two, BBCN24 and Sky news are in normal w/s, CNN isnt, Discovery and Nat Geo are, others are when there is a show on in w/s, otherwise in the old format.

Thing is, the "now and next" epg and other features also shrink to fit.

Is this an option I have accidently turned on an d if so can I switch it off again, or is this a great new feature they've slipped in?

BendiBus

I noticed that on my mothers telly the other day when I was visiting. I didn't comment on it as she probably didn't even notice.

So NTL must have done something.

watty

it should do this
Lots of content is 4:3. Only 16:9 Widescreen content should fill a Widescreen.
Films often will have a black band as only some are close to 16:9
(TV is 1.78:1 = 16:9 and cinema varies from 1.66:1 WS WS to 2.7:1 WS).
Old pre 1950s film is "Academy Format" which is close to old 4:3 TV format. It was due to feeling threatened by Growth of US TV and the 1951 demo of Color TV (NTSC Color) that Studios developed the 3 main Widescreen techniques (Aninorphic Lens = panavision, Masking to WS and WS version of 35mm where the film moves at a slower speed for the 24fps giving less tall frames.)

zilog_jones

My TV (Toshiba 32" LCD) is a bit finicky about the 4:3/16:9 switching - sometimes it decides to not switch at all, so you have to go out to an analogue channel or another AV input and back while on 4:3 mode for it to work again.

Anyway, when it is apparently working correctly, the Guide and other menus switch to 4:3. I think it's always like this.

The "Now & Next" thing is always the same size, it's just it's stretched like the rest of the picture when the TV is in 16:9 mode. The video is always the same width (720x576 in digital land), it's just the SCART switching or your manual configuration of the TV that dertimines whether this picture is shown in 4:3 or 16:9. The graphical overlays the Chorus box produce always assume 4:3 though, so look very stretched when in 16:9.

Some channels however broadcast old 4:3 programmes as 16:9 with black borders down the sides - kind of a waste of horizontal resolution if you ask me, but it does resolve incorrect/non-existant widescreen switching and avoids "fat-head vision" for people who leave their TV on 16:9 for everything. I think they usually do this on BBC1 and 2. When this occurs, the Chorus box overlays will be stretched to 16:9 - maybe that is what you experienced before?

Pat Gleeson

BendiBus wrote: »

I noticed that on my mothers telly the other day when I was visiting. I didn't comment on it as she probably didn't even notice.

So NTL must have done something.

It's exactly the same with me. I was at my mum's (Chorus analogue, Limerick), and BBC1 was in 16:9 widescreen, so on my mum's 4:3TV everyone looked squashed.

My mum did'nt notice either
Either that or she did'nt care

zilog_jones

That's a different issue to what the OP is talking about, but yes, on the anlogue channels in Limerick at least BBC1 and Sky One are being sent out as 16:9 - there's nothing you can do about that if your TV isn't widescreen and doesn't have a 16:9 mode (some do, esp. more recent sets) except complain to Chorus as it's their fault.

BendiBus

zilog_jones wrote: »

That's a different issue to what the OP is talking about, but yes, on the anlogue channels in Limerick at least BBC1 and Sky One are being sent out as 16:9 - there's nothing you can do about that if your TV isn't widescreen and doesn't have a 16:9 mode (some do, esp. more recent sets) except complain to Chorus as it's their fault.

Not sure what we're all talking about here.

To clarify my earlier post:

My mother has digital TV (Cable) and an old 4:3 TV. Until recently, 16:9 broadcasts filled the screen and the ends of the picture were cut off (usually most obvious when the DOGs were disappearing off the edge of the screen).

I noticed at the weekend that 16:9 broadcasts are now shrinking to fit the 4:3 screen with black borders above & below. This appears to be a new feature.

I thought that was what the OP was reporting.

Mossy Monk

They are using a 16:9 letterbox format instead of 4:3 pan and scan?
An improvement imo.

zilog_jones

I think the OP was concerned about the menu overlays changing size with 4:3 and 16:9 broadcasts, which is the result of the anamorphic nature of 16:9 and the Chorus box producing the same overlays regardless.

BendiBus wrote: »

I noticed at the weekend that 16:9 broadcasts are now shrinking to fit the 4:3 screen with black borders above & below. This appears to be a new feature.

In the configuration menu you can choose between 4:3 Pan & Scan (what you were getting before) and 4:3 Letterbox (what you're getting now). By default it's on Pan & Scan - the Sagem boxes are anyway. Unless you're talking about TV3, which currently seems to be broken and coming from an analogue source right now, so any 16:9 programmes on that will be 14:9 cropped/letterboxed.

They are using a 16:9 letterbox format instead of 4:3 pan and scan?
An improvement imo.

Debatable. With 16:9 letterboxing you're resizing 576 horizontal lines to about 432 - the other 144 go wasted as they're all black and you're not getting a very good ~432 lines at that as it's being downscaled from not a lot more lines and it's your crappy STB that's doing the downscaling (interlaced video will suffer from this conversion even more). The majority of TV programmes are designed to be at least cropped to 14:9 (the half-assed letterboxing you get on analogue channels and cheap Sky channels), so you're rarely missing out on any action. You may not be so lucky with films though.

A 4:3 TV with a 16:9 mode will be a much better option as you're getting the whole 576 lines - it's just the TV is scanning them in a smaller space (and in the correct aspect ratio).

popebenny16

think i'd better clarify what i meant.

we've had the same widescreen telly and same Chorus box for four years. up untill the last month or so everything, even shows that were produced in 4:3, was in widescreen - as in they filled the screen

in the last month or so 4:3 is now appearing within the screen size (giving the imprssion of black lines on the side) and shows and the like produced in widescreen are filling the screen.

I had noticed years ago that when BBCN24 which is W/S breadcasts the ABC Nightly news it was in reduced 4:3 and the BBC proivided a backdrop to fill in the rest of the screen.

So is this my telly doing it or Chorus UPC?

Mossy Monk

That is your tv displaying the correct aspect ratio. 4:3 stretched to fill the screen is wrong and positively evil.

KeRbDoG

Don't most Chorus/UPC STB have the option in the setup menu to force 4:3 Pan & Scan or widescreen to the video output of the box so your TV doesn't go crazy trying to adjust to the broadcasters signal?

popebenny16

kerbdog wrote: »

Don't most Chorus/UPC STB have the option in the setup menu to force 4:3 Pan & Scan or widescreen to the video output of the box so your TV doesn't go crazy trying to adjust to the broadcasters signal?

i have it set to widescreen in the set up menu

zilog_jones

The 16:9 option in the Sagem box means it will still send the switching signal appropriately depending on whether the picture being received is 4:3 or 16:9. The other two options (4:3 Pan & Scan and Letterbox) are only suitable for 4:3 sets, unless you like watching low resolution or fat-head vision all the time.

My TV (Toshiba 32C3500P) has an issue that it will ignore the switching signals if I turn it on while still on the AV input for the STB and in 16:9, i.e. it seems I have to change it manually to 4:3 and then select the AV input again. There's no specific auto/"smart" screen setting which is a bit annoying.

deanh

I have noticed that if you use the set-top remote to turn on/off the television rather than the t.v. remote , the settings seem to re-set to the default.