HDTV question

[Anubis]

OK here goes

We have Time Warner Digital Cable, and we have a HD Cable box provided by TW, we have this hooked to a 26in panasonic tau HDTV, we get a good number of HD channels from TW and they seem to work fine,

we have the box connected to the TV via Component cables, when you watch a non HD brodcast useing the component imputs the image is not displaied full screen, its displaied at like 27inches and not 36, to view non HD brodcasts full size you have to put it on the normal RCA vid imputs, you cannot view HD brodcasts on the RCA imput

thats all fine and such however i need answering on this

Fox sports and CBS and such brodcast Football and baseball in 720p, now i figure sweet i can change it over to teh HD inputs and make it look sweet, however that doesnt not work, it displays like a non HD channel as discribed above,

how the hell do i make it so it displays in HD? at full screen size?

 

[KLin]

so you're getting vertical bars on either side of the screen right?

 

[Anubis]

no both verticial and horizontal

ill draw you a pic

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: Anubis
no both verticial and horizontal

ill draw you a pic

I know what you mean. The only way to fill up the screen is if you have a zoom function on your TV. I don't think the cable box is capable of zooming. At least my motorola box from Comcast isn't able to.


EDIT: one more thing, cbs and fox may advertise that they are displaying their sports in HD, but that isn't necessarily the case. The local affiliate may have a digital broadcast, but they may not be able to broadcast HD content.

 

[Anubis]

heres a crappy diagram

http://www.tweaknasty.com/ran/tv.JPG

the inner square is how a NON HD brodcast looks on the Component imputs

HD brodcasts like HBO-HD, discovery-HD display at full size and so do all non HD brodcasts on RCA imputs

 

[TechnoKid]

This is a problem, if you will, in the TV. Some TVs will not let you manually change the aspect ratio if the source is through the Component/HD inputs.

If the picture looks ok, like not strectched out, but still displays the bars on both sides (4:3) then the HD source was shot in 4:3, either that or it is 4:3 SDTV upconverted by the broadcast station to HDTV (480p, 720p, or 1080i).

 

[Anubis]

k i went and plaied with it, the aspect ratio was set to 16:9, when i changed it to 4:3 it stretched it so it fit top to bottom but did nothing to the sides

i guess the local stations dont brodcast the HD stream? thats sucks

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: Anubis
k i went and plaied with it, the aspect ratio was set to 16:9, when i changed it to 4:3 it stretched it so it fit top to bottom but did nothing to the sides

i guess the local stations dont brodcast the HD stream? thats sucks

It may be HD stream, just not in 16:9. HD can be in any aspect ratio. What really sucks is if the HD source is 4:3 but your TV can only displays HD content in 16:9 (some TVs are like this, bad call by the manufacturers IMO); your images would look always stretched.

Your TV is widescreen? If I am not mistaken, and your tv is not widescreen, the pannys have a "vertical squeeze" feature that allows you to vertically squeeze an anamorphic DVD or source to make it widescreen on your TV; this is better then letterbox because it uses the tv's fulll horizontal resolution insterad of using some of it for black bars.

 

[GoSharks]

im pretty sure that HDTV has to be 16:9...

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: KLin

Originally posted by: Anubis
no both verticial and horizontal

ill draw you a pic

I know what you mean. The only way to fill up the screen is if you have a zoom function on your TV. I don't think the cable box is capable of zooming. At least my motorola box from Comcast isn't able to.


EDIT: one more thing, cbs and fox may advertise that they are displaying their sports in HD, but that isn't necessarily the case. The local affiliate may have a digital broadcast, but they may not be able to broadcast HD content.

It depends on the box.

I have 3 different HD boxes at home from TWC and the newest one, a Scientific Atlanta, has different aspect ratios. Its actually a sweet box. Its about the size of an alarm clock compared to the record player sized one I have upstairs.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Doggiedog

Originally posted by: KLin

Originally posted by: Anubis
no both verticial and horizontal

ill draw you a pic

I know what you mean. The only way to fill up the screen is if you have a zoom function on your TV. I don't think the cable box is capable of zooming. At least my motorola box from Comcast isn't able to.


EDIT: one more thing, cbs and fox may advertise that they are displaying their sports in HD, but that isn't necessarily the case. The local affiliate may have a digital broadcast, but they may not be able to broadcast HD content.

It depends on the box.

I have 3 different HD boxes at home from TWC and the newest one, a Scientific Atlanta, has different aspect ratios. Its actually a sweet box. Its about the size of an alarm clock compared to the record player sized one I have upstairs.

i have the big one, maybe i should get the smaller one?

TechnoKid: no its not a widscreen TV

 

[Aimster]

It might be HD, but the program might not be in HDTV. You must be talking about basic chans like NBC, FOX etc. Some shows are not full-screen. The signal you are getting is not HD from those shows. Now if you have DISCOVERY HD all your shows will be full-screen.

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: GOSHARKS
im pretty sure that HDTV has to be 16:9...

Same here.

Koing

 

[flashbacck]

Although the channel you are selecting may be an HD stream, the game may not be recorded in HD, which I think is the problem. Not all games are in HD yet, but the major ones (world series, superbowl, etc) should be.

I don't think there's anything you can do about it, unless there's a nifty option on your TV or cable box.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Aimster
It might be HD, but the program might not be in HDTV. You must be talking about basic chans like NBC, FOX etc. Some shows are not full-screen. The signal you are getting is not HD from those shows. Now if you have DISCOVERY HD all your shows will be full-screen.

yea it workd for Dis-HD, ESPN-HD HBO-HD and such

but not the CBS, NBC, FOX channels that the announcers say are being shown in 720p
id wager that my local affilites dont carry the HD one, o well

back to watching bugs in HD then

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: flashbacck
Although the channel you are selecting may be an HD stream, the game may not be recorded in HD, which I think is the problem. Not all games are in HD yet, but the major ones (world series, superbowl, etc) should be.

I don't think there's anything you can do about it, unless there's a nifty option on your TV or cable box.

not that i could find anyway, if they arnt actually in HD why do they say that then? they say the NLCS is but not here i guess

 

[GoSharks]

oh since you have 4:3 tv, then what you are seeing is normal if the programming on the HD channel is being upconverted.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: GOSHARKS
oh since you have 4:3 tv, then what you are seeing is normal if the programming on the HD channel is being upconverted.

its supposed to me smaller? that makes no sence whatsoever

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: GOSHARKS
oh since you have 4:3 tv, then what you are seeing is normal if the programming on the HD channel is being upconverted.

its supposed to me smaller? that makes no sence whatsoever

you know, now that you mention it, i remember reading online somewhere about a glictch with certain HD boxes not showing the picture full screen. have you tried a different box?

does your TV have the "anamorphic/widescreen compression/enhancement" feature? if so, then set your HD box to output in 16:9, and then turn on the widescreen enhancement feature. (like youd setup on a dvd player).

 

[JeffCos]

I have the same TV, but my cable is IO from cable vision. I have the same problem as you when a channel is not broadcast in widescreen (4:3). When it is widescreen(16:9) i only have bars on the top and bottom, but when it's not i have to zoom or stretch the picture and i do this through my cable box not through my TV. Secondly, that TV to the best of my knowledge is not capable of displaying 720p. it only does 480i, 480p and 1080i. The reason why your picture is shrunk 2 inches on all those channels is because they assume that most people have widescreen HDTVs and they make the picture tall enough to fill the screen but not wide enough. Since your TV is as tall as it is wide, you have the bars on the side your supposed to have, but also the ones on top and bottom.

 

[eelw]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: GOSHARKS
oh since you have 4:3 tv, then what you are seeing is normal if the programming on the HD channel is being upconverted.

its supposed to me smaller? that makes no sence whatsoever

All HDTV is 16:9 format. So if a broadcast is 4:3, black bars are added to the sides to make it 16:9. So unless you zoom in, you will always get the smaller image for a 4:3 HD feed.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: eelw

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: GOSHARKS
oh since you have 4:3 tv, then what you are seeing is normal if the programming on the HD channel is being upconverted.

its supposed to me smaller? that makes no sence whatsoever

All HDTV is 16:9 format. So if a broadcast is 4:3, black bars are added to the sides to make it 16:9. So unless you zoom in, you will always get the smaller image for a 4:3 HD feed.

so why do the other HD channels display full screen?

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Anubis
heres a crappy diagram

http://www.tweaknasty.com/ran/tv.JPG

the inner square is how a NON HD brodcast looks on the Component imputs

HD brodcasts like HBO-HD, discovery-HD display at full size and so do all non HD brodcasts on RCA imputs

My friend has a 32" Sony HD.. I asked what the hell is it like that for? and he says that's the way it is.

Lame indeed. I would not put up with that crap.. that annoys the hell out of me.

 

[JeffCos]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: eelw

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: GOSHARKS
oh since you have 4:3 tv, then what you are seeing is normal if the programming on the HD channel is being upconverted.

its supposed to me smaller? that makes no sence whatsoever

All HDTV is 16:9 format. So if a broadcast is 4:3, black bars are added to the sides to make it 16:9. So unless you zoom in, you will always get the smaller image for a 4:3 HD feed.

so why do the other HD channels display full screen?

That has to be your cable company and it's equipment cause none of my HD channels display full screen unless i zoom them

 

[Anubis]

see this is why im not investing in HD yet, till all this crap is standardized, at least its a nice TV and normal TV looks better also