[shocket]

I am thinking of getting telewest tv drive and i am reading alot about the picture on alot of programmes being displayed with the black bars down the sides which i hate, now will my telly be able to stretch it to fill the screen or will i be stuck with the 4:3 like the champions league games from europe on freeview, the tv is a samsung le26r41. thanks

[Kevo]

Stick with the black bars, looks MUCH better than a distorted, stretched picture.

[Cable Monkey]

Pick up the remote control and have a look. There should be a button that allows you to pick what ratio your TV views pictures in.

[shocket]

There is and normaly its fine but as i say when i was watching the champions league last night and on other away games on freeview no matter what the settings are it wont display wide at all

[PhilJam]

Perhaps it wasn't broadcast in widescreen. I watched the game from Milan last night and thought bloody 4:3, am just glad the World Cup is not in Italy this year.

PhilJam

[meltonboy]

whilst most screens dont seem to let users manipulate HDMI signals, you can always change back and from RGB Scart mode and mess about with the picture - if that floats your boat.

I'm now totally used to the black bars myself !

[KableMan]

Hi Shocket - you should listen to the latest AV podcast as it contains an explaination given by Telewest on the reason for the black bars. This is likely to be a problem for Sky HD too and has been the case for many football matches broadcast on ITV and the BBC for some time (as stated above). In these cases the footy is actually in 4:3 but the station is broadcasting in widescreen and so it adds the black borders to retain the correct aspect ratio (just as Telewest have done) and no matter what you do on your TV you can't remove them.

HD is a widescreen resolution and so anything transmitted in HD MUST be widescreen - this is why most (if not all) TV's do not allow you to change the aspect ratio of the screen when connected via HDMI, i.e. because it is intended for use by HD and so is usually fixed in Wide or 16:9 mode.

So if Telewest and Sky want to broadcast non-widescreen content in HD (usually by definition it will also be upscaled) then they have one simple decision to make - do they display it in its correct aspect ratio with black bars either side or do they attempt to stretch it. It's a numbers game and they can't please all of the people all of the time so they've stuck to the letter of the law and let the aspect ratio make the decision for them.

Now I, like you, preferred in the past to stretch these 4:3 images and I was more than happy with my old Toshiba's "Super Live" mode and my SONY's "Smart" mode but many TV's are crap at this, including my Samsung with its "Panoramic" mode, and the images look really squashed and distorted. Given the choice between the correct aspect ratio and the mild annoyance of black bars (which vanish as you sink into enjoying the show) and a distorted image - I think Telewest have made the right choice - and I'm assuming Sky will do the same. So this will not come down to a choice between platforms.

This problem will only ultimately right itself once everyone transmits in widescreen - which to be fair most now do.

In fact I don't think I've seen a single programme in 4:3 (with black borders left and right) since I switched over to the TVDrive last week

Cheers
KableMan

[Mike_CA]

Originally Posted by shocket

I am thinking of getting telewest tv drive and i am reading alot about the picture on alot of programmes being displayed with the black bars down the sides which i hate, now will my telly be able to stretch it to fill the screen or will i be stuck with the 4:3 like the champions league games from europe on freeview, the tv is a samsung le26r41. thanks

Most HDTVs will allow stretching of SD programs broadcast on SD channels. However, if a SD program is broadcast on a HD channel, most HDTVs will not let the stretching occur. Some will such as the 45" Sharps but none of the Sonys will.

[Kevo]

Originally Posted by Mike_CA

most HDTVs will not let the stretching occur.

Tha'll do for me

[shocket]

Thanks all for your help, decided to give it a go and ordered it , now the only problem is they cant install it until late may! ah well, such is life

I ordered my TVDrive this morning. Being installed this Saturday!. Could have been Friday but im at work.

Not sure why yours is so far away

[creambun]

hi getti
let me know about the tv drive and how good it is compared to sky
cheers

Will do

Not seen Sky HD but at £300 for the box they are having a laugh

[the porter]

heres a tip for any1 ordering the tv drive get an installation date for bog standard cable box then mention you want the tv drive box and they should give you the same installation date and get it quicker as they seem to give later install dates for tv drive boxes

I already have 2 boxes with them and when asking to upgrade 1 i was told this friday was the earliest.

Only dissapointment is my TV has 1 dead pixel. Hopefully i wont notice it too much