No full screen size

mikeabs

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Hi,I`m having a problem with some channels.I have a 32" LCD HD TV also using a Toshiba DVD HDD and Virgin Media digital.On some channels i have two black lines either side of the viewing.The one that it always happens with is Sky Sports 1 on a Saturday afternoon when the Jeff Stelling football show comes on.
Is it my TV settings DVD settings or Virgin settings that may be causing this?Hope i have explained the problem ok.
Thanks in advance
Mike
 
By default the V+ will show a 4:3 broadcast with black bars left and right on a widescreen telly. You can force the V+ to unnecessarily distort the picture by stretching it to fill the screen if thats your thing by adjusting the display options.

This has been discussed at great lengths on these forums, most recently here: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=624472
 
Kevin,
Thanks for your reply.I did read the thread you posted in your reply before i posted.what i should have stated in my question is that i do not have V+ box but just a digital box.
When i change the screen size the picture gets distorted and at 16:9 writing at the top and bottom of the screen cannot be viewed properly.
 
Alas this is normal. Away from the main and film channels most of the output is 4:3 so you will not fill the screen without distorting or cutting the picture. Often these channels have lower bit rates as well so blowing them up only makes the matter worse. Some increase in the the number of 16:9 channels is promised in the new year. I think we were all a bit disappointed when Virgin 1 proved to be totally 4:3. It has to be understood that many of the older programmes were made that way so there is nothing to be done.

I have a Sony which can zoom in, or I can set it to 14:9 which improves things a bit , but at the cost of topping and tailing the picture. If you're a sports fan it is often that overseas matches are 4:3, or are 'framed' in a 16:9 picture so you cannot satisfactorily use a zoom facility to change matters. I was watching a friend's Sky box at the weekend and they have the same problem. It seems a lot of output on Sky 1 and 2 is actually 4:3. I got a bit upset when they said they couldn't see the difference when they stretched the picture. No wonder there are so many fat kids around these days. They think that is normal !
 
Thanks mike7 for your reply,seems i am not the only one then with this problem.
Any idea why this has only occured,well as far as i know,since the plug was pulled by Sky on a few channels?I could view Sky Sports News,ie the named Stelling football commentry and live scores in full screen before the plug was pulled.
 
Sky Sports News and the Jeff Sterling thing have never been broadcast widescreen and what's you're seeing is what Sky broadcast, whether viewed on Virgin boxes or Sky ones or whatever. Like Setanta Sports News, it's a 4:3 programme and the only way you can have it full screen on a widescreen telly is to stretch the picture horizontally.
 
Thanks mike7 for your reply,seems i am not the only one then with this problem.
Any idea why this has only occured,well as far as i know,since the plug was pulled by Sky on a few channels?I could view Sky Sports News,ie the named Stelling football commentry and live scores in full screen before the plug was pulled.

You haven't got a problem - that is how the programs are broadcast. Not all channels fill the whole width of the screen. It has nothing to do with Sky pulling any channels.
 
When it was previously filling the screen you either had the 'zoom' setting enabled on your TV, or the picture was stretched horizontally to fill the screen.
 

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