Topfield TF5800 causes screen switch to 4:3

[rhys_griff]

I have recently bought a Topfield TF5800 PVR and am generally very pleased with it now that I am familiar with most of the features.
The one problem I have is that, when watching live TV throught the Topfield tuner, selecting some channels will cause the TV (Toshiba 32zp18) to change screen format to 4:3. In fact, on some channels this happens at the end of every ad break (v. annoying).
Would be interested if anyone else has this problem and, of course, grateful to learn of a cure.

Dave.

 

[Caroline]

I had this problem except it was the other way around, ie I preferred it to change ratio but, after installing the latest Jags TAP, it wouldn't any more. I found the answer by posting on the Toppy forumlook here. I find toppy.org.uk is the best place to get answers to any "problems".


Caroline

 

[jameslindsey]

No problems with mine, It sends the signal to the TV to switch to the correct ratio automatically. Often you will find this happens at the advert break and back when the program starts again.

If it annoys you you can always use the 0- key to force it to stay at 4:3 or 16:9 in a 4:3 ratio screen but I find it a valuable feature.

 

[nwhitfield]

Yep; the Toppy is fully compliant with the appropriate specs for widescreen switching (it took a few updates and a lot of fiddling last year to get that sorted..)

If you're getting format changes, that's probably because the image has changed from 16:9 to 4:3, and so your TV is updating to show the pictures in the correct ratio.

That's what mine does and frankly if I had a set that did anything else, like automatically stretch the picture to fill the screen all the time, I'd consider it seriously broken. I don't care about black borders on 4:3 material; that's how it was shot.

However, it sounds like constant full screen is possible what you want, and the solution probably lies in your TV's setting; look for a 'smart zoom' or something like that, to tell the set to stretch smaller pictures.

Obviously, of course, make sure you have the TV type (4:3 or 16:9) set correctly in the Toppy's setup menus.

Nigel.

 

[Caroline]

Further to my previous post, I would just like to make it clear the problem was not caused by Jags, I had jumped to that conclusion because I had just installed the latest version of Jags TAP.
I discovered that if my TV was on the "wrong" setting (ie zoom on a 4:3 programme) when I shut down the toppy, when I turned the toppy back on the intelligent switching was deactivated. We have a Toshiba TV and it may well be that it's the TV that then ignores the switching command.
Like Nigel, I prefer the toppy to switch to the appropriate screen setting, so I simply made sure the TV was on the correct setting when I shut down the toppy and I have had no problems since.

So, rhys_griff, if you make sure your TV is on the zoom (cinema) setting when you shut down the toppy, you should - from your point of view - have no further problems.

I would be interestedd to know if this works for you.

Caroline

 

[rhys_griff]

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread. After reading the comments and having experimented myself with the various settings of the format controls on both the toppy and TV, I now think that the only fault is with my understanding of how these things work!

Naively perhaps, I thought that if the content was in 4:3 then the ads would be too (and that the constant switching back and forth was a malfunction). What confused me further was the fact that this behaviour has not been consistent over time. I think Caroline provided the explanation for that in her post because I had been trying different format modes and could quite possibly have caused the situation she described where the TV ignored the switching signals for a while.

Maybe I should stick to steam radio

Dave.