16:9 output on a 625 reciever??

[firstmode]

Hey guys, is there a way to do 16:9 output on a 635 reciever? I have a wide screen HDTV and did not know if this reciever is capable of that output like a DVD player is.

I guess I would need a reciever with Component output for that, but i don't know.

 

[BrianMis]

None of the E* SD receivers will output 16:9.

I would just use the stretch mode on your HD set.

 

[Sarang]

You sure Brian? I was watching a movie on Showtime Too on a 322 and getting the bars up top and down below unless it was Letterboxed. GOD I hope it wasn't LBX'ed. I have a WS TV that's why.

 

[HokieEngineer]

When a station shows content on a 4:3 channel (all the SD channels) that is letterboxed, you will see black bars on all four sides on a 16:9 tv (yea it really sucks). You can try zooming or stretching.

As far as I know, none of the SD boxes will output a 16:9 picture.. It would be pretty nice for the guide and stuff, even if the channel is 4:3.

I know the old dishplayer 7200 series had a config setting for "4:3 or 16:9 tv". However, it didnt matter which setting you chose, the output was still the same.. Guess Microsoft never got to that part of the code

 

[BrianMis]

Sarang, I'm pretty sure. Even on a 16:9 TV some widescreen movies will still show black bars on the top and bottom. It just depends on what the widescreen aspect ratio the movie was shot in.

 

[M Sparks]

I don't have a 625, but every DISH and DirecTV SD receiver I've ever owned had a setting for 16:9.

BUT...that requires someone to broadcast animorphic SD programming, and no one does. I think DirecTV experimented with animorphic PPV for a while, but went back to letterboxing.

It's funny, I used to seek out letterboxed programming when I had a 4:3 TV. Now I avoid it as much as possible. You can get away with zooming a non-animorphic DVD if you have too, but DBS resolution is just too low to make a watchable picture. And the few network shows I watch (Medium, The Office, Arrested Development), are all letterboxed. I tried zooming them for a while, but now I just leave them with bars on all 4 sides. I reason that the 4:3 picture on my 32" widescreen is only slightly smaller than it was on my old 27". You just have to get over the psychological part of watching through a "hole". I have an exercise bike that is pretty far from the TV, so sometimes I will zoom it when I'm too far away to see the artifacts.

I don't know why DirecTV or DISH don't do their WS PPV animorphically. As far as I know, all STBs can handle it. (Maybe they left it off the 625?). I know I would consider buying more if it was, but I've actually bought less since getting the widescreen. I don't mind watching 4:3 TV shows with the side bars, but it seems a waste to buy a 4:3 PPV or zoom a letterboxed PPV if I can rent an animorphic DVD for less.

Hokie, stretching a letterboxed program only makes it worse. You wind up with bars on top and bottom, and a distorted picture. Zooming is the only way to go unfortunately.

 

[HokieEngineer]

Its still funny that they dont output the menus and guide in 16:9 if you change the setting. Does this actually work on the newer recievers? I've tried on a 7200 and 3900, changing to 16:9 picture size does nothing. You wonder why they even have this option.

 

[M Sparks]

Its still funny that they dont output the menus and guide in 16:9 if you change the setting. Does this actually work on the newer recievers? I've tried on a 7200 and 3900, changing to 16:9 picture size does nothing. You wonder why they even have this option.

As I mentioned, the option was there for animorphic programming, of which there was very little, and now seems to be none. In fact, I don't know if DISH ever did, but DirecTV DID have animorphic PPV for a while. Obviously, if there's no animorphic programming, switching the aspect ratio isn't going to do anything.

As for "outputting menus and guide in 16:9"- I'm not sure what you mean. There's no such thing as a 16:9 signal. It's all in how the signal is processed by the TV. A full resolution NTSC picture is 720 x 480 pixels no matter if it's 4:3 or 16:9. The difference is the PIXEL aspect ratio (0.9 vs 1.22). Since computers (and therefore STB guides and menus) actually generate SQUARE (1.0) pixels, it doesn't really generate 4:3 or 16:9- it generates a 720 x 480 picture. A 4:3 TV inturprets the pixel aspect ratio as 0.9 no matter what. A 16:9 TV inturprets it as 0.9 OR 1.22 depending on what mode it's in.

Now, it's possible to "reformat" the guide so it looks "better" in one aspect ratio or the other. For example, switching to a narrower font in 16:9 mode would make it look more "natural" when inturpreted as a 1.22 pixel aspect ratio.

On the 942, you can choose between several different guide layouts. I have mine set to show 3 hours across. But no matter how it's set up, it's a 720 x 480 picture. DISH seems to have "split the difference" with the font- it looks slightly too wide on a 16:9 TV, and slightly too narrow on a 4:3. But when the "screensaver" comes on, the DISH logo is clearly in 0.9 pixel aspect ratio. It looks fine on my bedroom TV, but all stretched out in the livingroom.

In any case putting a STB in 16:9 mode actually makes it "do" less. In 4:3 mode, it will letterbox the animorphic pictures. In 16:9 mode, it lets the animorphic picture pass through unaltered.

Back when the original DirecTV STBs came out, hardly anyone had a 16:9 set. But transmitting animorphic PPV allowed them to have a higher resolution, because they aren't wasting bandwidth transmitting black-bars. Early DirecTV widescreen PPV looked AMAZING because of this. It wasn't worth creating special software for special 16:9 guides- they just created a mode to disable the automatic letterboxing for the few 16:9 TV owners.

I agree that the new HD STBs should have different guide formats for 4:3 and 16:9 mode, but it just wasn't worth it back then.

 

[bpickell]

In any case putting a STB in 16:9 mode actually makes it "do" less. In 4:3 mode, it will letterbox the animorphic pictures. In 16:9 mode, it lets the animorphic picture pass through unaltered.

If this is true, then why is it that I have my DVD player set to widescreen output, and whenever I play a movie that is anamorphic it always letterboxes. And I have to stretch the picture anyway. Now if I rent or purchase a move that says just widescreen or enhanced for 16X9 televisions, it doesn't letterbox.