OTA channels in letterbox--help?

[ssmaniac]

I purchased 2 voom boxes on ebay for my 2 HD monitors--one is widescreen and the other is Sony Wega (not widescreen). OTA channels in HD appear in 16x9 format; the channels in SD, however, appear in 4x3 format (which I know should be the case), but the TV or Voom box is still compressing the picture to letterbox size, but with sides cropped. End result, I have 4x3 picture but with a border all the way around (so only 3/5 of the screen size is used). Any thoughts/suggestions?
Thanks
Mike

 

[lilyarbie]

You're probably talking about pillar boxing effect....

Pillar boxing is where you are watching 4X3 content on your widescreen television and there are black bars placed on the left and right side of the screen to preserve the aspect ratio so that the viewing area doesn't look out of proportion. Whenever a commercial comes on like a movie trailer where the content being viewed is letterboxed, then you will see black bars all the way across the screen so that the viewing material is boxed in completely. This is an aggravating effect, but unless you want to stretch your material out of proportion or cut off sections of the 4X3 viewing area to make it in proportion to your widescreen, then it is something you usually have to get used to.

 

[ssmaniac]

My problem is on my 4x3 TV...

Rather than just showing 4x3 content on the full screen (which is not a widescreen tv), the TV is compressing the image so it looks like a box inside the screen--its not out of proportion, its just about 2/3 of the screen size. It's interpreting the voom signal as 16x9, so the TV is letterboxing the top and bottom, and since its not a 16x9 image, the sides are cropped too.

I'm trying to find out a way to allow the tv to recognize (or the voom box to indicate to the tv) that the SD (4x3) content should not be compressed either on the sides or top/bottom? (Thanks for replying, lilyarbie.)
Mike

 

[Ilya]

First of all, is the channel itself SD or HD?

If the channel is HD (1080i or 720p), but is showing an upconverted SD program in 4x3, then all extra black bars on the sides are sent by the broadcaster as part of the image. It's not the box who is adding them.

If the channel is SD (480i), then you can switch the box to native mode and this will do it. (Press the red button hidden behind a small door on the right side of the front panel several times until you see all 4 amber lights lit at once.)

Good luck.

 

[Kevinw]

Does your Tv have a ZOOM function?

 

[ssmaniac]

Channels are in SD when this occurs. I will try the "native mode" button; sounds like that will work. (Do I have to set it again to view HD in letterbox, then? or will HD continue to be shown automatically in 16x9?)
Any chance playing with that red button will reset or deactivate box?
I appreciate the help.

(My tv does not have zoom function; DVD player does....)
OT: Watched the PBS 4th of July celebration in HD; looked great. Thanks to Satelliteguys for turning me onto VOOM boxes as low cost OTA receiver.
Mike

 

[Ilya]

Channels are in SD when this occurs.

Just to clarify: if the channel is HD at least some of the time, it is an HD channel! Most HD channels do show SD programs (more often than we want), but they usually upconvert them to 1080i or 720p resolution and to 16x9 frame, no matter what content they show. With very few exceptions, HD channels do not switch resolution depending on the content: they continue sending 16x9 formated HD signal, even when they show SD (4x3) programs. In order to fill the entire 16x9 frame, they either add black (or gray) bars on each side or stretch the picture. As a result, if you have a 4x3 TV set, you may get dark borders all around the picture. Borders at the top and at the bottom are added by your TV set or by the set-top box in order to fit the 16x9 frame sent by the broadcaster into the 4x3 frame of the TV set; while the borders on left and right sides are part of the image: they are added by the broadcaster in order to fit the 4x3 frame of the original program into the 16x9 frame of the HD broadcast signal. That's why you might be getting borders all the way around.

I will try the "native mode" button; sounds like that will work. (Do I have to set it again to view HD in letterbox, then? or will HD continue to be shown automatically in 16x9?)

By default, the box upconverts all channels to HD. In the Native mode, HD channels will remain HD, and SD channels will remain SD (4x3), so your HDTV set should be able to handle them properly. (However, this will not help if the channel is HD showing SD content, as I explained above.)

Any chance playing with that red button will reset or deactivate box?

Should be safe.