Picture squished on SD output (TV2) on VIP722

[EdGrimley]

Some people are calling this "squashing" a bug, but it is actually a good thing!

For a 16x9 TV2, the signal is sent as a 4:3 image on channel 4 (or whatever). Since you're using analog channel output from the satellite box to TV2, you can only have 4:3. But, your new TV2 is a 16:9 TV... you don't want 4:3 pictures! Right. The 722 is taking the 16:9 original image and horizontally squashing it into the 4:3 space. Use your TV2 settings to "stretch" the 4:3 into 16:9 width, and you should have proper aspect ratio, no matter what channel you're watching!

I believe this only works in Shared / Single (not Dual) mode.

I use this feature all the time, and I think it's great that TV2 is not limited to 4:3.

-m

 

[digiblur]

We are talking about doing this on TV2 in Dual mode...not single mode. Basically it will send the 16X9 HD signal squished (skinny looking people on a 4:3 TV) over the coax, then your 16X9 TV stretches it and boom, the aspect ratio is correct and the people aren't fat or skinny...the sides aren't chopped off etc..no black bars.

 

[samalex]

I understand about the picture being 4x3 via coax on the second TV, but since they're sending the TV1 signal perfectly via coax to the second TV (either in dual or single mode) I'd think they could give the option to do the same for TV2 in dual mode. I'm having to use the settings on the TV to fix the aspect ratio which works, but it's just bothersome having to do it. Plus the guide gets cut off when the aspect ratio is set by the TV to stretch things out since the bottom part is then cropped.

I think more and more people are going with 16x9 TV's for TV2 in dual mode, so I'd think making this an option would be a nice feature to add.

Sam

 

[rdinkel]

+1!

 

[kstuart]

I have send this in to Dish Engineering as a possible Tech Forum question.

 

[samalex]

I have send this in to Dish Engineering as a possible Tech Forum question.

Thanks

 

[nateanderson]

Wow- this is a coincidence. I just bought a 19" Vizio TV for tv2 (kitchen), and was googling about this issue (on a 622 however), when I came across this forum. Has anyone received any info from Dish?

 

[TNGTony]

I posed the question why we couldn't have an anamorphic SD full screen picture on TV2 in the dual mode to one of the Dish tech development people at the Team Summit in Nashville a couple of years ago. (specifically for a 622). The answer was quite technical, but it boiled down to was that TV2 (on 622/722) does not have the capability of handling an HD signal. In order for an anamorphic signal to be sent on TV2 coax or composite wires, the receiver has to process an HD signal and convert it. He told me how the process was different from converting it to the present cut sides or letterbox, but to be honest it went way over my head (or it was mumbo-jumbo ). It is something that has been a thorn in my side for a long time. It is no longer an issue in my case because I got a 211 for TV2 (mostly because of this missing feature).

 

[TheKrell]

How is it that every DVD player in existence can put out an anamorphic widescreen SD signal, while TV2 cannot?

 

[Rekamah]

Its been a while since this thread has been active. I'll see if I can spark responses from here, since all of the above is relavant to my situation. My understanding of anamorphic widescrneen is that the SD broadcast needs to be algorithmically compressed from the original 16:9 format down to the 4:3 format. At that point, a device with the proper capability (possibly a new version of the 722 receiver?) would be able to expand that signal back to its former 16:9 size and send it out to be viewed correctly (undistorted, unclipped) by 16:9 tv sets.

Is this as others understand it, and if so, the first question to ask is if Dish's SD channels come to the receiver in anamorphic widescreen format. If they are not formatted as such, then no amount of capability of a receiver can output a full undistorted signal, right?

 

[TNGTony]

Not quite, but on the right path. In the case of a 622/722 TV2 output, the receiver needs to compress the 16x9 HD image to an anamorphic 4x3 SD picture. This 4x3 image can them be stretched out on TV2's 16x9 screen using the TV's stretch-o-vision feature. Where the 622/722 falls short is in the ability of compressing a 16x9 HD picture to 4x3 anamorphic SD picture to send over the RF coax or composite video lines while in dual mode. The 622/722 does this just fine in the single mode. According to the people I have asked at Dish about this, the 622/722 does not have the ability to process two HD channels simultaneously and that is exactly what if would have to do to get anamorphic 16x9 to work on TV 2 in dual mode.

 

[dwarren2]

I think it is the TV. When using the TV2 output you should never see the guide in full screen since the output is down converted to SD and you should see black bars at the sides of the screen. Most TV's have a variety of picture size options like Zoom, Stretch, etc. Look on your TV remote for any think that will change your TV's picture size. It might be P Size or anything similar.

 

[TheKrell]

According to the people I have asked at Dish about this, the 622/722 does not have the ability to process two HD channels simultaneously and that is exactly what if would have to do to get anamorphic 16x9 to work on TV 2 in dual mode.

Not criticizing your reporting, but... I find the "Dish people" statement dubious at best. The TV2 output stream is already processing 16:9 HD down to 4:3 letterboxed SD. What we want is exactly the same horizontal and vertical resolution, but scaled so that there are no grey bars added. You could say that the Dish receiver has been programmed to process more than it should by scaling down too far and adding grey bars for nothing.

Actually, the grey bars aren't for nothing; they are for 4:3 TVs. It strains credulity to suppose that the chipset inside these Duo receivers has no anamorphic widescreen scaling option. Even the cheapest CECBs can do this. (All the ones I've tried can do that.)

I'll bet the real reason there is no anamorphic widescreen option on TV2 is to avoid the support calls. Anamorphic widescreen will look tall and thin on an SD TV set, or a widescreen TV set that hasn't been set up correctly. But they will still get support calls over the TV1 SD outputs that do support anamorphic widescreen, plus all of us who want to see the best possible SD picture on a widescreen TV hooked up to TV2. Perhaps they'll wise up over time and reverse this decision, as the number of support calls switches over to our side.

 

[empiretc]

Have there been any updates with this issue?