Voom on a 4:3 (PG sucks!)

[aychamo]

Hey guys!

The Voom PG looks horrible on a 4:3 TV. What can I do to adjust the format of the PG to make it look proper on a 4:3? I already adjusted the video so the channels themselves look ok, but scrolling in the PG sucks and all that. I'm sure its a configuration issue.

 

[Sean Mota]

What resolution are you using? Are you watching 4:3 programs on your HDTV or is it on a non-HD TV?

 

[jimmykce1]

I thnk he is watching on a nonHDTV Sean.

 

[Sean Mota]

If it is a nonHDTV, what is the connection that he is currently using? SVideo, Composite, Component.

 

[The Stone Man]

Can we please change the thread title? I can understand why the guy wants to be able to change the display of the program guide, but why do we have to have the expletive in the parentheses?

 

[lostcause]

What expletive?

 

[The Stone Man]

PG Sucks! is an expletive.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary
Ex´ple`tive
a. 1. Filling up; hence, added merely for the purpose of filling up; superfluous.
Expletive phrases to plump his speech.
- Barrow.
n. 1. A word, letter, or syllable not necessary to the sense, but inserted to fill a vacancy; an oath.

 

[lostcause]

hrmm..thanks for clarifying the definition of expletive. I don't think the word "sucks" qualifies in this context though. But that's just my opinion...and you know what they say about opinions...

Anyways, back to the topic at hand, I have the same problem on my 4:3 set with the guide and the scroll bar on the bottom.

 

[mkatts]

on my 27" SD in the bedroom, the guide sucks as well. I figured it was because that TV is 12 years old. I am using the bad guide as an excuse to buy and HDTV for the bedroom.

On my 4:3 HDTV thought, with the STB set to native resolution, the guide looks great when I am tuned to an HD program. When I am tuned to a SD program the guide follows the STB output so it fill the screen and is a little grainy but it's no worse than my DirecTV guide was.

 

[Dvlos]

If you have the Picture Format settings configured wrong in the settings you will get the guide chopped off on the sides or stretched. The PG actually follows whatever format you have in the setings, so if you have "Stretch" selected or "Crop" instead of "Letterbox" you will have a Stretched or Cropped PG. I used to have this problem, but I changed those settings and now the PG fits perfect, I also connected my STB to my Standard 36" via coax.

 

[aychamo]

The Voom STB is currently connected to the TV via coax. It's a 24" SDTV. This is at my parents.. Should I go use composite cables to hook it up? Or stick with the coax?

I have their STB setup to letterbox the widescreen content so that it looks ok on their TV. The problem is the letters, text, etc in the PG looks really bad. Is there another configuration? Maybe I should change the setting for the normal to wide fixing thing?

And... "sucks" is not an expletive in the context I used it.

 

[Dvlos]

Normal to wide must not be on Pillar Box...

 

[aychamo]

Normal to wide must not be on Pillar Box...

Ok! I don't know if I set it that way or not, I'll check it out!

 

[Tvlman]

I can't believe people are actually trying to watch VOOM on 4:3 TV sets. What's the point? That's like playing a CD in monaural. HOw about buying a Corvette but only driving it in first gear? (Shudder) Of course after watchng 4:3 movies for years they don't realize they are watching only the center of the movie and losing 48% of the total picture. I wonder what they do when they go to a movie? Cut out a small square in a cardboard box and put it over their head to peek through?

 

[rgarbonzo]

I'm not going to spend another 800 on a TV just for my bedroom. So until my 27" Zenith bites the dust I'll have 4:3 Voom in the bedroom.

 

[lostcause]

I'm not going to spend another 800 on a TV just for my bedroom. So until my 27" Zenith bites the dust I'll have 4:3 Voom in the bedroom.

ditto....not all of us can afford to have two home theaters in the house.

 

[n0qcu]

If you watch everything letterboxed - you get the whole picture. so a 4x3 set works just fine.

 

[DPJohn]

4:3 Still A Good Option

Actually, since I read about the native mode here I've been very happy with Voom on my 4:3 HD Sony. My set is old by HD standards. I've had it for over four years. At the time I bought it there was so little HD programming that I wasn't about to buy a 16:9 so that I could watch 95% of the programming in pillar box mode. For me the most important thing is to see the OAR of everything I watch in the largest, clearest image possible. My set is 61" (which in a 4:3 is about the same picture size as a 57" 16:9 set) and I get full width on HD programming and full screen on 4:3 programming including the hundreds of old movies in my DVD library.

When I first got Voom I wasn't too happy with the picture quality on SD stations like TCM but that was because I was manually switching to a lower quality input so I would fill my screen. Now that the Voom STB switches the format for me, and everything goes through the component connections, the picture quality is about what I was getting on SD programming from DISH.