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jediphish
07-18-09, 08:56 AM
I just noticed something odd. I have two receivers connected to one TV. FORMAT cycles (for 480i SD channels) don't work the same way with each, however. I'm trying to figure out if its the different receivers, or the different connection methods used (HDMI v. Component). The TV is 26" Toshiba LCD Regza set to "natural" as opposed to "full."

#1) HR20-700 connected via HDMI - when watching "Stripes" on AMC, the FORMAT function on the D* remote works properly, cycling as follows:
-- ORIGINAL/UNALTERED (displays as 4:3 "windowbox" with broadcast "letterbox" bars, along with the TV's "black" sidebars); program guide displays as 4:3 image
-- CROP (displays as zoomed 16:9 image, meaning the TV received a "full" or "widescreen" image from the D* receiver and "cropped" the top and bottom black bars0; guide displays 16:9
-- STRETCH (displays a "stretched" image, i.e. "full" or "widescreen" with black horizontal bars, as sent from the receiver; guide displays 16:9
-- PILLAR BOX (displays as 4:3 "windowbox" with broadcast black "letterbox" bars, along with the the receiver's "gray" sidebars); guide displays 16:9

#2) HR21-100 connected via COMPONENT - all modes display within the TVs 4:3 window, which sometimes yields double "sidebars" (on "SIDEBAR" format); workaround is to change TV's setting to "full" instead of "natural," but then "ORIGINAL" displays as 16:9 incorrectly. Note: TV's menu settings related to aspect ratio are set identically for both inputs.

I've previously had the HR20-700 connected to two TVs at once (one via HDMI and the second set via component) and ORIGINAL Formatting worked as expected.

Does anyone know if "original format" is something that only works with HDMI? Or could it be that the function works differently in the two receiver models? I guess it could be just the combination of component and the particular TV. I'll switch the cables on the two receivers and see what happens. If the same thing happens then I'll conclude that its the TV/connection method, since the HR20-700 worked flawlessly on both a Pioneer Elite Pro-1130HD plasma and a Sony 955XS 30" CRT.

jediphish
07-18-09, 09:00 AM
I just confirmed that its the TV/connection method and not the receiver. I connected the HR20-700 to the Toshiba via component and it functioned (incorrectly) the same way the HR21 did as described above. To reiterate, the HR20 did not do this previously when connected via HDMI to the Pioneer and, at the same time, via component to a Sony CRT. I also connected the HR20 to the Toshiba using both methods at the same time, with the same incorrectly image display results.

Have other people witnessed this? I wonder why some TV's recognize the "forced" widescreen image (opposite of ORIGINAL) from the receiver over component, whereas others do not.

BTW - I have both receivers set to Native (not up for discussion, just mentioning it because it means that FORMAT only applies for 480i material in this case).

veryoldschool
07-18-09, 09:03 AM
You found one of my peeves.
HDMI works "correctly", where 16:9 & 4:3 "flags" are sent to your TV for it to "know" what format to use.
Component never sends the 16:9 "flag", so the 4:3 "flag" comes with pillarbox, crop, stretch, which should only come with the original format.

jediphish
07-18-09, 09:12 AM
You found one of my peeves.
HDMI works "correctly", where 16:9 & 4:3 "flags" are sent to your TV for it to "know" what format to use.
Component never sends the 16:9 "flag", so the 4:3 "flag" comes with pillarbox, crop, stretch, which should only come with the original format.

I wonder why this is the case????

veryoldschool
07-18-09, 09:28 AM
I wonder why this is the case????
Because "someone" doesn't want/think it needs correcting.
I beat my head against the wall over this for months.
The H21 had the DVR software "cloned" into it and the component outputs always had the 16:9 [or WSS] being sent to the TV. This meant that original format was incorrect [stretched], but the other format were correct.
Then DirecTV changed this to match the DVR, which means instead of one out of four formats working incorrectly, they changed it so now three out of four are incorrect.
After four months of trying to have them "improve" their software, I gave up. It makes no sense, and this type of thing drives me completely nuts. They've proved they can make it better but have decided to make it worst.
For all I know there may be one person's ego involved making this impossible to change.