getting letterbox on my SD DVR40

[moonjockey]

On the latest software for my SD DVR40 Tivo, there's an option under the "video" preferences to choose letterbox instead of pan and scan.

I have the letterbox selected, but still seem to get the ends chopped off the picture for what is now most broadcasts.

The funny part is occasionally, in the middle of a show it will suddenly switch over to letterbox for a few minutes and switch back for no apparent reason.

Anyone else encounter this? Or more importantly know how to fix it?

[litzdog911]

Really?

I don't have an SD Tivo anymore, just an HR10-250 HD Tivo, so I can't check this for sure.

Are you sure you're not confusing this with the "16:9 vs. 4:3" settings? Those settings don't do anything on the SD Tivos.

[moonjockey]

yes I'm quite sure. That's the aspect ration video preference. What I'm talking about is the "screen format" preference on the newest 6.4 software.

The choice is letterbox or pan n scan--your choice of how to watch widescreen broadcast on a 4:3 TV. You know, to choose to see the whold wide image with bars on top n bottom, or to only see a middle 4:3 slice chopping off the sides.

I want to see the whole image.

[litzdog911]

I'm guessing that only applies when the 16:9 format is enabled. And there are no SD channels that have that format enabled.

Let's see if someone more knowledge here knows for sure.

[BattleZone]

Litzdog is correct; those settings are virtually meaningless, as virtually zero SD content is widescreen-enabled, even though it could be.

[moonjockey]

Not sure I agree with you on this guys. First of all the main problem I have is that I can tell that there's more picture than what I'm seeing. For instance network watermarks cut in half and what not.

Also, as I said in my initial post, it does work sometimes. But only temporarily. So there are instance where the box recognizes the setting and changes the output screen format to put letterbox on my 3:4 tv.

This isn' necessarily dependent on the show being broadcast, as I've seen this setting kick in, albeit temporarily, in the middle of a scene. That would suggest to me that it can work, but some software issue perhaps is malfunctioning.

This is content coming over a variety of channels. Not sure where the downconvert happens, but the HD/SD format shouldn't come into play. I actually work for a broadcaster and happen to know that at least for my channel, all HD content is sent 4:3 anamorphically. So my box is sending picture to my telelvision stretched into the correct ratio, but cropped for a 4:3 TV. The setting that I mentioned is actually the perfect rememdy for this problem and really the only reason it exists ( I can't think of another).

So I believe that if they created this setting, it should work. But I'm trying to find out why it doesn't.

[litzdog911]

Back before HD was available DirecTV provided a few "test broadcasts" using the 16:9 anamorphic broadcast feature. But it's never been used since, at least not with any SD channels. Any unusual cropping you're seeing is being provided by the broadcaster that way.

[HoTat2]

Yes;

Those settings are for when an anamorphic broadcast (16:9 picture squeezed into a 4:3 frame) is being sent by DirecTV and then sets the anamorphic flag indicator in the stream to instruct your receiver to either stretch (for a 16:9 TV), letterbox, or crop (for a 4:3 TV) the picture depending on the screen selection setting in the menu.

For some reason your TIVO is being falsely triggered into incorrectly switching to letterbox what it thinks is an anamorphic signal.

DirecTV never does this anymore that I'm aware of since the onset of HD programming.

BTW, I'm curious since you list your location in L.A., what broadcaster in this market sends their HD programming as anamorphic 16:9 into 4:3?