HD Picture - Size Changes

[mbruener56]

When I am watching an HD channel, such as ESPN HD, when a commercial is aired, or when some game highlights are shown, my picture suddenly has sidebars. Then, my full picture returns when the show goes live again. Also, not all game highlights have side bars, just some. Why does this happen? I have a Toshiba 56 inch DLP TV, set to 720p.

Thank you.

Michael Bruener

[Richard King]

The picture with the sidebars were shot in standard definition, not HD.

[DonCorleone]

The picture with the sidebars were shot in standard definition, not HD.

To piggyback off that, most commercials are filmed in SD, hence sidebars mostly during commercials. Also footage that they'll show within SportsCenter, for example, is often SD.