[erict]

I have a question about screen format. On my hr21, when I go into setup then select HDTV tab and then under my video tab I have my “native” set to off which I want. Underneath that there is a setting for screen format, which I have set to stretch. What is this function for? Since I have native off does the screen format play any role?

 

[compnurd]

Curious, why do you want native off?

 

[loudo]

Curious, why do you want native off?

One thing, channel changes are a lot faster with "Native Off".

 

[loudo]

I have a question about screen format. On my hr21, when I go into setup then select HDTV tab and then under my video tab I have my "native" set to off which I want. Underneath that there is a setting for screen format, which I have set to stretch. What is this function for? Since I have native off does the screen format play any role?

It is for how the HR21 will treat non HD (SD) channels.

 

[compnurd]

One thing, channel changes are a lot faster with "Native Off".

I havent channel changed since i had a box with a guide

 

[hdtvfan0001]

One thing, channel changes are a lot faster with "Native Off".

Which is why I have had native off now for years.

 

[loudo]

I havent channel changed since i had a box with a guide

Mine changes channels faster, with Native Off, using either the direct entry or selecting it from the guide.

 

[veryoldschool]

Curious, why do you want native off?

To answer the reverse: why use native, because some TVs do a better job scaling the image to fit the display.
If yours doesn't or you can't tell any difference, then native off can speed up the channel changing since neither the TV or DVR needs to re-sync to a new resolution.

 

[dcowboy7]

I havent channel changed since i had a box with a guide

so u never even use "previous channel" u go to the guide everytime ?

 

[compnurd]

so u never even use "previous channel" u go to the guide everytime ?

well if i do that doesnt matter because more then likely i am changing a resoulution so there is a delay

 

[dlt4]

I havent channel changed since i had a box with a guide

Even using the guide, with Native off, switching to a local channel sometimes takes up to a minute.

 

[BattleZone]

It is for how the HR21 will treat non HD (SD) channels.

Not quite. It determines how the receiver will handle 4:3 content (which may be SD or HD). Not all HD is 16:9, and not all SD is 4:3.

 

[veryoldschool]

Not quite. It determines how the receiver will handle 4:3 content (which may be SD or HD). Not all HD is 16:9, and not all SD is 4:3.

What SD from DirecTV isn't 4:3?

 

[texasbrit]

Not quite. It determines how the receiver will handle 4:3 content (which may be SD or HD). Not all HD is 16:9, and not all SD is 4:3.

All HD is 16:9. It may have a 4:3 picture embedded in it, but the sidebars are added by the station so as far as the receiver and TV is concerned it is 16:9.

All DirecTV SD is 4:3. There have been a couple of occasions when DirecTV transmitted SD in 16:9 (World Cup Cricket a couple of years ago was one) but it was a big problem for most TVs so I don't think it will happen again. Similarly there have been a couple of OTA stations that did this in the past.
There may be a 16"9 picture embedded in the 4:3 picture but, again, the receiver and TV have no way of knowing that, it just looks like any other 4:3 signal.

 

[dcowboy7]

well if i do that doesnt matter because more then likely i am changing a resoulution so there is a delay

right....so with native off there would be less delay.

 

[curt8403]

I have a question about screen format. On my hr21, when I go into setup then select HDTV tab and then under my video tab I have my "native" set to off which I want. Underneath that there is a setting for screen format, which I have set to stretch. What is this function for? Since I have native off does the screen format play any role?

HD comes in 2 flavors. Wide screen, and non wide screen

wide screen fills the TV without adjustments, but non wide screen does not, and some people want it to so they stretch it. It does distort the image, but if does fill the screen.

 

[compnurd]

right....so with native off there would be less delay.

it is what, maybe 3 sec now, and drops to 2.5

 

[BattleZone]

What SD from DirecTV isn't 4:3?

Many 16:9 shows on HD channels are really widescreen SD, and get up-converted by the receiver.

Similarly, some HD programming IS 4:3 and doesn't have pillar bars added to the signal; those bars are created by the receiver. Obviously, some channels (ESPN is the best example) transmits everything in 16:9 and adds pillar bars to all 4:3 content from the studio. This is not the standard, though, and many channels don't.

This vast inconsistancy and lack of a single standard is why there has to be stretch and zoom modes on TVs and receivers, and for many, that choice is a good thing. For others, they are just confused, because they don't understand that not all content on an HD channel is not necessarily HD, or even 16:9. It will get even more interesting when broadcast goes to digital, and many stations turn off their SD feeds. Lots of people with SDTVs will either have to zoom the HD feed using their converter box or deal with tiny, unreadable (on their SDTV) graphics.

5 years from now, most of this will have been sorted out, and nearly everything will be broadcast in 16:9 HD, but during this transition, everyone is doing their own thing, and it's a mess.

 

[dcowboy7]

it is what, maybe 3 sec now, and drops to 2.5

its a bigger gap than that for me.

 

[gully_foyle]

I have a question about screen format. On my hr21, when I go into setup then select HDTV tab and then under my video tab I have my "native" set to off which I want. Underneath that there is a setting for screen format, which I have set to stretch. What is this function for? Since I have native off does the screen format play any role?

Stretch, pillar, original, etc have no effect on HD broadcasts. Only SD. None of the H2x or HR2x boxes change the format of an HD picture. Native or not native (other than the resolution of the output).

YOUR TV might, however.

Basically it goes like this (assuming you have the TV type set for 16:9):

Pillar box: the DirecTV box takes the 4:3 signal and adds pillars and outputs a 16:9 signal with black bars on the side to your TV.

Stretch: the DirecTV box takes the 4:3 signal and reformats it to a stretched 16:9 signal.

Original: the DirecTV box does nothing. It passes the received 4:3 signal to your TV. Your TV, however, may detect the 4:3 signal and do its own processing. You may be able to select what it does with a 4:3 input.

Many TVs will stretch a 4:3 signal themselves, making the Stretch mode and Original mode look the same to the user. Others can be set to add pillars.

Note: NONE of this applies to a 480p, 720p or 1080i signal, which is always passed unaltered to the TV. Many TVs also have different capabilities when it comes to the SD/HD boundary.