Help setting up sky box with TV

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gedc

355 posts

Ultimate Geek

#25182 14-Aug-2008 09:50

Guys

This is no doubt an easy one for somebody out there....I have a 70" sxrd Sony Projection TV. Standard Sky digital plugged in.
Noticed recently that rugby scores etc had dissapeared off the top left corner of the TV on Sky Sports 1. I presume this had something to with the recent move of sky transmitting in widescreen ?

Went into menu on box and under TV settings, changed to 16:9. It appeared to have been set on 4:3 centrecut All now good with sports channels and logos. Happy man..

However....the good lady is now not happy as a number of 'terrestrial' channels TV2, TV3, Prime ( appreciate owned by SKy) etc appear to jump from full screen display to a 4:3 picture with big black bands down the side. Still haven't figured out exactly what programs it does it on but its driving her nuts..

IF i put the sky box back into 4:3 centre cut then every program fills the screen but sports scores etc disappear..

Any clues or is this just what we are stuck with?

Thanks

Ged

Spyware

3764 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#156821 14-Aug-2008 10:15

TV One, TV2, TV3, C4, Maori, Prime, Sky Sport 1 (as of July 22), Sky Sport 2 (as of July 22), Sky Sport 3 (as of yesterday), Sky Sport Highlights (as of July 21), National Geographic, CI etc. digital transmissions are on 16:9 frame permanently. Any 4:3 ratio program is pillarboxed within this 16:9 frame. Looks great and your wife, pardon her ignorance, will learn to appreciate it. TVNZ do 14:9 zoom some 4:3 content but this practice decreases vertical resolution and should be avoided.

P.S. Sky must look like puke close up on a 70".

Spark Max Fibre using Mikrotik CCR1009-8G-1S-1S+, CRS125-24G-1S, Unifi UAP, U6-Pro, UAP-AC-M-Pro, Apple TV 4K (2022), Apple TV 4K (2017), iPad Air 1st gen, iPad Air 4th gen, iPhone 13, SkyNZ3151 (the white box). If it doesn't move then it's data cabled.

bazzer

3438 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#156823 14-Aug-2008 10:20

\/\/ Ah yes, you're right. No point leaving this here as it was a bunch of rubbish, oops! Cheers, Spyware! \/\/

(edited in light of Spyware's comments below)

Spyware

3764 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#156825 14-Aug-2008 10:24

It isn't possible to stretch 4:3 content pillarboxed within 16:9 frame as it is already stretched. Only solution is to put decoder back on 4:3 pan/scan and then use TV to stretch (yuckity yuck yuck).

cyril7

9058 posts

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Trusted

Subscriber

#156826 14-Aug-2008 10:24

There is nothing wrong, except with all respects your good lady. For a year or more FTA broadcasters all moved to 16:9, for a long time this was the future, its now the here and now, get into it. However network broadcasters internationally have chosen to operate fulltime 16:9, which I personaly think is a sound solution, as to have them switch back and forth is a major logistics issue, and with the amount of 4:3 material that they playout dropping rapidly with time it makes no sense.

So any 4:3 material that broadcasters have to playout they first prepare it into 16:9 frames, hence placing bars on the side so to maintain its correct aspect ratio. However once this 4:3 material has been so prepared it is forever concidered 16:9 material (albiet a 4:3 picture in a 16:9 frame). Thus there entire playout arena only knows of 16:9 material.

So sorry you cannot fix it, it is how it is, with time the amount of 4:3 material will fall away to nil. My advise is get over it, you have paid big bucks for a nice new 16:9 TV, make the most of it, dont worry about the black bars on the side for the small and dwindling amount of 4:3 material.

Cyril