[TelstraClear] Does Saturn Broadcast in Widescreen?

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gehenna

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Topic # 12904 12-Apr-2007 19:22

Hi there,

Just a quick, slightly dumb, question regarding TelstraClear Saturn broadcast signals. Is it native 16:9 delivery?

The reason I ask is that up until recently I was using a standard CRT 29" tv to view my Saturn. I moved from that tv on to a 32" lcd tv that I am running Vista Media Center on at 1080i resolution.

Now, Saturn is showing on the lcd tv as a 4:3 display. That is, there are vertical black bars on the left and right of the screen. I've gone into the decoder settings and changed it to 16:9, and played with all the variations of the display preferences. But I can't get Saturn to display without the vertical bars on either side. When I choose 16:9 it does seem to go widescreen "within" the bars, but does not fill the whole display.

I haven't tried the tv at a lower resolution, closer to standard definition, and i won't be trying that because it makes the media center software look terrible. So I'm just wondering if i am missing a setting on the decoder, or if the decoder is bung, or if Saturn just don't broadcast widescreen content?

Any help appreciated.

Mike

lokinz

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Reply # 66954 12-Apr-2007 19:28

Try your TV's display settings. I know mine has 4:3, 16:9, Zoom, Smart etc

sbiddle

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Reply # 66955 12-Apr-2007 19:36

Do you get similair results plugging your decoder directly into the TV? How do you have your Saturn box hooked up to you MCE PC?

gehenna

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Reply # 66956 12-Apr-2007 19:40

thanks lokinz, you reminded me that i hadn't mentioned i'd tried all that :)

the decoded is connected via rca to a tv tuner/capture card in the pc, the pc then connects to the tv via component hd cable. i've got no problems with the computer displaying at full 16:9 1080i resolution, no problems with dvds/divx etc playing at 16"9, but tv just won't play the game..

sbiddle

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Reply # 66964 12-Apr-2007 20:30

What happens when you plug the decoder straight into the TV?

What type of TV do you have? Are you feeding 1920x1080i into a TV that has a natice 1920x1080i panel or is it only a 1366x768 panel than takes 1080i input? There is no real point in trying to send a 1080i signal into a LCD TV that simply has to deinterlace it and downscale to 720p anyway, you're better off just feeding a 720p straight into it.

It sounds to me like Vista Media Centre is simply set up for the wrong aspect ratio however since I've yet to really play with it I couldn't help you. I run GB-PVR myself.

lokinz

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Reply # 66967 12-Apr-2007 20:43

Would your Capture card have anything to do with it? Does it support 16:9?

What happens if you connect your decoder directly to the TV?

JonC

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Reply # 67016 13-Apr-2007 12:08

Can't say I've had any experience with Vista Media Centre, but recently TV3 and C4 have started to be broadcast in widescreen on TCL - see this discussion. Not all the channels are in WS, though.

I had problems similar to yours (but I've just got my STB connected straight into my TV) and I set the TCL STB's "TV screen format" to 16:9, and "display format" to full screen. This then came to my TV as a 16:9 signal squashed horizontally (all the people looked skinny and there were black bars to left and right). I then changed my TV to "Full" mode - this stretches the received signal horizontally to make it fill my 16:9 TV. Don't know if your TV has an equivalent "Full" mode or whether the Vista Media Centre is doing something weird, though.

gehenna

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Reply # 67017 13-Apr-2007 12:13

JonC: Can't say I've had any experience with Vista Media Centre, but recently TV3 and C4 have started to be broadcast in widescreen on TCL - see this discussion. Not all the channels are in WS, though.

I had problems similar to yours (but I've just got my STB connected straight into my TV) and I set the TCL STB's "TV screen format" to 16:9, and "display format" to full screen. This then came to my TV as a 16:9 signal squashed horizontally (all the people looked skinny and there were black bars to left and right). I then changed my TV to "Full" mode - this stretches the received signal horizontally to make it fill my 16:9 TV. Don't know if your TV has an equivalent "Full" mode or whether the Vista Media Centre is doing something weird, though.

thanks JonC, tried all that too :) I haven't tried connecting the decoder directly to the tv, not sure if i can be bothered as all we use the saturn for is watching some crappy shows. everything else i care about comes via teh interweb onto my vmc.

actually i might try and get a box office movie and see if that comes through full screen. i've yet to use my free movie on box office so thats a good idea i guess.

thanks all for the replies though, appreciate the support!

Loftus

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Reply # 67047 13-Apr-2007 17:51

Not sure about Vista, but in MCE2005 the default aspect ratio (called "zoom" in MCE) is 4:3 which will insert vertical black bars on a widescreen monitor/TV

Try setting the zoom mode to wide (zoom setting 3)

Cheers

L

gehenna

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Reply # 67056 13-Apr-2007 18:55

ah HAH! thats the ticket right there! Thanks heaps Loftus!